We all are aware of the basic frameworks of the US response to barbaric 9/11 terrorist attacks. The Bush's administration and NATO launched unprecedented media, diplomatic and military campaigns aimed to suppress the adversary inside its haunt in Afghanistan. But few remember that the US Operation Enduring Freedom and NATO's International Security Assistance Force weren't the only military frameworks for multilateral rebuff to Al-Qaeda. At the same time the United States announced an unprecedented maritime operation named Active Endeavour. The latter is known less as it was based not on the UN Resolution 1368, but notorious article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty stipulating 'collective self-defense'.
Immediately after, all the operations started gaining momentum. But while the expediency of the Enduring Freedom and ISAF couldn't be seriously challenged as the need to fight the Taliban in Afghanistan was quite clear at that time, the mission and results of the maritime initiative are not so obvious. Since the very beginning it was announced that the main objective of the operation was to fight terrorism and other illegal activities on maritime communications. But they suddenly started monitoring only Mediterranean trade routes.
In practical terms the monitoring routine looks like this: a NATO warship or a group of such plies the Mediterranean and the strait of Gibraltar. They check all neighboring merchant vessels through the special database which includes a black list of 'suspect ships'. If they detect a ship from the black list they board it to inspect documentation and cargo in search of illegal migrants, elements of the weapons of mass destruction, narcotics etc - everything relevant to combating terrorism.
Everything is seemingly Ok. But let's recall where the main heroin supply routes from the NATO-dominated Afghanistan to Europe lie.
1. The Land heroin route (through Turkey, Bulgaria, Kosovo or Bosnia). To facilitate the entrance into the Schengen area and avoid excessive formalities, the heroin packs, often declared as 'perishable Turkish oranges', are transported by TIR-labeled juggernauts to clandestine laboratories in the south of France. Typical blue-colored containers with acetyl oxide - one of the principle precursors for heroin refinement have the same destination.
2. The Maritime heroin route lies via Mediterranean trade lines to the Island of Corsica. The packs are being transshipped there to ferries and follow the voyage to Marseille absolutely unchecked. By the way, according to available intelligence, there are around 20 clandestine heroin refinement plants in the outskirts of Marseille.
Now to the main question: how many tons of heroin were intercepted on merchant vessels in Mediterranean during the more than ten years (!) of Operation Active Endeavour? Answer: None!
Not a single gram! And we should take it for granted that every day hundreds of kilos of heroin are being shipped through NATO's 'area of responsibility'. Curiously enough the Joint Forces Command of the operation located in Naples (Italy) does not even collect such statistics! A couple of times a relevant question concerning such statistics caused confusion and embarrassment among the top admirals leading the operation. There is only one statistic: in 2003-2009, 155 merchant vessels were boarded and checked by NATO inspection teams. They did not find anything.
Since we already know the methods applied by democrats against international terrorism in Afghanistan, we can't help asking another question: why is NATO wasting stupendous resources on a pointless operation? The answer is evident: both ISAF and Active Endeavour are perfectly complying with their real mission: to ensure total control over production, transportation and distribution of illegal drugs, critically important for the 'global triumph of democracy'.
NATO Mediterranean maritime patrol operation zones
Perhaps these 'black holes' are thoroughly monitored by the airborne patrols, taking into account that the areas are very close to the US NAF Sigonella in Sicily where P-3 Orion aircraft are located? Let's have a look on the square map for aviation (it differs from the maritime map).
NATO Mediterranean air patrol operation zones
Such operations are aimed to control cargoes of geopolitical rivals rather than mythical terrorists. Those vessels really involved in the schemes of illegal drugs and weapons smuggling to Europe are obviously not present in the black lists of the NATO tactical units. When Russian and Ukrainian warships participated in Active Endeavour before 2008, they faced blatant restrictions in operations from the NATO side. So-called NATO sister-ships assigned to each of them were strictly monitoring all activities and intentions of the 'aliens'.
There is yet another dimension of this story. NATO's ambitions in early 2000s were extended to the Black Sea as well (perhaps a result of the fact that the Romanian port of Constanta was another notable gate for Afghan heroin to Europe). In 2004 a twin operation named 'Black Sea Harmony' was launched by Turkey. The standard operation procedure of the latter stipulates an information exchange with the joint command of Active Endeavour. So the transparency of the Turkish straits and territorial waters to the international drug cartels is still an open issue.
Oil, Gas, Rare Minerals and Metals & Fresh Water are not the only things that are being grabbed at present. Drugs are worth billions of dollars and just like all the other resources being grabbed drugs are also included. Afghanistan, Africa and Central America are all falling or about to fall into perpetual terrorist control mechanisms, which is just a cover for US owned drug cartels. Now that Africa is being invaded as we talk and Syria and Iran have stalled I am expecting Central America will be next in line during Obama's next term of office. Also note the continuous international bashing of tobacco smoking which is being done to ensure harder drugs have a market to take over from.