White House says all of the strikes have been against designated narcoterrorists
White House spokesperson, in a statement to The Hill
“All of these decisive strikes have been against designated narcoterrorists bringing deadly poison to our shores, and the President will continue to use every element of American power to stop drugs from flooding into our country and to bring those responsible to justice”
Source and context
Reporting
About this source
The Hill report on the joint statement by more than 70 lawmakers. It includes a White House statement from spokesperson Anna Kelly and reports that U.S. officials have not offered evidence that the fast boats are carrying drugs.
Before the quotation
The statement appeared in The Hill's report on a joint statement by more than 70 lawmakers from North and South America urging the administration to end the strikes.
After the quotation
The Hill reported that U.S. officials have not offered evidence that the fast boats are carrying drugs.
How this statement is classified
Case context: Was the U.S. military's September 19 Caribbean boat strike justified by evidence of narcotics trafficking?
The label describes this statement’s response within the context above.
Why this label?
Measured against the September 19 strike and its stated basis, Kelly says every strike in the campaign has targeted designated narcoterrorists, which defends the premise that those aboard were narcoterrorists.
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Was the U.S. military's September 19 Caribbean boat strike justified by evidence of narcotics trafficking?
Explore the case context, sources and public responses.
More from this case
Read the full case“Donald Trump is dropping bombs across the Caribbean and Pacific in blatant violation of the law and of fundamental human rights … This has done nothing to stop the flow of drugs or to make Americans safer. Instead, it has left hundreds dead, families devastated, and communities in fear. Let us call these attacks what they are: illegal extrajudicial killings.”Read statement
“The cartels are the ISIS of the Western Hemisphere, not good people. They're enemies at war with civilization, using murder, rape, torture, and extortion as instruments of terror. … they should be killed, exiled, or detained as enemy combatants without the possibility of release, which is what we're doing. To that end, the United States has carried out dozens of strikes on cartel drug boats, destroying 97% of the drugs coming into the ocean and sea.”Read statement
“It finds that such attacks amount to serial extrajudicial killings in violation of the right to life, being unjustified in national or personal self-defence or under international humanitarian law, the international law of the sea, narcotics suppression conventions, or international counter-terrorism law. … even assuming that the vessels and crew attacked were members of the criminal groups listed as terrorist, such organizations have not mounted any “armed attack” on the United States so as to trigger a right of self-defence. … There are reasonable grounds to believe that the reported 68 attacks that killed 223 people constituted crimes against humanity of murder under customary international law.”Read statement