Rep. Rich McCormick, R-Ga., told Newsmax on Thursday that the U.S. is confident it has not hit innocent civilians during the Trump administration's recent spate of attacks on suspected drug-smuggling vessels.
On "The Record With Greta Van Susteren," McCormick said the military's target-verification procedures leave little room for doubt.
"We are certain," he said, stressing that U.S. forces "certainly don't engage people who we think are civilians or innocents."
McCormick, a Marine Corps veteran and member of the House Armed Services and Foreign Affairs committees, said the military's protocols are deliberate and exhaustive, shaped by decades of operational practice and intelligence standards.
"We have to have lots of verification," he said. "We don't just do something haphazardly.
"I don't have any questions about what they're doing at all."
He added that the identification process used in the strikes mirrors the discipline he saw in his own service.
"Unless somebody has information to the contrary, we are as careful about this as anything we do," he said.
Pivoting from national-security concerns to domestic responsibility, McCormick urged Americans to recognize their role in enabling the international drug trade.
"One thing I would challenge the public [on] — realize that no matter what we do to take out the bad guys, we're not going to get rid of this problem as long as we have a demand," he said.
He warned that every purchase of illicit drugs "funds murderers, child traffickers, and rapists."
The congressman then issued a blunt call to action for Americans to end their participation in the drug market.
"Please don't use drugs," he said. "Please don't buy those things.
"You're the worst problem of all."
McCormick acknowledged that traffickers may use coerced or uninformed people aboard vessels but said transporting lethal drugs is "an act of war" against the United States.
"That's never a good thing, but when you're coming here to do harm to the American public, expect bad things to happen," he said.
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