It was probably too much to hope for that these things were stopped, ended, done. With the Iran war taking up so much time, one would have thought that they would hang onto munitions elsewhere. No such luck. No such sanity. They are still illegal. And the footage of the strikes that we have seen makes us wonder if they were *really* running drugs. In the small boats on the open seas, who’s to say they would make it anywhere? They would have limited food, fuel, and water, not enough to really get to any other country. These boat strikes were outrageous from the very beginning, especially the “no survivors” order. Here is what Raw Story had today:
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.
Again, no such luck. No such sanity. They continue. Why? They were pointless in the beginning. Why do they continue? Is no one paying attention to laws anymore? You expect such things from Trump and Hegseth. You don’t expect them for the military. Instead, they are quite happily going along with a version of skeet shooting and boats in open water. For all we know, they may be trying to escape the country. But they all get killed just the same.
“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.
Yea, we’ve been wondering what the deal is with the military since the first boat strike, stretching all the way through the Iran war and back. No ideas or explanations here – that has to be left to Denis. But the military going along with all this illegality worries me. The last I knew, there was a war book for the military (forgotten the actual name at the moment) and allegiance to the Constitution, not Trump and Hegseth. They’ve turned into nothing better than drug kingpin-style enforcers. It doesn’t matter what the book says or what the law says, and they have to know about the law by now, one would think. *NOT* knocking the Armed Forces, just very, very confused and heartsick. This is not what they are supposed to be, and it’s hard to understand what they are doing.
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?”
What else might they do? How about martial law? How about other illegal acts? I can’t think of any at the moment, but they have to be there. How about becoming Trump’s personal enforcers? The potential is frightening. There are so many things they could do in the US because it seems they have abandoned their oath to the Constitution, and now have their oath to one man. I do not know the military any more than what my brother, also a Marine, told our family, and what Denis has given us. Please remember that. I only know what I’ve been told. But this is disturbing. And if Trump decides to take down infrastructure in Iran, and the military agrees? …..
See you soon!
Friends, I know everybody begs you for money. I promise you that of all of the outlets bugging you for spare change, we are the smallest and the hardest working. We’re a bunch of old, disabled people, except one writer in his mid-50s. But the rest of us are in our sixties and seventies, and this is a labor of love. All we’re asking for is the ability to continue our quest to tell the truth about Trump and help ensure democracy survives. If you can help, please do. Thank you. Ursula
