We recently posted about the attack and sinking of a Venezuelan vessel in international waters by the US military. Eleven people aboard were reported to have been killed. The Trump regime claimed, without providing any evidence, that the boat was smuggling drugs to the United States. 

Since then, the US has attacked and sunk two more boats and killed at least 3 more people. Again, the regime has provided no evidence of its claims that the boats were smuggling drugs.  Based on images provided by the Trump regime, the boats appeared too small and to lack the necessary range to realistically smuggle drugs into the United States. 

Military lawyers within the Pentagon and lawmakers, including former Navy combat pilot Senator Mark Kelly, have questioned the legality of the recent strikes. Legal specialists have criticized the attacks as amounting to nothing less than extrajudicial, arbitrary killing.

Critics have also charged that Mr. Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth have given illegal orders, causing Special Operations troops to target civilians in apparent violation of laws against murder.

Now, the NY Times is reporting that draft legislation is being circulated at the White House and on Capitol Hill that would give President Trump sweeping authority to wage war against drug cartels he deems to be “terrorists,” as well as against any nation he says has harbored or aided them, according to people familiar with the matter. In short, the bill would grant the president the power to commit murder at will.

Such an authorization would amount to giving Mr. Trump “a blank check,” said Jack Goldsmith, a Harvard Law School professor and a former senior Justice Department official in the Bush administration.

“It’s insanely broad,” Professor Goldsmith said. “This is an open-ended war authorization against an untold number of countries, organizations and persons that the president could deem within its scope.”
 
Professor Goldsmith said that Congress had the authority, as a matter of domestic law, to authorize the use of military force against nonstate groups. But deliberately killing civilians who are not directly participating in hostilities — even those suspected of being criminals — would still violate international law, he added.

The granting of unlimited power to our would-be king, as proposed by the draft legislation, is wholly unnecessary. The Coast Guard has been fighting drug smuggling to the United States for decades. It announced this week that it has seized more than 75,000 pounds of cocaine in the Eastern Pacific Ocean since launching Operation Pacific Viper in early August, averaging over 1,800 pounds interdicted daily.

“These drug seizures, and the apprehension of 59 individuals suspected of narco-trafficking, were the result of more than 20 interdictions since Aug. 8.

Through Operation Pacific Viper, the Coast Guard is accelerating counter-drug operations in the Eastern Pacific Ocean, where significant transport of illicit narcotics continues from South America. In coordination with international and interagency partners, the Coast Guard is surging additional assets—cutters, aircraft and tactical teams—to interdict, seize and disrupt transshipments of cocaine and other bulk illicit drugs. 

“The Coast Guard’s maritime fighting force is relentless in our ongoing operations to counter narco-terrorism,” said Rear Adm. Jeffrey Novak, deputy commander Pacific Area. “Our latest milestone through Operation Pacific Viper – over 75,000 pounds of cocaine seized – underscores our commitment to dismantling Foreign Terrorist Organizations and Transnational Criminal Organizations engaged in narco-trafficking. The Coast Guard is bringing every authority and every capability at our disposal to disrupt cartels and criminal organizations, stop the flow of deadly drugs into the U.S., and secure U.S. borders and maritime approaches. While we continue our crucial work to defend America, I could not be prouder of the men and women of the Coast Guard in celebrating this milestone.”

Unlike the rogue, illegal attacks directed by Trump and Hegseth, the Coast Guard drug interdiction usually does not result in the loss of life.