"On President Donald Trump's orders, the U.S. military last month began carrying out a series of strikes in the Caribbean, blowing up boats suspected of moving drugs and killing a total of at least 27 people so far. (Multiple news outlets reported that a strike yesterday was believed to be the first one to leave survivors.) Although Trump has called the dead "narcoterrorists," his administration has not provided good evidence to support that characterization."
"The Bureau of Investigative Journalism estimates that the Obama administration carried out 563 strikes in Pakistan, Yemen, and Somalia, killing 384 to 807 civilians, in addition to militants. If, as Trump repeatedly asserts, "narcoterrorists" from the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua pose a threat to national security, simply killing them without due process might seem to many casual observers like continuity."
U.S. military forces carried out Caribbean strikes ordered by President Donald Trump that destroyed boats suspected of carrying drugs and have killed at least 27 people. The administration labeled the dead "narcoterrorists" but has not offered substantial evidence to justify that label. Legal commentators who previously defended extrajudicial killings have criticized the strikes as illegal or legally questionable. Public opinion polls show strong support for destroying drug-smuggling boats, and the strikes have drawn little public protest. Past U.S. practices of off‑battlefield killings under Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama set a precedent, and analysts warn that continued strikes will cause civilian harm and fuel regional resentment.
Read at The Atlantic
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]