The Department of Defense has released footage from the deadly strike on an alleged drug-carrying vessel in the Caribbean Sea.

Washington

The U.S. Department of Defense released footage of a recent strike on an alleged drug-carrying vessel in the Caribbean Sea, resulting in three deaths. This marks the seventh such strike on South American boats in recent weeks, as part of the Trump administration's campaign against drug cartels. Survivors from the latest incident, who are from Colombia and Ecuador, have been returned to their home countries for prosecution, avoiding potential legal complications if they were held in U.S. custody.

The strikes have prompted questions in Congress regarding the evidence supporting these actions and concerns about a possible escalation toward broader conflict in the region, particularly with Venezuela. Lawmakers, including Senator Rand Paul, have called for greater transparency and are considering a War Powers resolution to limit further military action. The administration has so far only released video footage, without providing detailed intelligence to justify the strikes.

U.S. returns survivors of seventh-known alleged drug boat strike

The Department of Defense, which the White House calls the Department of War, has released this video footage from Friday's deadly strike on an alleged drug-carrying vessel in the Caribbean Sea. Three people were killed in what is the seventh known strike on a South American boat since last month. Eleanor Watson joins me now at the desk. Eleanor, always great to see you. What do we know about this? And particularly the survivors, are they in U.S. custody? And if so, under what auspices or conditions? I'll start with what we know. As you said, this is the seventh known strike against an alleged drug boat in the Caribbean as part of the Trump administration's war against drug cartels. Secretary Hexeth, in announcing this strike, compared the cartels to al-Qaida, saying they will be hunted down and killed just like al-Qaida. What we've seen so far in the Caribbean is the same type of whack-a-mole strategy, or in this case, whack-a-boat strategy, that proved controversial during the global war on terror, when it turned out you can't kill all of the terrorists. One former military lawyer I spoke to said there are some facts on the Trump administration's side to justify strikes against drug runners, including that over 80,000 Americans die each year from drug overdoses. However, many of those drugs, like fentanyl, come to the U.S. from places like China and Mexico, not through the Caribbean, which has many Democrats in Congress worried that the buildup in the region coinciding with these strikes is part of a drift towards a larger war against Venezuela. The survivors you mentioned from last Thursday's strike that killed two individuals and left two survivors, the survivors were from Colombia and Ecuador, not Venezuela. The U.S. has returned those individuals back to their home countries, where it's expected they'll be prosecuted for drug trafficking. The U.S., in choosing to return them, avoided a potentially thorny issue, because if it had kept them in custody, then they would have potentially been held as unlawful combatants in a place like Guantanamo Bay or prosecuted in open court here in the United States. Going to court would almost certainly require the administration to provide more information about these strikes than it has done publicly. All we've gotten from the administration so far is the videos on social media, none of the intelligence that identifies these boats as posing a direct threat to the United States. And there are questions in Congress about the evidence for all these allegations. Rand Paul, Republican from Kentucky, has raised some. He did so this weekend. Let's listen. You know, when you kill someone, you should know, if you're not at war, not in a declared war, you really need to know someone's name, at least. You have to accuse them of something. You have to present evidence. So all these people have been blown up without us knowing their name, without any evidence of a crime. That is part of Congress's persistent questioning of this administration. Senator Rand Paul, along with some Democratic congressmen, are planning to introduce another War Powers resolution to block further action in Venezuela. A resolution last week to block these strikes failed. Failed. And there's also a question about whether some of this is about regime change in Venezuela. We don't know, but it's certainly out there. Eleanor Watson, always a pleasure.

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