Fair enough. The counter point would be that perhaps 40+ years of a failed approach might warrant trying something new.
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Drug Boat Strike
- Thread starter Griz882
- Start date
Using lethal force against drug smugglers likely won't be very effective, they'll find some other way to smuggle drugs and get them to their customers. They always do.
I don't know the reasons behind this particular action but it may make sense from a larger perspective, to include messaging. But if it becomes a more common thing the risks for mistakes and miscalculation rise significantly and the killing innocent folks like this becomes much more likely. Even Tom Clancy realized how messy it could end up getting.
Your first paragraph accepts defeat as a foregone conclusion. I’m not willing to accept that. If it saves even one life, let’s consider it, but yes I share in the concern for making this the default option. I wouldn’t phrase it as “even Tom Clancy”… old Tom had a lot of insight and pretty much called 9/11 before it happened. I agree there’s probably messaging in this action. If the bad guys know you won’t shoot, it makes other deterrents less effective.
It's not defeat, just reality. The interdiction mission the Coast Guard, Navy, US law enforcement and our foreign partners do is a useful one and still worth doing. But it is just one small part of counterdrug efforts that occur from start to finish.
Even Clancy admitted that 9/11 was far beyond what he imagined, and even he certainly wasn't the first to imagine and the 9/11 weren't the first to try.
BTW, shooting has long been used as a tool when stopping drug smugglers. Just not lethal force as a first option.
Really, there is one effective way. US consumers demand their product.
Google AI...
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) data shows that marijuana seizures have dramatically declined since 2013, indicating a significant decrease in smuggling.
Widespread U.S. legalization: The expanding number of U.S. states with legal recreational and medical cannabis markets has undercut the demand for imported marijuana. A 2023 report from the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) noted that "Mexican marijuana has largely been supplanted by domestic-produced marijuana" in U.S. markets.
Sure…no argument on that specific aspect, but wasn’t this strike on a vessel allegedly carrying fentanyl? No way to safely legalize fentanyl…
Big sigh on our country.
As an E-2 guy I spent a ton of time on drug interdiction dets back in the late 19th century. Plenty of time droning around over the Caribbean pondering the lunacy. It never ceases to amaze me how the country with one hand is shoveling stuff into it's maw while the right hand keeps punching itself in the face.
The Google AI machine says Venezuela has no role in Fentanyl trafficking (but obviously huge in the cocaine biz)...and that the Mexican cartels are almost entirely responsible for the production and trafficking of fentanyl into the US.
Are you saying we should legalize "recreational" use of some of the most potent and dangerously addictive substances on the planet?
I agree with the half-assed nature of our ROE and political agendas (half-assed policy = half-assed results), but I want to better understand your position.
For my part, proper education and awareness starting in schools (not just "drugs are bad, mmkay" but WHY they are bad), a focus on rehabilitation and safety nets to keep people off drugs (big LOL in today's political environment), and throwing the book at dealers and traffickers would be a good start. Campaign finance reform and transparency behind the money flow would be even better.
Either way, blowing up a drug boat looks like a political smokescreen to me, and I certainly don't expect a sea-change in our national policy towards drugs. Too many people getting rich off of others' addiction.
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I don't have a hard position. I'm not going to pretend to have a solution.
I know what doesn't work for a drug that people really really want to take (pot, alcohol) and what works (legalization) as far as reducing smuggling and illegal manufacture.
There are days when I feel like we should flood the streets with fentanyl and let natural selection work its magic.
What aspect of this is new?
Not sure I am following you here. Are you saying cartel money is financing political campaigns and/or influencing politicians?
I've never done drugs but it's abundantly clear that Drugs was the winner of the War on Drugs. Why are we still pretending?
We should legalize it, regulate it, tax it, and move on.
