He says the military strikes are “on behalf of the self-defense of the American people.”
U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth gave an in-depth rationale regarding President Donald Trump’s orders to strike narcotics smuggling vessels out of South America.
Secretary Hegseth stated, “The rationale is pretty bright and simple. It’s self-defense… defense of the American people. We have been poisoned, our kids have been poisoned, our communities have been poisoned, and we’ve allowed it to happen, because for some reason, we were not willing to look holistically or seriously at the problem.“
“Plenty of administrations that have interdicted vessels at sea, boarded them, grabbed the drugs, played the game, played it for years, played it for decades, but nothing really changes,“ the defense secretary continued, saying it has not addressed the problem. “President Trump has said, on my watch, we will not allow these narco-terrorists to operate with impunity in our hemisphere.“
Secretary Hegseth added, “We know, on behalf of the self-defense of the American people, we have the authorities to strike these narco-terrorists in international waters… It’s not something we’ve done flippantly. It’s not extrajudicial. We’ve got a lot of lawyers and a lot of process that’s looking at the who and the why, and we’re working with Congress to make sure they have that information.“
“If you see how and why we gather the information about who we target, it’s very deliberate. We know exactly who these guys are,“ he concluded. “We hope it changes the dynamic in the hemisphere and that it saves lives. That’s the point. Saving American lives. That’s the point the President always talks about. This is about America and America first.”
As the Lord Leads, Pray with Us…
- For wisdom for President Trump as he seeks to halt the flow of illicit drugs into the United States.
- For the president to seek God’s guidance as commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces.
- For Secretary Hegseth and Pentagon officials as they carry out the president’s strikes on drug traffickers.
Sources: Daily Signal, Newsweek, MSN
