RE: Well...you implied in your previous post that you would not trust evidence from the intelligence community. Who would you trust evidence from?
Would you, possibly, trust “evidence” from the Colombian or Venezuelan governments that these were just fishing boats?
I trust HARD EVIDENCE. Arrest first and shoot later.
If the intelligence community is right, then they’re right. But HOW would we know that if we destroy all evidence?
We can only know WHO to trust if we have evidence to prove that they are or are not trustworthy. With this policy of blowing them up to kingdom come, we won’t know.
So, the right policy should be — INTERCEPT, ARREST, GATHER EVIDENCE and IF PROVEN GUILTY, THEN EXECUTE, but not until.
We’ve been doing it that way for years with little long term results.
It is relatively easy to avoid the Coast Guard. Their boats can outrun ours. In the meantime they are dumping the drugs overboard so a conviction is unlikely. They just get released to try again another day.
What solution do you propose?