I completely understand the worry about the use of drones on civilians, but Rand Paul seems to have far too rigid a definition of civilian. You’ve got Paramilitary groups, you’ve got militia, you’ve got insurgents, terrorists, private military groups, soldiers for hire, etc.

Cartels may perfectly not fit the definition of terrorist that has been in the public eye for the past couple decades, but they very much fit the bill from an economic and cultural standpoint. They may not be the same as Islamic terrorists who have goals of destroying or dominating the world, but you better believe they want a piece of the economic action world-wide and they thrive under specific cultural norms.

Their existence is in direct contention with what we want from our country. Much like Islamic terrorists, they don’t represent a specific country or government, but that never stopped us with pirates in the past. Harbor pirates who are targeting our shipping lanes? You best get out of the way when we come for them. Same principle should be applied to terrorists and cartels.

TLDR: droning civilians is bad, sure, but cartels aren’t civilians. We’ve gone after pirates, terrorists, and those that harbor such groups in the past, why not treat cartels the same way?