Trump attacks on alleged drug boats are illegal actions of murder. But too many democrats are evading calling the president.
Donald Trump speaks with reporters in the White House on September 30, 2025.
(Hu Yusong / Xinhua through Getty images)
It is a pity the people where John Yu is the voice of reason.
Yu, of course, is one of the most famous of many ghouls of national security that served in the administration of George Bush, where he used his legal experience to write the so -called “Torture of the memoThis sought to justify the use of water income and other violations of the Geneva Convention in the name of the global war with terror. This is no one, as a rule, preoccupied with following the law.
Nevertheless, in 2025, Yu became a critic of one of the most impudent illegally illegal foreign policy actions of Donald Trump: his decision to blow up boats in the waters of South America on the grounds that Venezuelan drug cartens control him.
No evidence was provided confirming these claims, but even if there were such evidence, the United States did not fight with Venezuela, or with drug cartels, or with any of 14 people are killed In these attacks. And there is no evidence that the boats posed an inevitable threat to any American. To bomb boats and murder of everyone on board is an act of murder, simple and understandable.
Even someone with a rotten moral compass of yu can see it. Writing c The Washington Post September 23 YOO warn These “these attacks run the risk of crossing the line between the fight against crime and war.” He added that the “wide, amorphous military campaign against illegal drug trafficking” “will violate the American law and the constitution.” He suggested that “the use of military force against cartels can immerse the United States into the war against Venezuela,” which would also create “complex problems”.
These light warning words are unlikely to make up a ring expressing anti -war and anti -imperialist sentiments. Nevertheless, they are much more pointed than everything that the Republicans of Congress said (who predictably lined up for Trump, with only the most mild expression of even the desire for supervision). Even more scandalous they are more severe than the comments of most democrats of Congress.
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Countering illegal murder acts may seem an obvious step for the opposition party. But the Democrats, as they do so often, prevented the defeat preventively.
September 18, Politician reported“The Democrats have a dilemma, since they opposed the attacks of President Donald Trump on the alleged vessels in Venezuela’s drug trafficking: to bring military responsibilities for blows, not looking as if they were protecting cartels.” And September 29, journalist Aida Chavez Twisted“The senior DEM employee discourages the Democrats to abandon the change in the Venezuela regime, sources of Congress tell me. The employee uses the line of Iraq of the Bush era, arguing that the opposition to the change in Trump/Rubio is the support of Maduro. “
This democratic employee clearly did not affect the simple fact that the “Bush era” line, uniting the opposition with the war with the support of the dictator, had a destructive effect of the aligning leaders of senior parties (including Hillary Clinton, John Kerry and Joe Bayden) with a catastrophic war and undermining to be an effective opposition, the democrats began Restore only in a political company.
The sealing that militarism has on the democrats can be seen in the comments of Senator Michigan Alissa Svetkin, a “former” CIA analyst that remains an ally of the state of national security. Statkin said Politician“We have a military in the form asking for their chain of the team for letters that guarantee that they are not personal responsibility for any illegal actions in these operations. I have no problems with drug dealers. ” In other words, the goal of Slavkin is not to stop the bombardment of Trump and, possibly, hurry to the war with Venezuela, but simply make sure that she follows the proper legal protocol.
On Pod Save The World Podkast Ben Rouds, former adviser to Barack Obama, indicated That it is “insane for the Democrats to be careful. The Americans do not like the war, they do not like the war with the change of regime – people do not like the magician … It is mistaken to go to the war in Venezuela. It is wrong to have a policy of changing the regime. It is wrong to kill people. [extrajudicially] In boats. Full stop. “
Despite the cowardice of the majority in the Congress, Trump’s actions are so egregious that they can still lead to a constitutional crisis. On Thursday, New York Times reported“President Trump decided that the United States participated in an official“ armed conflict ”with drug cartels, which his team called terrorist organizations, and that suspects for smugglers for such groups are“ illegal combatants ”, the administration said in a confidential notification of Congress this week.”
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This notification to Congress caused an unusually strong reaction of Senator Jack Reed from Rod -Alend, the highest democrat in the committee on armed merits. Reid claimed that Trump claimed to wage “secret wars against anyone he calls the enemy”, offering “not reliable legal rationale, evidence or intelligence” for his actions.
Further, Reed said: “Drug deartels are despicable and must be considered by law enforcement agencies. But now, in the president’s own words, the American military enters the armed conflict with uncertain enemies, which he unilaterally called “illegal combatants”, and he deployed thousands of troops, ships and aircraft against them, but he is obliged to inform the congress or public. ”
Like writer Jake Romm marked V Nation Yesterday, Venezuela’s attacks are part of a wider turn of the American Empire away from the rhetorical support of international law since 1945 in a more lawless world, where powerful has a free size to impose their will on the world. This turn has a long story that precedes Trump. Indeed, the war with terror and torture by Julia were significant points of turn in this line. The current Israeli genocide in gas in Gaza is another.
This unbridled imperialism of great power will take a lot of time to win, but it must be fought at every opportunity. One place to draw a line is in a hurry of Trump to war with Venezuela. Democrats should resist this to everything that they have.
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