None of the photos I've seen of these boats being destroyed with
people on them have shown anything that could be remotely divined
as a "bundle" of drugs. These boats are the means for people to
travel to the islands. Commuters are being murdered. I hope
these bastards doing the killing are going to get hunted down by
the ICC and made very sorry.
Yes, and that's the primary argument against this practice. If
we have solid intel that they're carrying drugs, and we know
where they are, then as soon as they enter our territorial
waters we can board the boat and arrest them. The Coast Guard
doesn't need a warrant or even a specific reason to board a
boat. Some of those boats are faster than Cutters, but I don't
have solid info on how often they actually escape when they're
already being tracked. It's hard to imagine they really get
away often because the Coast Guard also has helicopters, and
they're allowed to continue a pursuit into international waters
(and onto land) as long as the pursuit started in US waters.
Regardless of how often they really get away, it's not normal to
blow up someone's boat as a law enforcement action. We also
don't execute drug traffickers, and even when the state executes
someone there's a trial first.
but.....
-
post-911 we
treat foreign terrorist organizations as enemy combatants
-
the executive
branch gets to decide who counts as an FTO. The sec of
state, sec of treasury, and attorney general all have to
agree, but they also all have the same boss.
-
Nobody can
really stop the executive branch from declaring an FTO.
-
Congress
could pass a bill to override someone's listing as an FTO,
but to date they've never done it.
-
The courts
could overturn an FTO listing, but for a lot of reasons
it's almost impossible.
So effectively the President and/or their cabinet has a
completely legal pathway to authorize military force against
just about anyone, and there's very little anyone can do about
it. It's not that I have sympathy for drug smugglers, it's that
all we can do is take someone's word for it that it was a drug
smuggler. If anyone is totally comfortable with that then I'm
curious what your rationale is.
https://x.com/SecWar/status/1981049943306752361
I thought the Coast Guard was able to
intercept boats and board them, arrest people and confiscate
cargo. I seem to remember they specifically acquired high
speed boats that were a match for anything a drug runner might
have.
