Wall Street Journal: Washington seeks to justify attacks on boats in the Caribbean

According to RCO News Agency, a member of the US House of Representatives and another informed source say that fentanyl was described as a potential threat of chemical weapons in a confidential report of the Ministry of Justice of this country that allows attacks on drug smuggling boats.

The Wall Street Journal published this article and wrote: This detailed document, prepared by the Department’s Legal Counsel Office, outlines the Trump administration’s secret legal justification for the ongoing military operation. The operation has faced sharp criticism from Democrats and some Republicans since it began in September.

The reference to fentanyl is just one of many in the report, which was prepared over the summer to justify the use of military force against drug traffickers. The report mentions that fentanyl has been used as a weapon in the past. In 2002, Russia used fentanyl spray to contain a hostage crisis in a theater in Moscow, in which more than 100 of the 700 hostages were killed.

A Justice Department spokesman stressed that the legal argument for military action was not based on concerns about the use of chemical weapons by drug organizations; This view clearly shows that it is not based on the argument of fighting non-proliferation.

Justifying attacks on boats in the waters near Venezuela by smuggling fentanyl that is not produced in this country

According to lawmakers and others who have read the memo, the main argument in the document is that US President Donald Trump’s declaration of drug cartels as foreign terrorists makes them legitimate military targets. The document claims that these groups finance deadly and destabilizing actions against the United States and its allies through drug trafficking.

Experts believe that Venezuela, which is the base of one of the criminal groups that is included in the list of the so-called terrorist organizations of the United States, has long been a transit route for Colombian cocaine, and there is no evidence that fentanyl is produced or trafficked in this country. Fentanyl is usually produced in Mexico and smuggled by land.

Brian Finucane, a former legal adviser to the State Department in the Barack Obama administration and the first Trump administration, called the report’s warning about fentanyl an “unbelievable claim.”

In 2018, the Ministry of Justice justified the US attacks on the regime of “Bashar Assad” after the chemical attack on civilians in 2018. In the relevant document, it was claimed that these attacks were carried out with chlorine gas and in some cases with the nerve agent sarin.

The Pentagon has so far carried out 20 attacks against boats it claims were carrying drugs in the Caribbean and Pacific. At least 79 people have been killed in the attacks, but the US War Department has not provided any public evidence to back up its claims since the attacks began on September 2.

US Secretary of War Pete Hegst said on Thursday in a message on social networks announcing the US Army’s new operation called “Southern Spear” that this campaign will eliminate the threat of drug terrorism from the Western Hemisphere.

Legal justification of the unilateral action of the US government against foreign vessels without the approval of the Congress

The American media wrote: According to the statement of lawmakers who spoke to the Wall Street Journal, the public statements of other people who have read this report, and people familiar with its content, several legal arguments have been raised in this memo.

Lawmakers say the report invokes the right to military aid to other countries and argues that the doctrine of collective defense is applicable because drug organizations are involved with the authorities of Latin American countries allied with the United States.

The document also claims that the United States is engaged in a non-international armed conflict with cartels—a legal term that refers to a conflict within the territory of a single country. The memo argues that US military personnel involved in these operations acted lawfully and were not subject to future criminal prosecution. The Washington Post had previously mentioned the immunity argument.

Also, according to the legislators, this document invokes the powers of the president as the commander-in-chief under the second article of the constitution and under the resolution authorizing military action up to 60 days before the requirement of congressional approval for the continuous use of military force.

Critics—mostly Democrats and law-of-war experts—have pointed to numerous problems with the arguments and legal analysis presented in the memo.

Some legal experts have characterized the boat attacks as illegal, arguing that the military cannot legally target civilians, including criminal suspects, who do not pose an imminent threat and are not participating in hostilities. They say drug cartels don’t deliberately target Americans with drugs because they have no incentive to kill their customer base.

The Wall Street Journal wrote: According to lawmakers who have read the document, the Justice Department claims in the document that drug traffickers are the enemy, while arguing that the United States is not hostile to them, which negates the need to obtain congressional approval for continued military operations.

Some Republicans have questioned the administration’s claim that it does not require congressional approval to use military force against drug cartels. The White House has said that these operations do not rise to the level of “hostilities” and do not pose a threat to US military personnel.

The US argument for helping allies comes as key partners such as Colombia and Mexico have criticized the boat attacks and said they were not consulted about the change in US tactics or even asked for such help.

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