US offers Viagra to win over Afghan warlords: report

[Catty1]

Make love, not war?

http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/afp/08122...est_cia_viagra
US offers Viagra to win over Afghan warlords: report

WASHINGTON (AFP) - CIA agents are offering the potency drug Viagra and other gifts to win over Afghan warlords in the US-led war against Taliban insurgents, the Washington Post reported on Friday.

Paying for information is nothing new for the Central Intelligence Agency, but officers have started employing unusual incentives to persuade Afghan local leaders to share intelligence about the Taliban's movements, the Post wrote, citing unnamed sources in the spy service.

"Whatever it takes to make friends and influence people -- whether it's building a school or handing out Viagra," one CIA operative who has worked in Afghanistan was quoted as saying.

CIA agents have offered pocket knives and tools, toys and school equipment, travel visas, medical services including surgeries and sometimes the erectile dysfunction drug Viagra for Afghan chieftains, the paper said.

The aging chieftains often have up to four wives and are open to the Viagra pill as a way to "put them back in an authoritative position," said another official.

More customary bribes such as cash and weapons can create problems, because guns fan fall into the wrong hands and a sudden influx of cash can draw too much attention, agents told the paper.

Four Viagra pills transformed the attitude of one influential 60-year-old warlord who had been wary of the United States.

"He came up to us beaming," one official told the Post.

"And after that we could do whatever we wanted in his area."

[Grace]

Doesn't that just fry you. Our Federal Government is only too happy to dispense Viagra for men, but if a woman needs access to birth control . . . . . forget about it.

Read it and weep - http://www.thehour.com/story/461807

EDIT:

I remember some 40 years ago when the State of Connecticut would not allow doctors to prescribe any form of birth control for married couples. Fortunately that was resolved in 1965, by the U.S. Supreme Court in Griswold v. Connecticut. Maybe we need to do it again.

[Catty1]

Grace, this happened about a decade ago - or more - in Japan.

A friend of mine from Canada had married the owner of a Japanese dojo in Okinawa. Legally married, she had one *H* of a time getting the Pill.

Some years ago, the largely middle-aged-male government there passed a bill accepting Viagra. All the (female?) citizens in the country SCREAMED (as my sister put it), and the birth control pill was quickly legalized as well.

I hope the new administration in the USA quickly removes this 'rule'. There's something to be said for a younger President and First Family.

[Edwina's Secretary]

Doesn't that just fry you. Our Federal Government is only too happy to dispense Viagra for men, but if a woman needs access to birth control . . . . . forget about it.

Read it and weep - http://www.thehour.com/story/461807

EDIT:

I remember some 40 years ago when the State of Connecticut would not allow doctors to prescribe any form of birth control for married couples. Fortunately that was resolved in 1965, by the U.S. Supreme Court in Griswold v. Connecticut. Maybe we need to do it again.

This is one of the reasons I find the label "Nanny State" so amusing. It seems the intrusions in women's lives and bodies is acceptable and a long-standing tradition! Like Political Correctness -- it all boils down to situation ethics...

Keeping your women pregnant =

put them back in an authoritative position

[Marigold2]

LOL what do you think they would do if it lasts more then 4 hours. Here you are told to go and seek medical attention. But over there LOL

[lizbud]

LOL what do you think they would do if it lasts more then 4 hours. Here you are told to go and seek medical attention. But over there LOL

That thought crossed my mind too. LOL

[Grace]

I hope the new administration in the USA quickly removes this 'rule'. There's something to be said for a younger President and First Family.

There's also something to be said for ridding ourselves of so-called 'compassionate' conservatism.

[kt_luvs_kitties]

There is always something my dad says about Viagra lasting more than 4 hours..

He says " They say to go to the doctor if it works for over 4 hours, I say I will be going to the mall instead"! LOL

[jennielynn1970]

Doesn't that just fry you. Our Federal Government is only too happy to dispense Viagra for men, but if a woman needs access to birth control . . . . . forget about it.

Read it and weep - http://www.thehour.com/story/461807

EDIT:

I remember some 40 years ago when the State of Connecticut would not allow doctors to prescribe any form of birth control for married couples. Fortunately that was resolved in 1965, by the U.S. Supreme Court in Griswold v. Connecticut. Maybe we need to do it again.

I remember doing billing and collections for anesthesia in the 1990s, and how Medicaid (welfare's health care) would pay for abortions, but NOT for tubal ligations and vasectomies. What is wrong with that picture??? I wonder if it's changed yet?

[RICHARD]

I just hope this isn't another boner* by the US government!




* bon·er
Function: noun
Date: circa 1899
Definition-
1: one that bones
2: a clumsy or stupid mistake

[Catty1]

Nice try, RICHARD!

[Grace]

I was wondering when one of the male PTers would venture into this topic

[Catty1]

And Grace, were you surprised at ALL at who the male was that ventured here?

[blue]

I thought we werent suposed to judge other cultures?

Edit: or did I read it wrong?

[Grace]

I thought we werent suposed to judge other cultures?

Edit: or did I read it wrong?

You read it wrong. We are judging the CIA and other U.S. Government organizations for their double standards when it comes to men vs women. Appears slightly misogynistic.