As the United States’ war against Iran continues to dominate news headlines, the Trump administration is simultaneously ramping up its attacks on suspected drug traffickers in the Caribbean, attacks that several legal scholars continue to call illegal.
“Many expected that the lawless strikes – which amount to killing suspected criminals without trial – would end after U.S. forces captured [Venezuelan President Nicolás] Maduro at the beginning of the year,” wrote foreign policy analyst Max Boot in an op-ed published Monday in The Washington Post.
“There was, indeed, a pause in such operations. After conducting the 34th and 35th boat strikes on Dec. 31, the military did not carry out another one until Jan. 23. But since then, the strikes have ramped up again. At least 19 more strikes were carried out between Jan. 23 and April 26 – an average of one every five days.”
Boot suggested that the Trump administration was well aware that its defense of the “illegal” strikes was flimsy, pointing to the administration’s practice of releasing suspected drug traffickers that had survived U.S. strikes, rather than arresting them. As to why the Trump administration was ramping up its operation in the Caribbean now, Boot provided a chilling theory.
“There is a greater willingness by the U.S. armed forces to engage in illegal conduct,” Boot argued.
Furthermore, Boot warned that the Trump administration’s increased willingness to carry out “blatantly unlawful” operations didn’t bode well for the future.
“Congress has voted on resolutions to stop the strikes, which are in violation of the War Powers Act, but they were narrowly defeated, and even if they were approved, Trump could have vetoed them,” Boot wrote.
“So we are left with the disturbing spectacle of the U.S. military continuing to carry out orders that outside experts (if not the administration’s own lawyers) say are blatantly unlawful. If Trump’s hand-picked generals are willing to act so egregiously in this instance, what else might they do in the future?”
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