Wall Street Journal: Washington seeks to justify attacks on boats in the Caribbean
The American media, written by the US Departme of Justice, in order to justify the unilateral attacks of the “Donald Trump” administration against foreign vessels in Latin American waters without the approval of Congress, has put forward argumes whose validity is questionable for the legislators of both parties of Congress and analysts.
According to RCO News Agency, a member of the US House of Represeatives and another informed source say that feanyl was described as a poteial threat of chemical weapons in a confideial report of the Ministry of Justice of this coury that allows attacks on drug smuggling boats.
The Wall Street Journal published this article and wrote: This detailed docume, prepared by the Departme’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 feanyl 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 meions that feanyl has been used as a weapon in the past. In 2002, Russia used feanyl spray to coain a hostage crisis in a theater in Moscow, in which more than 100 of the 700 hostages were killed.
A Justice Departme spokesman stressed that the legal argume 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 argume of fighting non-proliferation.

A look at 10 cases of US military targeting of foreign boats in iernational waters from September 2 to October 29
Justifying attacks on boats in the waters near Venezuela by smuggling feanyl that is not produced in this coury
According to lawmakers and others who have read the memo, the main argume in the docume is that US Preside Donald Trump’s declaration of drug cartels as foreign terrorists makes them legitimate military targets. The docume 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 feanyl is produced or trafficked in this coury. Feanyl is usually produced in Mexico and smuggled by land.
Brian Finucane, a former legal adviser to the State Departme in the Barack Obama administration and the first Trump administration, called the report’s warning about feanyl 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 releva docume, it was claimed that these attacks were carried out with chlorine gas and in some cases with the nerve age sarin.
The Peagon 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 Departme 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.

The presence of US Secretary of State Marco Rubio in Congress to participate in a confideial briefing with the US Secretary of War and the coury’s legislators, November 5, 2025.
Legal justification of the unilateral action of the US governme against foreign vessels without the approval of the Congress
The American media wrote: According to the stateme of lawmakers who spoke to the Wall Street Journal, the public statemes of other people who have read this report, and people familiar with its coe, several legal argumes have been raised in this memo.
Lawmakers say the report invokes the right to military aid to other couries and argues that the doctrine of collective defense is applicable because drug organizations are involved with the authorities of Latin American couries allied with the United States.
The docume also claims that the United States is engaged in a non-iernational armed conflict with cartels—a legal term that refers to a conflict within the territory of a single coury. 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 meioned the immunity argume.
Also, according to the legislators, this docume invokes the powers of the preside 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 requireme of congressional approval for the coinuous use of military force.
Critics—mostly Democrats and law-of-war experts—have poied to numerous problems with the argumes and legal analysis preseed 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 immine threat and are not participating in hostilities. They say drug cartels don’t deliberately target Americans with drugs because they have no inceive to kill their customer base.
The Wall Street Journal wrote: According to lawmakers who have read the docume, the Justice Departme claims in the docume 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 coinued 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 argume 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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