Normally, when someone pleads to the judge "I had drugs on me by accident!" my BS-O-Meter spikes. Of course, normally the person asking the bench to suspend disbelief isn't an anti-narcotics consultant involved in the collection and disposal of tons of illicit drugs on a daily basis.
If information surfaces next week that shows Bert Tatham was using his official position as cover to mastermind a vast international drug-smuggling cartel, I'll eat my words. Until then, I can think of no reason that Canadian diplomats, the United States State Department, the government of Afghanistan, and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime shouldn't aggressively intervene on this man's behalf.
By this standard, Canadian soldiers making a connecting flight through Dubai last fall could have been charged as well, for the heinous crime of soldiering downwind.
Update: Bert's brother comments over at my blog:
I'll ring in. I'm his brother. He was there working on a contract through the US state dept. He was leading a team of Afghan nationals to help farmers find other crops to grow in place of Poppy. Not eradication.He was carrying 2 year old, dried and previously lanced poppy flowers as artifacts from his work there. 0 narcotic value. In hindsight a bad idea of course.
He was on occasion called by the Afghan police to witness the burning of confiscated drugs. These burns were very noxious as one can imagine. Hash is everywhere there and passed about freely and often shows up in food even. He is baffled as to how the small chunk got on him but not hard to imagine as a mistake. He laundered his clothes very carefully prior to leaving.
...
I would also add that he regularly briefed and advised Canadian forces brass on the "bad guy" activity in the region.
so yes, he is one of our boys.
"Earlier this month, al-Gailani argued that part of Tatham's job was to collect "tons of drugs every day" in Afghanistan and that his client had attended the burning of five to 10 tons of poppies daily.
His trousers must have mistakenly picked up the tiny quantity of hashish," al-Gailani said.
Traces of hashish found in Tatham's urine were inhaled by Tatham as "secondhand smoke," the lawyer said. "Hashish is produced from marijuana plants rather than opium poppies." (emphasis mine)"
Thats a pretty stupid lawyer. I'm with Dubai on this one.
Slightly OT but worthy of the "rabbit hole justice" tag:
Official Leftist racism rears its ugly head in Quebec MSM
http://www.judeoscope.ca/article.php3?id_article=0615
Who's to say he isn't innocent?
There's millions of dollars involved in those fields.
You think the destruction of that stuff hasn't pissed someone off?
Someone with some influence?
Right now, my opinion is that he's a pawn in a shitty game.
Good grief, I never knew they had marijuana forests! Could that have been why the journey through the Hundred Acre Wood was called an "expotition?" :)
Oh great, Cheech and Chong go to war!?!
Watch out for the gang that can't shoot straight.
Cheers :)
Hans-Christian Georg Rupprecht BGS, PDP, CFP
Commander in Chief
Frankenstein Battalion
Knecht Rupprecht Division
Hans Corps
1st Saint Nicolaas Army
Army Group “True North”
He wasn't working with the UN or the Afghan government, according to his dad. He was just an Ordinary Joe working with a group of Afghan nationals looking for alternatives to poppy crops.
http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20070619/tatham_sentencing_070619/20070619?hub=TopStories
Maybe it's just me, but I'd be inclined to check out the legal status of a narcotics crop I was importing to a foreign country, whether or not it could be converted to something usable in its present form. Ordinary common sense more or less demands that you check that stuff out before you go importing controlled substances anywhere.
Come on, Bill Mac. Le Devoir and La Presse are hardly "leftist." La Presse endorsed Harper, for crying out loud. (I don't know about La Trubune.)
I agree that these cartoons are nasty, but look to your own house and clean it up.
"I had drugs on me by accident!"
Back in my younger days that translated as: "Sh**! I thought I'd smoked that already!"
Wait a minute! You'd think this guy would have had a little common sense. The article states: "As for the poppy bulbs, al-Gailani (Tatham's lawyer) said Tatham was taking them to Canada "for experiments and education." What did he think would happen when he tried to go through customs in Canada with his fingers crossed and this contraband in his possession? If it looks like a duck....
He's a Dumbass and he's busted!
0.6 grams of hash, and 2 poppy bulbs? Please! What's that worth on the street? $100 tops? Even if he were a drug smuggler, he'd hardly bother with with such a puny amount.
Well, since you brought up "Cheech and Chong", remember this classic line, "Your honor, my client had found the marijuana and was on his way to the police station to turn it in, when he was apprehended".
This entire episode is either a frame-up by corrupt drug lords, or a sad commentary on an official appointee.
I cant even guess
when casting insults at a religion, remember, it is bigotry, not racism....for example, I am bigoted against crazy muslims who would have their children detonate a suicide bomb in a shopping centre in Oakville.....see the difference?
When in Rome... I'm sorry but you have to watch what you do on foreign soil. Ignorance is not an excuse.
That being said, I'm sure that Canuck soldiers are well briefed as to their responsibilities when crossing foreign borders.
His trousers must have mistakenly picked up the tiny quantity of hashish," al-Gailani said.
I wish I had a pair of magic pants like that, I could save money.
Why not just put his pants in jail?
That being said, I'm sure that Canuck soldiers are well briefed as to their responsibilities when crossing foreign borders.
We try to avoid the problem entirely by not bothering with civilian airports, or at least by skipping customs. The last time I got scanned going onto a military flight, that damn machine beeped so much I thought it would explode. We just got waved through though.
But yes, everyone is briefed on exactly what may and may not be brought on board the aircraft, and sometimes we'll do a formal kit check too. Doesn't happen very often, but when I was in Georgia a few years back and flying back to Canada, they had us spread our kit on the tarmac while the MP's and loadies went through it with a fine tooth comb.
Don't eat that Mikey! - It's Bullshit.
Anyone trying to bring some illicit substance back to civilization for further study or research will have paperwork or at the very least preauthorization of some sort.
Any lacking of the above must be assumed to be drug smuggling. No more. No less.
I would like to sit on this SOBs jury.
Regards,
CRB
"Who's to say he isn't innocent?"
The court in Dubai, thats who. Its their country and they can set the rules. Of course we can all go into a moral relativism snit and try to bail the bugger out. Some lawyer had better study up on poppy heads before shooting his mouth off though. No doubt his "experiment" was to crush them to make poppy tea. You see, the head is full of opium and the seeds are coated with alkaloids.
He was planning a party and got caught. Now its time to take a leaf out of Ghandi's playbook and do the time. He can try again in four years if he still feels like it.
Is that like working in auto-assembly plant and *mistakenly* taking home a pocket full of new spark plugs for your car?
Those damn pants, just brush them by something you don*t want and bingo, free samples galore. = TG
It is appalling how easily we'd abandon our people.
If he was a Saudi official busted in Canada, there'd be diplomatic notes flying all over. I say, it's worth to storm Riyadh to rescue this guy, just like it's worth to storm GA prison to rescue Genarlow Wilson.
He was planning a party and got caught.
Good to see the mind-reading lessons have finally paid off.
I would like to sit on this SOBs jury.
I'd be more inclined to tag those who snipe from the sidelines as SOBs, rather than a guy who's actually contributing to the success of the Afghan mission by doing tough and dangerous work on the ground in country.
It looks like he got caught with a small amount of hash. I doubt it was a gift. It isn't a big crime here but in the middle east it is serious.