Drone

“Second, do we have a clear, attainable objective? Yes, we do. Every patriotic American felt a justifiable sense of pride and accomplishment when SEAL Team Six put a bullet in the skull of Osama bin Laden, the man most directly responsible for the death of three thousand Americans on 9/11. We have destroyed al-Qaeda’s capacity to attack us at home because we have killed the leaders of that organization.

“I propose the same strategy that was employed by both the Bush and Obama administrations in regard to terrorists, which also enjoyed wide congressional approval. My administration has drawn up a most-wanted list of the fifty most powerful and violent drug lords and drug dealers in both Mexico and the United States. Eliminating the key leadership will cripple the production and distribution networks in Mexico and the United States, and serve as a warning to those seeking to succeed them.

“My policy is simple. You deal, you die—or you go away forever. For Americans, the choice is equally clear. Either you are for the narcoterrorists or you are against them. There is no middle ground.”

* * *

Diele fumed at the television screen. “You mean, either I support your militarized drug policy or I’m an enemy of the state? A narcoterrorist? Bullshit!”

* * *

Myers continued.

“I understand it’s not possible to completely eliminate the sale or use of illegal drugs but that is not our goal. Our goal is to curtail them significantly. History has shown that this approach is difficult, but effective. There is no drug dealing when the dealers are dead. Dealers are no longer considered criminals in my administration. My administration considers them to be enemy combatants and terrorists.

“Let me raise a few more salient points. Everything I’ve discussed tonight will be posted on my website, and I’m asking Congress to meet in an emergency session as soon as possible so that these new policies can be put into law. Until then, however, I will be using executive orders in the exact same way my two immediate predecessors, Barack Obama and George Bush, used them to prosecute the War on Terror.

“My first executive order is to declare the fifty members of the most-wanted list as terrorists and enemy combatants. That gives them the same legal status as Osama bin Laden, who killed three thousand Americans a decade ago. The fifty drug terrorists on the most-wanted list and their evil empires are responsible for ten times as many American deaths each year in our country as Osama bin Laden murdered on that terrible day.

“My second executive order is that no American service members will be put on Mexican soil. This would be a clear violation of existing bilateral and international treaties. However, just as we’ve used drones in Yemen to kill American-born terrorists, we will use them wherever we find the drug terrorists we’ve targeted. Because I am not deploying American troops on foreign soil, the War Powers Resolution does not apply. If Congress attempts to cut off funding of this operation in the future, I urge voters to contact any representative who is aiding and abetting the drug dealers that are killing our children and express their concern.

“My third executive order provides for an immediate review of federal prisons. Any prisoner who is guilty of only nonviolent drug-related crimes will have their case reviewed and, if possible, they will be not only released but also pardoned, and their records expunged if they are not arrested again for any other reason and they remain drug-free for three years. This will result in enormous cost savings for the federal government. I urge states to follow my example.

“My fourth executive order concerns the addiction problem itself. Through the cost-saving measures of the pardon program, my administration will make medical resources available free of charge to any indigent drug addict or hard-core drug user who genuinely seeks a cure through a program of strict and guided supervision.

“My fifth executive order is to end all federal regulations against the private use and possession of medically supervised marijuana for individuals over the age of twenty-five. This clears the way for states to decide for themselves what policies they want to enact in regard to private marijuana use. As a former governor and strict constitutionalist, I believe the federal government has exceeded its authority in regard to the states. States are the great laboratories of democracy, not federal bureaucracies. As an aside, as president, it is not appropriate for me to decide this issue, but if I were still a governor, I would have actively opposed the legalization of marijuana in any form in my home state of Colorado.