The United States military this week carried out strikes on five more vessels the government says were being used for drug-smuggling operations, an escalation that left several people dead and others unaccounted for as the Coast Guard searched for survivors. Southern Command and Pentagon officials describe the hits as part of an effort to dismantle narco-trafficking convoys that threaten American streets and families.
These attacks are not isolated; they come on the heels of a broader campaign launched in September that has included dozens of strikes across the Caribbean and eastern Pacific, with contemporary reports putting the death toll in the triple digits. The scale of the operation signals a sustained, muscular push to choke off the ocean routes that cartels have exploited for years.
The administration and military leaders have been blunt: this is a fight against narco-terrorists who ship poison like fentanyl toward our people, and it requires offensive action when other tools fail. Conservatives who believe in the primary duty of government — protecting citizens — see these strikes as the kind of unapologetic, results-driven response America needs to stop the flood of deadly drugs.
Of course, the usual cadre of international critics and human-rights groups have condemned the strikes as unlawful or “extrajudicial,” arguing that drug trafficking does not justify lethal force in international waters and demanding legal justification and oversight. Their moralizing rings hollow to families who have buried children taken by cartel poison, and the hand-wringing from coastal elites should not paralyze a government defending the homeland.
If Washington is serious about stopping the cartels, Congress must stop posturing and give the military and Coast Guard the resources and legal clarity they need, while slapping tougher sanctions on the Maduro regime and oil interests that bankroll criminal networks. Pressure on Venezuelan oil revenues and tighter maritime interdiction work together — diplomacy backed by force, not appeasement — and conservatives should demand no less until the drug pipelines are cut.
This is a moment for patriots to stand tall: secure our borders, back our servicemen and women, and stop letting ideology and empty legalism handcuff the instruments of American security. If Washington falters now, cartels and hostile regimes will read that as weakness, and more American lives will pay the price.
