A secret Justice Department memo greenlighting US airstrikes on so-called ‘drug boats’ reveals that the justification for such violence is based entirely on claims made by Donald Trump.
The US military has carried out a series of attacks against so-called ‘narco-terrorists’, criticizing the White House for failing to provide a specific legal basis for its actions.
The attacks on small boats in the Caribbean began on September 2 and have since expanded to include attacks in the eastern Pacific, killing at least 80 people in 20 attacks on suspected smuggling vessels.
According to the memo, seen by The New York Times, Such strikes are considered appropriate because of the perception that the US and its allies are currently legally in a state of armed conflict with drug cartels – claims the White House has repeatedly made.
As a result, killing those suspected of exploiting the drugs falls within the lawful scope of Trump’s wartime powers, the outlet added.
This contrasts with human rights groups and international law experts who have warned that the strikes are illegal, with the governments of both Venezuela and Colombia accusing the Trump administration of extrajudicial killing.
On Tuesday, Britain ended sharing regional intelligence with the US after expressing disapproval of its actions. US lawmakers on both sides of the political aisle have pressed the government for more information about who is being targeted and the legal basis for its behavior.
Per The timesThe memo begins by repeating White House claims, including that drug cartels are deliberately trying to destabilize the Western Hemisphere and murder American citizens.
According to the newspaper, the groups are presented as “terrorists” who sell drugs to finance violence against the US, and not as merely illegal businesses. This gives Trump the authority to declare a state of armed conflict against the groups.
A lengthy section at the end of the memo contains a legal defense, stating that any government official or forces accused of such killings would have “battlefield immunity” due to the perceived state of armed conflict. The times reports.
Details about the government’s justification for the military intervention in Latin America are emerging as operations continue to expand. On Thursday, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth announced that the ongoing effort to tackle “narco-terrorists” would be officially known as Operation Southern Spear.
“President Trump has ordered action – and the War Department is delivering,” the secretary wrote on
Trump’s argument that the US is engaged in an “armed conflict” with drug cartels relies on the same legal authority used by the George W. Bush administration when it declared the “War on Terror” after the Al-Qaeda attacks of September 11, 2001.
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