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US Kills 4 in Latest Caribbean Boat Strike

Is this a necessary defense or an illegal precedent masking a failed drug war strategy?

9 hours ago·Updated 1 hour ago

US Kills 4 in Latest Caribbean Boat Strike

Story

Above: SOUTHCOM Commander General Francis L. Donovan in Doral, Fla., on March 5. Image credit: Eva Marie Uzcategui/AFP/Getty Images

The Spin

Pro-Trump narrative

Striking narco-terrorist boats in international waters is the right call. These aren't just drug shipments; they're part of an industrial-scale trafficking system bankrolling designated terrorist organizations that have caused far more American deaths than overseas conflicts ever did. The U.S. president has constitutional authority to order these strikes, and the law of armed conflict fully supports targeting unflagged vessels carrying no protected status in international law.

U.S. Naval Institute Real Clear Defense

Jesus Romero on X

Anti-Trump narrative

After dozens of strikes and at least 227 dead, cocaine street prices have hit record lows and purity has risen. The boat strikes aren't slowing the drug trade at all, especially as cocaine on eastern Pacific vessels is mostly bound for Europe. This campaign dismantles the intelligence pipeline that actually works, since killing smugglers eliminates the only leverage prosecutors had to build cases against cartel bosses.

The Wall Street Journal Atlantic The New York Times