Trump dispenses with trials, orders military strike on alleged Venezuelan drug-trafficking boat (Now up to 2, 3, 4...)

[Landon Caeli]

But the military is accountable for how they are attacked. They must be attacked within the legal framework of the Law of Armed Conflict that every military member has been taught.

Would a "double tap" in regards to an aerial strike be considered illegal, if the enemy personnel were attempting to salvage the illegal cargo after the first strike, with no first responders in sight?

 

[RDKirk]

Would a "double tap" in regards to an aerial strike be considered illegal, if the enemy personnel were attempting to salvage the illegal cargo after the first strike, with no first responders in sight?

Is that what the enemy personnel were doing? I haven't seen that video.

 

[Landon Caeli]

Is that what the enemy personnel were doing? I haven't seen that video.

That's what is being said by media sources.

 

[Pommer]

Would a "double tap" in regards to an aerial strike be considered illegal, if the enemy personnel were attempting to salvage the illegal cargo after the first strike, with no first responders in sight?

I’m in a speedboat with an effective range of 600 miles and all of a sudden the boat is blown out of the water and suddenly I’m struggling for my life. The “cargo” never enters my mind.

 

[RDKirk]

That's what is being said by media sources.

Okay, I've just surveyed some early reports from the briefing that a few senior members of the Armed Services committees have gotten, which included a look at the video.

Senator Cotton said that the two survivors were attempting to right the boat and salvage the cargo. The others who have saw the same film report a different view. Nobody else has echoed Cotton's opinion. So, I'll have to see it myself.

Until then, it seems rather strange to me that an open boat that has been struck once by lethal munitions would remain seaworthy to any extent. I would be greatly surprised if it could continue its original mission. And of course, I'd expect survivors at sea to attempt to make the remaining debris as suitable for survival as possible; if there is anything for them to flip over, I'd expect them to try.

That doesn't make them any less "survivors at sea" under the LOAC. They weren't "getting away" anywhere. That's why the rules are a bit different for sea combat than it is for land combat.

 

[Servus]

How about we start by treating drug addiction?

Where are this administration’s efforts on that front? Without a multilayered approach to the problem, it just seems like they’re only interested in killing certain people.

How about eliminating the problem at the source.

There are thousands of government funded drug treatment centers throughout the nation. But once people get hooked on the stuff many don't want to give it up. So then it becomes a matter of involuntary drug treatment through incarceration.

 

[Aryeh Jay]

I’m in a speedboat with an effective range of 600 miles and all of a sudden the boat is blown out of the water and suddenly I’m struggling for my life. The “cargo” never enters my mind.

Clearly you are uninformed on drug smuggling communist narco terrorists bent on killing Americans and world domination.

 

[Servus]

Sure, let's address effective ways to reduce the supply and demand for illegal drugs. Blowing up fishing boats over a thousand miles away from our sures isn't going to cut it.

They're high speed drug smuggling boats. Carrying huge amounts of drugs. Speeding towards the US. The southern tip of Florida isn't that far away from the northern shores of Venezuela.

 

[Pommer]

They're high speed drug smuggling boats. Carrying huge amounts of drugs. Speeding towards the US. The southern tip of Florida isn't that far away from the northern shores of Venezuela.

Geography isn’t my long suit but this is well over 1000 miles.

 

[stevevw]

I'm sorry, you think the drug trade has stopped? You think blowing up a few boats has stopped a $100 Billion dollar industry?

I actually said the boats have just about stopped. That particular method of smuggling the drugs has almost be completely stopped. Based on the fact that the warnings were given and then the action was taken and the warning that any further boats will also be targeted.

That changes the ball game. Now the Narcos have to access the risk. Before there was no risk and now there is. The risk of being blown out of the water, being killed and losing all their drugs. Its a pretty big factor that is now being forced onto the narcos which has changed the game.

 

[RocksInMyHead]

The southern tip of Florida isn't that far away from the northern shores of Venezuela.

1100 miles as the crow flies. 1300+ miles if you take an actually physically possible route Sure, that's not too far

 

[essentialsaltes]

They're high speed drug smuggling boats. Carrying huge amounts of drugs. Speeding towards the US.

Although some in the Trump Administration have tried to assert this, this is not credible.

 

[stevevw]

That's not how the law works Steve.

1. We don't know what was actually on the boats. We have no chain of evidence, no warrants, nothing.

We do know and this was stated. The intelligence clearly identified the boats, what was oin them and even who was on the boats. Do you really think in this day and age the US is taking blind pot shots at unidentified boats and targets.

This is a fake news narrative to undermine the the authorities and military for that matter. People hate TRump so much that they are willing to also target good people and create an undermining narrative of their integrity.

2. Those "enough to kill X people" numbers are nonsense. The requires translating the whole load in to minimal lethal overdoes. That's not how drug users use drug. With the exception of the suicidal, drug users take the amount that will satisfy their needs/desire as best they can. (And the suicidal have easier paths to obtaining a lethal dose of coke.)

I find it interesting that some are going out of their way to try and make out that boat loads of drugs is not so bad. Does it really matter. We know a boat load but also in the case of the overall trade (boat loads) of drugs including one of the most lethal drugs in modern times is not going to kill and do a lot of harm.

3. This is one boat load (perhaps, not even that), not 50 years of smuggled coke. No one is liable for the substances transported by *other people* or their consequences.

This is many boats and other methods of transport. Altogether it is a massive assault on the US.

4. Drug smuggling is not a capital crime in the US.

The narcos who are shippin g poison to the US have been deemed terrorist. Instead of using bombs and guns they are using poison and poisoning 1,000s of US citizens.

You don't know the intelligence as to what is going on so you should not be making unsupported claims.

 

[essentialsaltes]

We do know and this was stated. The intelligence clearly identified the boats, what was oin them and even who was on the boats. Do you really think in this day and age the US is taking blind pot shots at unidentified boats and targets.

We have not been offered any evidence to justify a conclusion that we "know" there were drugs on the boats. It was stated, but we do not know this.

 

[RDKirk]

How about eliminating the problem at the source.

There are thousands of government funded drug treatment centers throughout the nation. But once people get hooked on the stuff many don't want to give it up. So then it becomes a matter of involuntary drug treatment through incarceration.

That sounds like the logic behind banning guns.

 

[RDKirk]

They're high speed drug smuggling boats. Carrying huge amounts of drugs. Speeding towards the US. The southern tip of Florida isn't that far away from the northern shores of Venezuela.

The nearest ports in Venezuela to Miami are likely those on its northern coast, such as Puerto Cabello or La Guaira, with a sea distance of approximately 1,500-2,000 nautical miles from Miami. The shortest sea route is about 1,500 nautical miles.

That was easy to look up.

 

[wing2000]

They're high speed drug smuggling boats. Carrying huge amounts of drugs. Speeding towards the US. The southern tip of Florida isn't that far away from the northern shores of Venezuela.

Okay, now I know you're not serious (did you even bother to check the distance?)
In any event, even if the boats were off the coast of Cuba, it would still be an ineffective way to fight the cartels.

 

[Servus]

Okay, now I know you're not serious (did you even bother to check the distance?)

Yes

In any event, even if the boats were off the coast of Cuba, it would still be an ineffective way to fight the cartels.

How so?

 

[Servus]

The nearest ports in Venezuela to Miami are likely those on its northern coast, such as Puerto Cabello or La Guaira, with a sea distance of approximately 1,500-2,000 nautical miles from Miami. The shortest sea route is about 1,500 nautical miles.

That was easy to look up.

What's your point?

 

[Landon Caeli]

Okay, now I know you're not serious (did you even bother to check the distance?)
In any event, even if the boats were off the coast of Cuba, it would still be an ineffective way to fight the cartels.

My understanding is that Venezuela transports the drugs to stock warehouses in the Caribbean Islands, where it then gets transported to other places, including the US.

Blowing up drug boats from a middle-man is less effective than from the source.