- Trump shares video showing speedboat exploding
- US officials say boat was carrying illegal narcotics
- Strike comes amid increased deployment of warships to Caribbean
WASHINGTON, Sept 2 (Reuters) - The U.S. military killed 11 people on Tuesday in a strike on a vessel from Venezuela allegedly carrying illegal narcotics, President Donald Trump said, in the first known operation since his administration’s recent deployment of warships to the southern Caribbean.
Trump told reporters at the White House: “We just, over the last few minutes, literally shot out a boat, a drug-carrying boat, a lot of drugs in that boat.”
Drug trafficking is a crime. It is not the commission of war. The fucking President just committed an unquestionable war crime and went on TV and bragged about it.
Oh look I’m only two away form BINGO.
Its also super unnecessary to blow up the entire ship when we train snipers to shoot through the engine blocks on speedboats to disable them. Like the Coast Guard doesnt go around just blowing shit up, there were other options here
There’s no way they could do that, because then they’d actually have to board the boat and search for the drugs, and I wouldn’t put it past them to find as much of it as they did WMDs in Iraq.
I have no doubt that the Maduro regime is trafficking drugs, it’s just that any ships the US navy blows up aren’t all necessary related to that, but we’ll never know if they just nuke them.
Just go ahead and call it. You are practically there,
Holy shit…
Trump told reporters at the White House: “We just, over the last few minutes, literally shot out a boat, a drug-carrying boat, a lot of drugs in that boat.”
Sounds like you just committed a war crime and held a press conference to advertise it.
He added that the U.S. military had identified the crew as members of Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua, which the U.S. designated a terrorist group in February.
Speaking to reporters, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said: “These particular drugs were probably headed to Trinidad or some other country in the Caribbean.”
“Suffice it to say that the president is going to be on offense against drug cartels and drug trafficking in the United States.” Trump’s singling out of Maduro has raised alarms in Caracas that their government might be the real target.
What the actual fuck?!?!
I mean, the same goes for when he assassinated Suleimani last term, and the press practically pissed themselves praising him for it.
uh? that’s how it works? that boat looks like it may have drugs, lets kill everyone
No. Typically the vessels are boarded, and occupants are either shot or captured. Then they look for drugs, seize them, and sink the boat.
The actions taken in this case are abnormal, incredibly illegal, and obviously immoral.
That ambulance was full of Hamas combatants.
It’s how Israel does. Which is how the US used to do. And apparently now does again.
used to
Did it ever stop? Gestures at "military-age men."
Maybe not. I think their military got a bit more careful over the years with increased scruitiny. Maybe I’ve got a false impression.
The US military directly has been careful. It’s usually the military contractors that do that shit. They don’t have the same training requirements, and will often hire veterans that were dishonorably discharged from the military. They hide under things like plausible deniability and the fact they aren’t actually military so they aren’t subject to the same UCMJ standards which actually are fairly effectively enforced (nothing is perfect unfortunately but on average it is enforced widely). So the contractors think they can ignore things, and the military sometimes take advantage of that to do things they know they can’t and throw the contractors under the bus if they’re caught.
They didn’t even believe they were headed to the U.S.
They just went to another country, targeted a random boat they believe was headed to fucking Trinidad or somewhere in the Caribbean and killed everyone on board.
Speaking to reporters, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said: “These particular drugs were probably headed to Trinidad or some other country in the Caribbean.”
They’re sending a nuclear submarine? Is this nuclear powered as in just the energy it uses or is it a submarine with a nuclear weapon?
Seven U.S. warships, along with one nuclear-powered fast attack submarine, are either in the region or expected to be there soon, carrying more than 4,500 sailors and Marines. While U.S. Coast Guard and Navy ships regularly operate in the Southern Caribbean, the current buildup exceeds the usual deployments in the region.
In the naval force are warships, including USS San Antonio, USS Iwo Jima, and USS Fort Lauderdale. Some can carry aerial assets like helicopters while others can also deploy Tomahawk cruise missiles.
I know they’ve been targeting that area and trying to intimidate for a while, but this seems like a bizarre escalation even for them.
Just curious, what are the chances they’re on high alert bc Xi, Kim Jong Un, and Putin all attended China’s military parade today and they misidentified a Venezuelan ship as a threat for some reason and fired on it?
Nuclear submarines typically refers to the powerplant, though for the US that is pretty redundant since all active US sub’s are nuclear. Many or all of those subs are capable of carrying nuclear weapons though. The US historically has tried to not talk too much about where they have nuclear weapons deployed. This regime may not have that level of discretion, and honestly probably doesn’t actually know what nuclear submarine even means.
As for the rest, they are literally out murdering people in international waters to distract from how dog shit their government is.
They’re sending a nuclear submarine? Is this nuclear powered as in just the energy it uses or is it a submarine with a nuclear weapon?
The reference is definitely about nuclear-powered submarines, not nuclear payloads. They specifically say it is a fast attack submarine, so that would be a Virginia-class, which primarily carries Tomahawk cruise missiles, not Trident II ballistic missiles. They are nuclear-capable but not a standard load that would be on a ship already on deployment. That’s what the other type of submarines are for…
The Ohio class, 14 ballistic missile submarines (SSBNs) and 4 cruise missile submarines (SSGNs), which carry the Trident II submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs). Those 14 SSBNs form a large backbone of the US nuclear deterrent so they aren’t used for this type of thing. The advantage they have is lurking anywhere on the globe at any time hiding from everyone able to launch a nuclear attack to any point on the globe within minutes. Their entire purpose is pointless if enemies knew where they were, that’s what the Virginia-class are for.
Just curious, what are the chances they’re on high alert bc Xi, Kim Jong Un, and Putin all attended China’s military parade today and they misidentified a Venezuelan ship as a threat for some reason and fired on it?
I doubt it. This was very much intentional and premeditated to intimidate Latin America and win support of their base for wars. The alleged drug ship was a target they had no legal or tactical justification for attacking, except that the people on board are symbolically “the bad guys.” It’ll be framed as a crusade justified by the opioid epidemic and war on drugs amongst MAGA. At the same time, the unprovoked attack against non combatants hopes to scare Venezuela, other Latin American governments, and powerful narcotics organizations alike.
It’s a continuation of ‘Hey we think this guy is a terrorist, so drop a bomb on that wedding’.
Their drug-sniffing dolphin told them there were drugs on board.
/s just in case.
How do they know there were drugs on the boat, if they didn’t board it first? It would be a lot more believable, if they had captured the boat instead of blowing it up. Then there would be evidence to confirm their claims. The fact that they didn’t do that, just makes all this sound like bullshit.
Most likely they needed to pump up the numbers or Trump needed more media distractions, so they picked a boat at random and blew it up, we will never know the truth, but at least US military had some fun blowing shit up, so everyone is happy…except the people on the boat 🙄
Ah I see the “Hamas under hospital” kind of logic is going to be applied to these type of attacks.
Next will be: “Oh we bombed a port because it is used by drug traffickers”
You just know 100% that Trump believes the TV propaganda 100%. We already know he doesn’t listen to his intelligence briefings, that’s been reported numerous times going all the way back to his first day in office. So the AIPAC propaganda they’re spreading in the media is what he actually believes in the truth. And if that’s the case, then he can just do the same thing clearly.
Good thing they blew it up so there’s zero evidence of any wrongdoing whatsoever. And no way to prove innocence either, so that works out nicely.
Also, release the fucking Epstein Files.
Did the boat have “D R U G S” in Times New Roman font written on the side of it?
The boat was named the “Lotta Drugs.”
Only after it was drawn in with MS PaintYES
I know we want to get really riled up and say that he’s committed a war crime but presidents have been extra judicially killing drug dealers since Obama put them on the Disposition matrix (the “kill list”).
Trump even goes out of his way to call them “narcoterrorists” because the way the law was written when the “war on terror” started (not that he pays that much attention to the law), anyone that has a mild supporting role in Al Qaeda and it’s diaspora have open season on them without Congressional oversight in perpetuity.
I want people to understand that this is wrong but also every president has been doing this since 2010
Two things are different: Other presidents were smart enough not to publicly and personally associate themselves with something like this.
And more importantly, other presidents didn’t rile the whole world up against them, but were mostly nice and forgiving, so other countries were more inclined to ignore these incidents.
Doesn’t mean it’s not a crime though
“The strike resulted in 11 terrorists killed in action. No U.S. Forces were harmed in this strike,”
no they didn’t kill any drug smugglers, only terrorists…
Give the Mustard Mussolini another year and he’ll say the same thing when he shoots down the Delta flight with some former president he didn’t like on it.
This is just the beginning of this bullshit and he’s just going to get bolder.
So it means that other countries can do the same to American counterparts right
Nixon must be rolling in his grave while Oliver North is facepalming.
Just more propaganda from our favorite warmongering beasts, the American government. And their drug trafficking nazi armed forces.
No matter what happens, we still need actual proof of what is in the Epstein Files. This is a really bad cover up.
😬
I’m imagining that scene from Alien, where Ripley narrowly escapes having a magazine shoved down her throat.
Only its Trump and a burrito.
