Interdicting Narco Boats: Policy Versus Practice
Ever since President Jefferson sent the American military to the “shores of Tripoli” to end piratical blackmail in the waters off the African coast, the United States has long been tasked with protecting the nation from foreign threats beyond American shores.
The most current manifestation is the aggressive strikes against drug trafficking vessels on the high seas. These operations, ordered under President Trump’s directive, have sparked a firestorm of controversy—not only because the Navy is sinking narco-boats with tons of illegal drugs, but more recently because of what has been called a “second tap.”
The first strike is straightforward. Drug-laden vessels identified by intelligence are destroyed before they can deliver their deadly cargo. Democrats and the left-wing media have been critical of the legitimacy of stopping shipments of fentanyl, cocaine, and heroin that kill tens of thousands of Americans each year. (They always side with the bad dudes.)
Every boat sunk is a shipment that never reaches our streets. Every shipment carries death certificates for thousands of American citizens. Trump says each sunk boat saves 25,000 lives. Democrats say that is bullpoop. No matter. There will be deaths tied to each shipment – and Democrats are more interested in criticizing Trump than saving American lives.
The recent second strike has ignited a larger political and moral battle. Democrats and their allies in the left-wing media have rushed to label the action a “war crime.” They accuse Navy commanders, Navy SEALs and even Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth of issuing or obeying an illegal order – committing a war crime. They demand prosecutions, tribunals, and international condemnation.
The Rush to Judgment
While most Democrats play their accusatory narratives in the media — court of public opinion — there is the problem. As of this writing, we do not yet know all the facts. The congressional testimony – as reported by those members of Congress who were briefed — is not only inconclusive, but also contradictory. Until the details are revealed, it is irresponsible—and dangerous—to make sweeping accusations of war crimes. Yet Democrats have already convicted an entire chain of command of war crimes in the court of public opinion.
This is not new. The radical left has a well-established contempt for America’s military – and law enforcement in general. From Vietnam to Iraq, they have been quick to sympathize with America’s enemies and slow to defend America’s defenders. In this case, they are extending sympathy to drug runners—men who knowingly transport poison that kills Americans by the tens of thousands.
Trump’s Doctrine: Narco-Traffickers as Enemy Combatants
President Trump has made his position clear. In order to address the issue with more than just talk, he has declared the drug traffickers to be enemy combatants. For certain, they are not innocent fishermen. They are not domestic criminals. They are not misunderstood migrants. They are the frontline forces in a terrorist drug war against the United States, armed not only with guns but with narcotics.
He has a compelling argument. Drugs kill more Americans annually than terrorist bombs and guns, car accidents, or domestic gun violence. If a foreign power launched missiles that killed 100,000 Americans a year, we would call it war. Why should drug cartels be treated differently?
The Left’s Bogus Claims
Democrats and their media allies insist that some of these boats may not be narco-ships — but fishermen or mere passengers. That is absurd. Intelligence, surveillance, and naval tracking are not guessing games. These vessels are identified precisely because they are carrying drugs == and those piloting them are the worst of the worst. To suggest otherwise is to insult common sense, the known facts and the competency of the entire U.S. intelligence community.
Even more far-fetched is the claim that some crewmen may have been forced into service because their families were kidnapped. There is not a scintilla of evidence for this. It is pure speculation, designed to tug at heartstrings and paint drug runners as victims. And why should that matter? What we do know for sure is that these men are bringing death to the American people. Whether they volunteered or were coerced, the cargo they carry is lethal. They are narco criminals
The Second Strike: A Complicated Issue
The second strike is more complicated issue. International law requires that combatants who surrender or are incapacitated be treated humanely. If survivors posed no threat, then attacking them raises serious questions. But those questions must be answered through investigation, not through partisan hysteria. The critics seem to believe that it would be better to leave anyone not killed in the initial shot to remain drifting in the open ocean until the sharks discovered them.
Damaging America’s Reputation
By rushing to label the Navy guilty of war crimes, Democrats are not only undermining our military—they are damaging America’s reputation abroad. They are feeding the propaganda mills of our enemies. If we convict our sailors in the press before facts are known, we weaken morale, embolden enemies, and erode trust in our institutions.
This is not about defending wrongdoing. If the second strike was unlawful, it must be addressed accordingly. But it must be addressed through proper channels, not through partisan attacks designed to score political points.
The Bigger Picture
The controversy reveals a deeper divide in American politics. One side sees drug traffickers as enemy combatants, deserving of the same treatment as terrorist guerrillas. The other side sees them as victims, deserving of sympathy and legal protection. One side prioritizes the lives of Americans destroyed by drugs. The other side prioritizes theoretical “rights” of those who deliver the drugs.
The strikes on drug trafficking vessels are saving innocent lives. Every boat sunk means fewer overdoses, fewer funerals, fewer shattered families. That is undeniable. The second strike raises serious questions, but those questions must be answered with evidence, not ideology.
Democrats and the left-wing media are wrong to sympathize with drug runners. They are wrong to accuse America’s defenders of war crimes without proof. In doing so, they reveal once again their historic contempt for America’s military and a disturbing willingness to damage our nation’s reputation for political gain.
Whether the second strike was wrong or not can be settled. Regardless, I still have no sympathy for those in the business of killing Americans by the thousands.
So, there ‘tis.
Wow, comparing Trump’s actions and policies to Jefferson. Never thought I would see Trump compared to a founder.
There is no comparison. Jefferson first faced the issue of the Barbary Pirates via diplomacy with the leaders of the multiple countries involved. Did Trump do that? Oh wait, he taunted a land war. Before the revolution, American ships were protected by Britain and a treaty they had. After the revolution, our first ship was seized in 1784 as pirates looked for ransom and tribute. Jefferson as minister to France sent envoys to purchase treaties and our sailors freedom. Morocco signed. Did Trump do that? Algeria was next, taking two ships, and Jefferson could not come up with the cash this time and sailors languished for a decade. Ah, Trump did that for Ukraine.
Jefferson and Jay went to London but determined that even if they paid, the attacks would continue.
In 1794, Congress appropriated monies to free the prisoners and over 100 were freed. Jefferson, as minister to Washington, Washington swung to his way of thinking, the navy was established in 1794, there was much talk about leaving the old world, focusing on the West, but Jefferson won the 1800 election. However, Congress passed legislation that, while not a declaration of war, did give the navy recourse to protect shipping. A new Tripoli Pasha came to be, he demanded tribute, which is actually in our treaty with Tripoli at the time, and Jefferson said no and the Pasha declared WAR on the US. Algiers and Tunis stood down leaving Jefferson a single foe who had declared war over our abandonment of our treaty. That’s not like Trump at all. Jefferson was not aware of the Tripoli war declaration when he sent four ships in but he was aware that they were for defense but could lash out if attacked. From WIKI: “However, if war had been declared, then Dale was instructed to “protect American ships and citizens against potential aggression”; Jefferson made it clear that he was “unauthorized by the constitution, without the sanction of Congress, to go beyond the line of defense.” He told Congress: “I communicate [to you] all material information on this subject, that in the exercise of this important function confided by the constitution to the legislature exclusively their judgment may form itself on a knowledge and consideration of every circumstance of weight”” Yeah, just like Trump my big fat white ass. In 1802, Congress passed a resolution allowing protection of shipping from piracy.
I do not see ANY comparison between Jefferson’s actions and Trump’s actions. I love Jefferson but do see a few chinks in his overall vision. He ain’t no Washington, but then again, who ever has bee? I do see some comparison in that both Jefferson and Trump never went to battle, although Jefferson was a colonel in the militia, Trump got deferments for fake bone spurs that never bothered him after the fall of Saigon. Jefferson had to rightly flee the British in Philadelphia and Virginia; TACO. Both have harsh words of war, but no meaningful wars themselves. Jefferson created West Point, Trump said many terrible things there. Jefferson was a brilliant nerd, Trump is an idiot. I could live in Jefferson’s home, I would vomit in Trump’s gold toilets. Overall, I respect Jefferson on so many levels. Trump, not so much so. It’s clear there is no comparison, on any level.
Not s doctor but guessing you have TDS…..Really…Really bad case. Please get help.
Yet more bullshit regarding the lawlessness of the current regime, apparently you didn’t learn last week that you were yet again on the wrong side of history. I know-Republican intelligence (that’s a real oxymoron) never makes mistakes-remember the WMD’s that Saddam had? However, our Navy playing shooting gallery from the sky is totally against international law (I for one will cheer when the ICC indicts our current dictator so he can’t travel to any respectable country). You claim to ‘know’ what these boats are carrying-I say bullshit. Your once mediocre mind has turned to mush with the onset of dementia at your advanced age. You only ‘know’ what the current regime tells you, and their credibility is certainly not very good. If the only way that our military can stop these boats is by shooting them with missiles rather than interdicting them by sea (especially given the naval presence we have established in the area), it certainly speaks poorly of our military, and eliminates the opportunity to both prove their conjecture that the boats are carrying drugs, and also perhaps get intel on the actual source of the drugs. And one more area you have gotten backasswards-liberals do not hate the military, it is the felon in chief who displays disdain for our war fighters (lest you forget his infamous “what’s in it for them?” comment to General Kelly)Yet another foolish tome by the man who considers himself ‘the savant of Boca’.
Mike f
Nice job…spot on
Don’t forget Obama and the libs aka democraps had to fix the Bush wars, then Orange FATass draws up a 3 page agreement to release 5000 Taliban and strip Afghanistan People of their Government aka Abandoning them and then dumps the departure on Biden along with Orange Face’s half ass job with Covid19…
Don’t get me started…!!!!
Sparky and Dunger should get a room.
Says Wussie from his circle ⭕️ jerk room with Hardon, Yuchie Tom, and Seth.
As for you Mr Larry Horist…feel free to remove one’s head from your Flat Earth Hershey Highway and take a deep breath of reality…
I know…Your gods won’t let you!!
Defending the wrong doings of the Right (in reality) Wrong Wing isn’t patriotic no matter how you mangle the truth!
Hey…has anyone noticed the few Larry respondents here!
Larry…suggest you get a real job! LOL
Larry says: “The first strike is straightforward. Drug-laden vessels identified by intelligence are destroyed before they can deliver their deadly cargo. Democrats and the left-wing media have been critical of the legitimacy of stopping shipments of fentanyl, cocaine, and heroin that kill tens of thousands of Americans each year. (They always side with the bad dudes.)”
How does this square with pardoning a drug kingpin caught for 400 tons of cocaine? Death for drug mules, pardons for kingpins (who are free now to buy Trump bitcoin). He pardoned Larry Hoover who sold over $100M in drugs every year in Larry’s hometown of Chicago. From his first and second term, he pardoned over two dozen drug offenders, not potheads, but many major dealers in the US. He pardoned Ulbricht, creator of Silk Road and perhaps six murders. Silk Road was a online illegal drug distribution process that distributed illegal drugs to hundreds of thousands of Americans with over a dozen known deaths from said illegal actions that Trump pardoned. His list of pardons for drug DEALERS goes on and on and on.
So, what’s up with fighting drugs while regularly pardoning RICH drug dealers? A double standard for low-level mules versus high-level kingpins? Do you think these kingpins sweat over a few dead mules, shitty boats, and some dropped loads? I mean their risk in minimal and they know they can be pardoned if caught.
Larry is mistaken on what he thinks are facts. First, everything is suspected, alleged, there is no evidence of criminals, contraband, or weapons. It’s all sunk evidence, so to speak. Larry has zero proof of a crime. He chooses to blindly believe the CIA, and President’s word as they become investigators, police, judge, juries, and executioners on the high seas against what they term: narco terrorists, who in reality are low-level drug mules.
Narco Terrorists is a made-up term like TDS so Trump can loophole these murders in under the Patriot Act and a UN statement on terrorism. Like “affordability,” Trump just made it up to help skirt the law.
Larry talks of fentanyl, cocaine, and heroin, but Trump is attacking Venezuelan boats suspected of hauling cocaine. Fentanyl comes from Mexico using Chinese components. Wouldn’t find that in VZ. Trump is not attacking fentanyl. Heroin does not come through VZ; Trump is not attacking heroin. Cocaine comes from Columbia; Trump is attacking the cocaine distribution ONLY from Venezuela. About 10% of Columbia’s cocaine comes through VZ through the Caribbean. About 80% comes through Mexico although most of those transits in the Pacific are aimed to get there, Mexico that Trump is not targeting.
Let’s be clear: this Democrat says arrest and try all illegal acts wherever you find them.
Drug deaths have three players, the seller, the user, and the drug. Do the sellers kill the user or does the user kill themselves? IF you get rid of the seller, the user demand is still there and users will still effectively kill themselves. Horist wants to spend big bucks to fight the war for the lower priority drug, cocaine is 28% of the death toll, fentanyl is almost 70%. Horist wants to spend bigger bucks to fight the war in the wrong place, the Caribbean, when the battle ground is the Pacific and Mexico, but primarily Mexico. Most important, Horist wants to void the rule of law and murder all suspects without following the rule of law, using the courts, and such. What happens when he brings this to America for the folks he calls terrorists here?
When does this end? When you say Trump can pick out a target, kill them, and make it legal by calling them a terrorist, where will Horist draw the line? Trump has illegally designated ANTIFA as terrorists. His act though is quite broad encompassing all anti-Americanism, anti-capitalism, and anti-Christianity; support for the overthrow of the United States Government; extremism on migration, race, and gender; and hostility towards those who hold traditional American views on family, religion, and morality. He has singled out Democrats as terrorists, judges as terrorists. He believes, and has stated, he can shoot someone dead on Fifth Avenue and you, including Horist, won’t care. It’s a wide net he may be testing in the Caribbean and Pacific today.
His targeting of drug mules for death is illegal, immoral, and unamerican. Imagine Elliot Ness just blowing Capone away instead of putting him in jail for tax evasion. Ask yourself, what is the end game of allowing the Trump administration to be our judge, jury, and executioner? There’s a reason we ask Congress to take these responsibilities. These powers should never rest in the hands of one, even two people as they do under Trump.
Larry…”By rushing to label the Navy guilty of war crimes”
Hegseth and Bradley are not a “few good men”…no matter how you slice and dice it, they are a few bad murderers that need cement wall accommodations…for FREE!
” Democrats and the left-wing media have been critical of the legitimacy of stopping shipments of fentanyl, cocaine, and heroin that kill tens of thousands of Americans each year. ”
Now that’s pure bullshit…
If you really wanted to stop the drug flow…you would start inside our borders…educating & training instead of abandoning them for lower taxes, for those suffering 10% at the top!!
Larry…there are almost 1000 Billionaires in America, if you make them each pay $1B each year we would solve the debt issues in 40 years…however we have been giving them tax breaks for 80 years since the end of WWII…hasn’t been working very well now has it!
Change Larry…you can do it!
Larry says: “Every boat sunk is a shipment that never reaches our streets. Every shipment carries death certificates for thousands of American citizens. Trump says each sunk boat saves 25,000 lives. Democrats say that is bullpoop. No matter. There will be deaths tied to each shipment – and Democrats are more interested in criticizing Trump than saving American lives.”
His claim of “lives saved,” cannot be substantiated. He bets that you believe drugs kill and then presents impossible numbers to disprove his own point. He sees Trump’s lie and blames Democrats for calling it a lie, but he does not. He believes the lie, I guess. I showed him the real numbers and he still believes Trump. Trump’s 25,000 lives saved pre boat is a laughable lie. Our current 23 boats sunk would save 575,000 lives. In the Caribbean, it’s 12 boats for 300,000 lives saved. In 2024, under Biden, a total of 80,400 lives were lost to drugs in America. FYI: that’s a 30% drop in deaths from the previous year. Under Biden. Suck on it. Fentanyl represents 70% of the deaths. Cocaine represents 28%. IOW, Trump’s chasing 22,000 deaths, falsely claiming 25,000 lives saved for each sinking so he’s only off by a factor of TEN or more times. About 1,000 people die each week STILL from covid. That’s 57,000 a year. To attack this death toll, he unscientifically destroyed covid vaccine recommendations allowing only 65 and older some benefits and forcing others to pay or go without. They said they are “pleased” with taking folks out of covered covid vaccines. He has also halted covid research claiming it’s “risky.” So, we blow the fuck out of strangers to save 22,000 lives, but restrict the vaccines to not save 57,000 lives. Strange priorities, why? And the over 50,000 Americans who die from fentanyl each year; Trump yammers about it, puts tariffs on Canada for it, and does nothing in reality about it. Strange priorities Trump has that Horist loves.
IOW – we are chasing the lower priority drug in the scheme of things when drug deaths are plummeting at record levels (under Biden) but downplaying covid which kills three times as many (under Trump). And drug deaths are way down year over year. Mission accomplished? Before we began? Fire, ready, aim at the wrong target? And we are chasing the mules while the Columbian producers are free to make more and transport in a different mode of transport. Might be loading up those empty deportation planes in Guatemala for their return to the US for more of the brown people.
Hey, fighting drugs is good, but spending taxpayer dollars wisely is better. Why not target the top priority first? Why only target supply when demand is the key factor causing the supply? Why stand down on bigger priorities based on American deaths like covid? Or flu? TACO – VZ is an easy target that cannot fight back.
Bottom line: we borrow a lot to fund what our government provides. This year’s deficit is the highest in four years, tying Biden for one year, worse than Biden for two years. Highest in four years. We can spend, but we need to spend wisely. We MUST bring down the deficit, and then the debt. Biden started on the deficit, Trump went the other way raising the deficit in his first year even after taxing us for hundreds of billions with his tariffs, representing taxation without representation just like King George of old. We know how that ended. Yes, fighting drugs is great. Haven’t we learned the priority is on demand, not supply? Haven’t we learned from Nixon, or soon Trump repeating Nixon, we can’t stop the supply IF the demand is growing? Do we really think making movies about our killing low-level drug mules will really stem the tide? Personally, I would prioritize saving people from covid, which is not a personal choice, over saving people from themselves doing drugs and dying for it. If I attacked drugs, would start with fentanyl, not cocaine as the killer of three times the drug users over cocaine. Seems we are following an illegal path to target the second priority in drugs and sacrificing something else that could save even more Americans —- and taking a loan to do so. Larry likes it.
I’m Frank Danger, and you’re not.
Good. Piss in their cornflakes and send them to hell.
Trump claims gas to fall to $1.99 at PA rally. Mt. Pocono, who the fuck goes there?
Next day Trump seizes VZ oil tanker.
Think about it.
Will there be Trump VZ hotels and golf soon?
Goes well with Trump Towers Gaza.
Affordability. We get two dolls, two pencils, what’s next, only two guns? My affordability is all steel frame flareside V8 with extra springs and had adjustable shocks for that hard body sports car ride at 12mpgs. Afford that, Don.
He was sweating bullets last night. The weave has turned into a meander. How many times did he blame Biden. Never gets old. Not.
Ding ding ding.
Trump said Biden 30 times last night. That’s ten times three or a lot of Beetlebidens.
31 if you count “sleepy Donna a bitch.”
MAGA has BDS pandemic raging a year after the last infection. Maybe inject Don with some watered down Beetlebiden to immunize him.