WSJ: U.S. Military Strikes Drug Vessel from Venezuela, Killing 11
The U.S. military carried out a strike against a drug-carrying boat from Venezuela, President Trump said Tuesday, escalating tensions with that country’s authoritarian government just days after the Pentagon deployed warships to the Caribbean to stop the flow of cocaine.
“There’s more where that came from,” Trump said in a news conference at the White House, promising further actions.
Trump later posted on social media that he had ordered a strike on “positively identified” narcoterrorists from the cartel Tren de Aragua operating a small boat carrying drugs to the U.S. The strike resulted in the deaths of 11 “terrorists,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post showing a declassified video of the boat being struck and exploding.
“Please let this serve as notice to anybody even thinking about bringing drugs into the United States of America. BEWARE! Thank you for your attention to this matter!!!!!!!!!!!” Trump wrote.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the U.S. had conducted what he called “a lethal strike” against a drug vessel that departed from Venezuela and “was being operated by a designated narco-terrorist organization.”
A senior defense official confirmed that the Pentagon had conducted what was described as a precision strike against a drug vessel. Cocaine traffickers frequently use “go-fast” boats—vessels outfitted with three or four outboard motors—to race north from South America with cocaine.
"We have assets in the air, assets in the water, assets on ships because this is a deadly serious mission for us, and it won't stop ... with just this strike," Hegseth said Wednesday morning on Fox News.
"Anyone else trafficking in those waters who we know is a designated narco-terrorist will face the same fate," he added.
"President Trump is willing to go on offense in ways that others have not been," Hegseth said on Fox News' "Fox & Friends."
"You want to try to traffic drugs? It's a new day. It's a different day," he added.
Here’s CDR Salamander’s take:
Ladies and gentlemen, I believe we have some new ROE.
This is new, significantly new. I also don’t think this is a one-off.
President Trump pretty much made that clear.
I remember as a JO how frustrating it was just watching all this poison go through the Caribbean simply because we didn’t have enough LEDET to go around.
Make a different argument, define things differently… you can get different results. I’m here for the arguments. I think those importing poison into the USA to kill tens of thousands is worth a warhead or two.
This makes things a whole lot more interesting…and dangerous. Considering that in 2024 over 50,000 Americans died of drug overdoses, and in 2023 over 80,000, things are dangerous already.
I am quite comfortable putting this in the same category as a truck carrying arms to Al-Qaeda west of the Khyber Pass, or a group of people planting an IED in Al-Anbar.
This is a good mission. As with all things, we need the right intel and mistakes will be made…but this is a good mission. Good strike. Well done.
One thing I cannot figure out is what weapon, fired from what platform, was used. If it were a Reaper UAV (which is what it looks like), where was it flying out of? US possessions are in the northern Caribbean. I’m pretty sure we could fly armed aircraft out of GTMO and Puerto Rico, but that’s a long haul for a UAV to reach the Southern Caribbean for anything beyond a one-off operation. Maybe we have a secret squirrel base nearby? Don’t know, don’t want to know if we do. I’m not sure that is sustainable if we want this to be an ongoing campaign.
Maybe this is just a brushback pitch. If so, no major issues. If a sustained campaign, we need our planners to see what is needed.
Read more at The Spectator.
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