The Biden-era soft-on-crime crowd would have you believe America is helpless against the cartels, but the truth is this administration — and now the current one — finally put muscle behind words by authorizing precise strikes against suspected narco-trafficking vessels that have funneled fentanyl and misery into our towns. The Southern Command has carried out dozens of interdictions at sea this fall, and the toll from these operations has mounted as the mission expanded to the Eastern Pacific.
That success has been shouted down by cable-TV outrage over one deeply scrutinized incident — the September strike where a follow-up attack reportedly killed survivors from an earlier engagement — and Democrats and establishment media rushed to call it a “coverup” without waiting for facts. Top military leaders have briefed Congress and flatly rejected the claim that anybody ordered an indiscriminate “kill them all” policy, even as lawmakers pore over the raw footage and evidence.
Legal questions deserve sober review, but the hysterical political theater from the left is disingenuous when the Justice Department’s legal advisers and other officials have weighed in on the authorities being used; this is not about protecting politicians, it’s about navigating hard legal terrain while protecting Americans from narco-terror violence. Washington’s mandarins and the press like to act shocked, yet an Office of Legal Counsel memo and internal reviews have been cited as part of the justification for aggressive action against unflagged trafficking vessels in international waters.
Conservative voices and experienced veterans who understand how warfare and law of armed conflict work have pushed back hard on the smear campaign, telling viewers that the men and women who carried out these missions deserve measured scrutiny, not contempt and character assassination. Newsmax guests rightly warned that playing this out as a political Twitter game undermines morale and hands advantage to the cartels and hostile regimes that cheer when America hesitates.
Let’s be blunt: the United States has a duty to defend its borders and citizens, and using precision strikes to disrupt narco-terror networks is a legitimate tool when backed by credible intelligence and legal review. Secretary Hegseth publicly released footage and called these tactics necessary to stop vessels tied to murderous gangs — opponents can demand transparency, but they should not weaponize oversight into an excuse to hamstring commanders fighting a real threat.
Americans should insist on a fair, timely investigation that protects classified sources and methods while holding anyone who broke the law accountable — but we will not stand for reflexive condemnations that paint our troops as criminals for doing the hard work the political class failed to do for years. Congress must get the full unedited record, do its job, and then move to give commanders clear law-of-war guidance and the backing to defeat the cartels, because safety at home comes before political theater in Washington.
