US Naval Institute reports the 17th incident of an attack on an alleged drug boat.

“The strike is the 17th announced strike since the campaign began in early September, which has resulted in 70 killed, 69 killed in the strikes and one presumed lost at sea, according to a USNI News tally of the strikes.”

The first comment is,

“show me one iota of evidence that these are drug boats, just one.

“of course you can’t. the boats and bodies burned and sank before any actual evidence could be collected. every single image provided by the government is deliberately low resolution and provides no more evidence that this is a drug boat than a fishing boat.

“the only terrorism going on here is that being committed by our government.”

So why hasn’t there been any presentation of evidence, maybe not in every case, but at least in some cases. I think the evidence is there, but so far, it seems we have not bothered to collect and present it.

In my admittedly limited experience, when a drug boat sinks, at least some of the cargo floats to the surface. Have we made an effort to secure evidence? It is worth doing.

When a government agency does something as questionable as killing people without even asking them to surrender, we need to demonstrate why the action is necessary. It is not enough to simply say “trust me.” Failing to demonstrate the necessity of the action opens up the country and the agency to criticism and weakens American influence.

The methods might still be questioned but providing proof that the boats were transporting drugs would at least provide some justification.