Legal pundits are continuing to debate whether U.S. military strikes on sea-going drug smugglers are within international law.
Allow me to pose a different question: If those trying to bring death-dealing fentanyl to our communities were walking our streets and distributing their lethal doses to the unsuspecting, would you not call them hired killers? Would you not, in a trial, seek the death penalty for the carnage, mayhem, grief and misery they have caused?
When, from abroad, Al-Qaeda and Islamic State were murdering Americans, there was no hesitation in eliminating them. Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, as well as his henchman, Ayman al-Zawahiri, were discharged without incident, and US forces unquestioningly removed countless Islamic State operatives from the battlefield (here, here, here and here).
Then why would you not use deadly force to confront similarly lethal forces before they completed their deadly mission inside our nation's borders?
To date, these drug smugglers, who have annually killed more than 100,000 Americans for the past several years -- the equivalent of one large plane crash a day -- have used every means possible to ship ever more potent poison into our country. From aircraft to mini-submarines, from couriers slipping past our borders to hiding drugs in cargo, these criminals have acted with impunity for far too long.
President Donald J. Trump has changed their calculus for survival, much less their expectation of illicit profit.
He recognizes that traditional law enforcement efforts have not been able to stem the onslaught. Fentanyl and other poisonous drugs are continuing to flood our communities. International cooperation in preventing these mass-murders has long been problematic.
What do death-dealers understand most? Force. Unescapable force that comes at the tip of the spear delivered by U.S. military forces.
So legal scholars may continue to debate, ponder, and opine on the use of the U.S. Navy to detect and destroy drug smugglers in international waters, but one thing can be guaranteed. There are now many drug-smuggling murderers sitting beside their idle boats asking themselves, "Are we feeling lucky today?"
Trump has made it clear. The White House will view international drug smuggling as a capital and national security offense and act accordingly.
Lawrence Kadish serves on the Board of Governors of Gatestone Institute.
