Can the U.S. Just Bomb Away Mexico’s Drug Cartels?

Trump says the military could take on cartels. The fallout might be far greater than anyone expects.

It’s a fantasy that has lived in Washington for decades: end the drug war with a single, decisive strike. Find the cartel leaders, hit them with missiles, and watch the problem vanish in a cloud of dust.

Hollywood has rehearsed this script for decades. Perhaps the best example is Clear and Present Danger, the 1990s blockbuster in which Harrison Ford’s CIA tracks a Colombian kingpin to his mansion and tries to erase him with a guided missile.

Now Donald Trump seems willing to try the same storyline, only without the cloak-and-dagger.

The question is whether it may work.