I believe you are quite right about that, Amos. Religion is just the excuse used to rile up people and get them to go out and fight.

Rinslinger - You asked, "I wonder why they're so successful in keeping it going?" For the same reason the Romans were successful...they have the strength, the will, and the resources to do it...and there is a huge MARKET out there for it! Where a market that hungry exists, the product WILL be supplied...by he who has the greatest firepower to control the turf.

The Romans did grotesque things too...such as their gladiatorial circuses and their mass crucifixions of people who resisted the Empire. Empires usually do whatever works to maintain their control of things...regardless of whether it is morally repugnant or not.

The CIA does not have to disclose its financial activities to anyone. They can thus effectively launder multi-billions of dollars of money into the US economy, and they do. It's drug money, and it is probably the most lucrative single business operation in the world. Wars have been fought over it, and further wars are going to be fought over it, but the national media will never make a peep about the real reasons for those wars.

I have no idea about the Reagan administration's involvement in moving cocaine that you mentioned, but it wouldn't surprise me. It sounds like the sort of thing that would fit right in.