Monroe Doctrine Redux
Artificial Reef
US military kills 11 people in strike on alleged drug boat from Venezuela, Trump says
By Phil Stewart, Idrees Ali and Steve Holland
Summary
- 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.
“We just, over the last few minutes, literally shot out a boat, a drug-carrying boat, a lot of drugs in that boat,” Trump told reporters at the White House.“And there’s more where that came from. We have a lot of drugs pouring into our country, coming in for a long time … These came out of Venezuela.”
He later shared a video on his Truth Social platform that appeared to show footage from overhead drones of a speedboat at sea exploding and then on fire.
“The strike resulted in 11 terrorists killed in action. No U.S. Forces were harmed in this strike,” Trump said.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. He repeated allegations that Tren de Aragua is being controlled by Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro, accusations that Caracas denies.
Venezuela’s Communications Minister, Freddy Nanez, suggested in a post on social media that the video shared by Trump was created with artificial intelligence.
Reuters
The gloves just came off in The War On Drugs and the media is already bemoaning the fact. NPR’s Nick Schifrin opines,
Now, that said, Amna, regional experts tell me the drug trade is highly decentralized, and fighting it is not usually a military effort. It is traditionally seen as law enforcement.
So there are economic tools. There are diplomatic political tools and tools used by the Drug Enforcement Agency. So that is what fundamentally has changed, that it is the U.S. Navy, not the Coast Guard and the DEA, taking these steps.
The nature of the military deployment, though, means that some experts believe this is a message or a threat to Nicolas Maduro, the head of Venezuela, whom Trump accused of controlling multiple gangs, including Tren de Aragua, and whom Trump tried to depose during the first term by backing an opposition figure.
I believe the term our intrepid journo is grouping for is “Naval Blockade.” So, how successful has The War on Drugs has gone so far by pursuing diplomatic and legal means, and of course this is a direct warning to the Cartels. If Maduro’s regime is toppled in the process so much the better.
In other news, Baghdad Bob changed his name and moved to Caracas.
Category: Big Navy, Foreign Policy, Trump!
OK SO TAH sleuths ….I have a question…I saw the video and the first thing I sais was…”Damn that looked like they lit that thing up with a laser cannon…or some such……news reports sais “kinetic” weapon. I was also thinking a single shot from a 20 mm cannon? That’s a HELL of a single shot. but tracking and shit. I was surprised not to see a like 5 minute long burst of tracer fire AND 2mm and such….anyway, ideas on what they hit it with??
Wouldn’t take much. You can see all the extra fuel cans littered around the deck. A boat like that probably drinks 2-3 gallons a minute at WOT, a bit less at a reasonable cruising speed, but plenty. Something as simple as a hand grenade could take out the whole boat.
Don’t think it was a laser though as it would have washed out the cameras really bad. Even though military grade lasers aren’t visible to the eye they are visible on the infrared spectrum.
I am guessing some kind of drone ordinance.
The Navy’s Seahawk helos are capable of firing both AGM-114 Hellfire and AGM-119 Penguin missiles.
Watch the second part of the video, right before the boom. The drone taking the video was targeting the center of the boat, probably with a laser designator.
I see a swirling afterburner sort of light just before it hits.
I’m guessing it was the ass end of some sort of rocket but
nice splash whatever it was and whatever it came from.
Who knew fentanyl was so damn explosive. 😉
Mighta been the 100 octane fuel those 4 yuge outboards were sucking from
And the hellfire and damnation began.
Right now, Monroe isn’t turning in his grave. He’s sleeping soundly.
This makes my old black heart dance with joy.
I hate illegal drugs, the dealers, the criminal gangs, and what the damned commies did to Venezuela.
Better dead than red still resonates for some of us old farts….
And is proving it’s veracity in spades in today’s world.
Sat Cong
Went 50+ years before I heard that slogan. Best takeaway from “Go Tell the Spartans”.
The only ones losing sleep over this will be the Democrats who aren’t sure which court and judge to go to, to stop Trump from stopping the flow of powdered death into the country.
If Trump is able to effectively slow the flow of drugs into unaffordability/ unavailability, what is left of their followership might sober up and realize what has been happening to them the last sixty years or so. Then they might get mad about it.
The louder the dems scream about fighting drugs and crime, the more I wonder who is getting paid by the cartels and gangs.
Or the users might go into withdrawal and die.
Bad boy boat get blasted go BOOM!
BOOM BOOM, out go the lights (in my best Pat Traverse impersonation).
Blow’d up real good!
That goes back a minute or two! Howdy, farmers!
“Thank you for your attention to this matter.”
Let me make an addition:
“…He added that the U.S. military had identified {what was left and not burned to a crisp} the crew as members of Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua, which the U.S. designated a terrorist group in February.
“Outstanding Red team, outstanding. Get you a case of beer for that one.” Lt. Col Bill Kilgore.
The hours, days, months, years, I flew over the waters of ther caribean in a P-3 in search of drug runners. we would find them and track them until some other authority was able to board the craft and bust them. Oh how I wish we could have splashed a few of them on our own……. oh so much fun.
Puerto Rico Dets were the best, especially for Aircrew. Barracks sucked, chow hall was never open when we weren’t flying and zero local liberty. San Juan, if one could find a car, was an open air crime scene.
I cracked the code on ration cards for rum and cigars though. That did help a bit.
*grin*
The video was created using AI?
Go ahead and keep believing that, Freddy.
Agree with Him!
When druggie assholes keep coming up missing say the Bermudan Triangle migrated.
Related:
2:33 ¡Ojos locos! Always with the crazy eyes!
Yup!
“War mongering RINOs”! I think that the democrats that are owning stock in the military industrial complex haven’t seen a war that they don’t like!
I did a tour in an VAW squadron flying the SH-2F seasprite and deploying on Frigates and Destroyers.
I spent a lot of time in the Caribbean on counter-drug ops back in the early ’90’s. We had a Coast Guard boarding detachment on board to do the actual “bust” but the ship and helo would find, identify and close with the targets.
Most of us were convinced that the South American governments were “allowing” us a certain number of high profile busts each year to keep the US placated that we were accomplishing something, but without actually hurting the cartels.
We thought that because most of the time, when we’d identify a suspected drug smuggler, as soon as they realized we’d spotted them, they’d duck into the territorial waters of whatever South American country they were near…usually Venezuela.
Because they were no longer in International waters, we’d have to get permission from that government before we could enter, detain and board the vessel. We’d screw around out there for hours and hours and 90% of the time, by the time we got permission, the boat was long gone and we’d never see it again.
But every once in a while, we’d get permission right away and we’d make a bust. They’d hype it up on the news, but it was always small potatoes relatively speaking. Sacrificial lamb.
What made it so obvious was how quickly we’d get permission when it was being sacrificed to us. Any other time, we’d have just stewed out there for hours.
Can’t tell you how many times I wished we’d just light them up rather than have to play the game that they always, in the long run, won.
It’s good to see us taking the gloves off and treating these terrorists like…well…terrorists.
I can’t get my head to understand how democrats come out on the WRONG SIDE of EVERYTHING!
Now, they are for illegal drugs, drug smuggling cartels and against the military, again!