Drugs argument is a red herring

Cindi Cogswell would welcome Donald Trump to Britain (letter, February 3) but for reasons far different from my own.
Hastings Observer lettersHastings Observer letters
Hastings Observer letters

This is the man who mocked a reporter with cerebral palsy in front of millions during his election campaign. He is an unpleasant little man but we have entertained unpleasant people before if it suits our interests.

It does of course smack of obsequiousness, but we are good at that too.

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Trump wants to pick and choose his Moslem immigrants. Pakistan has not been named despite fostering fundamentalist terror groups, because geo-politically it is too important to the USA.

Bin Laden’s birthplace Saudi Arabia is not on the list either, one of the worst examples of a country with human rights abuses.

I admit to despair at the abject failure of the Moslem communities in non- Islamist countries and leaders of Islamist countries, to raise an effective protest against the religious lies and murderous nihilism of the Dayesh terrorists.

But a lot of Mrs Cogswell’s long letter is about welcoming Trump because his policy of closing the Mexican border will help stop drug-trafficking.

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It won’t and that is not the reason he is doing it. For years, I worked on Government policy and communications in the drugs and alcohol field.

In the 21st century, borders will not reduce drug use, and reducing drug use is the most important aspect of drugs policy. Quite apart from the fact that designer drugs and legal highs can now be made or bought at home, the so called War on Drugs is a far more complex than Mrs Cogswell would have us believe.

Countless UK and USA Home Office and Homeland Security reports reveal that the international drug cartels have merged into ‘respectable’ global business empires, run by people with whom nation states do business, and whose money laundering goes largely unaddressed.

It’s nothing to do with small-time drug pushers coming via Mexico. The Mexican wall is about prejudice and about jobs.

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The War on Drugs argument for welcoming Donald Trump here is not only false but a red herring.

No, if I were to find one reason for having him here, it is ‘friends’ may have more influence than ‘enemies’. It is true that Blair’s policy of influence with Bush failed miserably.

However, someone’s got to bend Trump’s ear. I would rather it was us than Vladimir Putin.

America, however, rarely does anything in foreign policy or any other policy that does not serve itself.

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We were the same when, as colonialists, we held dominion over them. Many in America do not like the British because of that history, so I would not be overly romantic about their attitudes to us just because we speak English, have fought wars together and watch a lot of American films.

A little less lecturing about hypocrisy and quoting the Bible at readers, and more study of History and Government reports might better serve the truth.

In an era of ‘fake news’ we would all do well to do more research and be alert to distortions.

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