On Friday’s “PBS NewsHour,” New York Times columnist David Brooks commented on the American strike on a boat that the administration says had drug smugglers on it by stating that one tenet of conservatism is “government should be careful about assuming what it knows, because the world is really complicated.” And we board ships as a law enforcement act to be sure they have drug dealers on them instead of striking the boats and killing the people who are on the boat as an act of war.
Brooks said, “I’m a conservative. I believe government should be careful about assuming what it knows, because the world is really complicated. And sending a missile at some ship where you don’t know what’s on the ship, that’s just foolish. It’s killing people, potentially — well, absolutely, when you don’t even know what they’re doing.”
He continued, “There’s a reason we board ships, because you want to have some evidence that you’re actually going after drug dealers, rather than, whatever, some random 11 people on a boat. And so, the targeting of ships using acts of war, what should be acts of law enforcement, really does cross a line to me.”
Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett
Read the full article here