New Bill Would Label Prominent Drug Lords 'Terrorists'

From the looks of things, the Obama administration is not serious about prosecuting drugs, or terrorism. Last week, a colleague of mine reported that Rep. Diaz Balart (R-FL) claimed that the DOJ denied Colombia’s offer to extradite drug kingpin and narco-terrorist Walid ‘the turk’ Makled to the United States. Rep. Connie Mack (R-FL), Chairman of the Western Hemisphere Subcommittee expressed outrage at these developments remarking:

The loss of Walid Makled-Garcia to Venezuela does not lie at the feet of our ally Colombia, but rather at the door of the Obama Justice Department, especially if Makled was offered to the U.S. first and waved off as it would seem… With a country that has embraced the U.S. it is beyond shameful how President Obama’s Administration has handled diplomatic dealings with Colombia.

This is a serious blow to American interests. Makled has implicated implicated 40 Venezuelan civilian and military officials as complicit to his activities, accepting bribes and even providing support to his drug smuggling operations in Central America and the United States. By handing him to Venezuela, the U.S. relinquishes a golden opportunity to place the regime and military of socialist dictator Hugo Chavez, on the ‘state sponsors of terror list.’ The have long been suspected of providing aid to Hezbollah, and Makled is willing to testify to this fact.

Just last week, Representative McCaul (R-TX) introduced H.R. 1270, a bill that would allow the United States to try prominent drug smugglers like Walid Makled on terrorism charges. Reps. Dan Burton (R-IN), John Carter (R-TX), Peter King (R-NY), Sue Myrick (R-NC), Mike Rogers (R-MI), and Dennis Ross (R-FL) have co-signed the legislation and it is still gaining momentum. This law would not only make future American efforts to eradicate the drug trade more effective, it would have a profound effect on the current extradition struggle between the United States and Venezuela.

According to Article 505 of the Colombian penal code, when two parties are engaged in a dispute regarding extradition, preference generally goes to the country claiming the more egregious offense. In this case, Venezuela’s murder charges trump America’s drug trafficking charges, although many could argue our close trading relationship, recently reaffirmed with Colombia through a new free trade agreement could carry significant weight in the matter. However, under Rep. McCaul’s piece of legislation, ‘the turk’ and his network would be labeled a foreign terrorist organization, making the United States’ case even stronger.

These are great ideas, but it seems, unfortunately, that the administration has no interest in charging these individuals as drug lords, even going as far as labeling a man who smuggled 10 tons of cocaine into the U.S. monthly a ‘petty criminal.’ We have also seen that they are not interested in prosecuting terrorists. Perhaps a piece of legislation that labels these drug kingpins what they are, both traffickers and terrorists would finally be enough to spur the Obama administration to action in the war on drugs and terror.