Bill Barr Lays Out War on Terror Playbook for Decimating Mexican Drug Cartels

Former attorney general Bill Barr believes the United States should use the lessons it learned from the War on Terror in the fight against Mexican drug cartels.

“There were 80,000 ISIS [militants] controlling a large territory in the Middle East, and we had a couple thousand special forces as well as local supporting groups such as the Kurds,” Barr told National Review in an interview. “Over time, we were able to destroy them. Now, a lot of that included bombing targets, and I’m not suggesting we do that here, but the ability to use special operations and precision operations against what are paramilitary forces will allow us to reduce them in pretty short order.”

Opponents of using military force south of the border have caricatured their opponents, Barr argues, pointing out that force could be brought to bear without imposing significant costs on civilian populations.