A war on drugs or a war on terror? Trump's military pressure on Venezuela blurs the l

WASHINGTON (AP) — Under President Donald Trump, the drug war is looking a lot like the war on terror.

To support strikes against Latin American gangs and drug cartels, the Trump administration is relying on a legal argument that gained traction after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, which allowed U.S. authorities to use lethal force against al-Qaida combatants who attacked the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.

The criminal groups now being targeted by U.S. strikes are a very different foe, however, spawned in the prisons of Venezuela, and fueled not by anti-Western ideology but by drug trafficking and other illicit enterprises.

Trump’s use of overwhelming military force to combat such groups and authorization of covert action inside Venezuela, possibly to oust President Nicolás Maduro, stretches the bounds of international law, legal scholars say. It comes as Trump expands the military’s domestic role, deploying the National Guard to U.S. cities and saying he's open to invoking the nearly 150-year-old Insurrection Act, which allows for military deployment in only exceptional instances of civil unrest.

So far, the military has killed at least 28 people in six strikes on boats that the White House said were carrying drugs.

The latest occurred Thursday, when American forces struck a suspected drug-carrying vessel and seized survivors, who are being held by the U.S. military.

Thursday's action brings the death toll from the Trump administration’s military action against vessels in the region to at least 28.

Trump justified the strikes by asserting that the United States is engaged in an “armed conflict” with drug cartels, relying on the same legal authority used by the Bush administration when it declared a war on terror after the Sept. 11 attacks. That includes the ability to capture and detain combatants and to use lethal force to take out their leadership.

The strikes have occurred without any legal investigation or a traditional declaration of war from Congress. That raises questions about the justifications for Trump's actions and the impact they could have on diplomatic relations with Latin American nations who recall with deep resentment repeated U.S. military interventions during the Cold War.

The U.S. intelligence community has also disputed Trump's central claim that Maduro’s administration is working with the Tren de Aragua gang and orchestrating drug trafficking and illegal immigration into the U.S.

‘You can’t just call something war'

Trump’s assertion that the United States is engaged in an “armed conflict” with drug cartels is based on the same legal authority used by the Bush administration when it declared a war on terror after the Sept. 11 attacks. That includes the ability to capture and detain combatants and to use lethal force to take out their leadership.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/...l?guccounter=1

I thought Ron Paul Libertarians were against the drug wars, and knew the cia was behind the drug trade.

International law is the law between Christian nations.

The United States operates on the constitution of a Federation and not that of a Nation.

Like the USS Liberty incident or Gulf of Tonkin incident?

A new South China Sea Dispute? Are Russian and/or Chinese military ships needed in the Caribbean Sea to support regional stability?


state.gov: U.S. Statement on Dangerous Chinese Actions in the South China Sea

Quote:

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October 13, 2025
The United States condemns China’s October 12 ramming and water cannoning of a Philippine Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources vessel close to Thitu Island in the South China Sea. We stand with our Philippine allies as they confront China’s dangerous actions which undermine regional stability.

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Don't worry maga, Trump is only doing this because Trump is blackmailed by the Jews because of Epstein. Trump would r*pe kids with Epstein to "infiltrate the elites" (maybe elite was the term Epstein called the girls). The goal is to hand over the globe to Netanyahu and pals in 0D Chess. You could get Putin to nuke a few European cities too as part of Trust the Plan. Then no gold and silver as money, only bitcoin as money with bitcoin at 100 million. "Trust the Libertarian Ron Paul Gold Standard Plan of Trumpstein"

We need a big war in South America causing a flood of refugees in the US, similar to the migrant crisis of Europe. The criminal class support that kind of thing.

Back this possible Colombia War, Trump needs your support:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LYe3plxJi60

Especially support the Greater USA plan. That map would make George W Bush drool. Bigger than the North American Union. Our Empire. My Empire. That is mine.

This is my land - God gave it to me!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2WvZ-6mOutU

No pictures I break your camera.

The war is on illusion. Trump is just the magician. You my friend are the audience. The axtors are the ones shooting and being shot.

Guess they ran out of Xhristians to feed the lions and there is only one Taylor Swift to go around.

US to escalate military presence in South America with aircraft carrier group

https://www.reuters.com/world/americ...th-2025-10-24/