Colombian drug lords turned down Bin Laden’s money

Interesting story in the New York Post today.

Osama bin Laden tried to buy a massive amount of cocaine, spike it with poison and sell it in the United States, hoping to kill thousands of Americans one year after the 9/11 attacks, The Post has learned.

The evil plot failed when the Colombian drug lords bin Laden approached decided it would be bad for their business…

The story interestingly highlights some important differences between terrorists and drug traffickers. Drug traffickers are running a business (albeit an often horribly violent, murderous one) that is profit/bottom-line oriented. Political actions are only used as a tool to increase profits. Terrorists, on the other hand, use money as a tool to further their “political” activity. Despite the attempts to link the two, there are strong reasons why they often do not mix well, and this is one such case.
Sure, there are likely instances of terrorists profiting from drug trade (and the Post article goes on to dredge up some ancient Asa Hutchinson claims in that area), but those are primarily a result of the profitability caused by prohibition.