Details of the law are important in strikes on boat
President Trump likes to give people and things names.
Pocahontas, radical lunatics, enemies of the people (I take that one personally), and he will even try to change names even when he lacks the authority to do so — Gulf of America, Department of War.
It may often seem childish, but it is a classic tactic in politics — define your opponent before they can define themselves; hang an albatross around their necks; make them play defense. Create an aura of negativity around your opponents in the court of public opinion.
Some of these seem like no more than the political equivalent of the chaff that fighter jets release to confuse incoming missiles, but others are more cleverly targeted. Pocahontas denigrated Sen. Warren but also called attention to the identity politics that grate on a lot of Americans.
In February, the Department of State designated the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua (TdA), which engages in the smuggling of drugs, people, extortion, kidnapping, and murder, as a terrorist organization.
On Sept. 2, the U.S. military struck a boat in international waters near Trinidad allegedly run by TdA and allegedly carrying drugs bound for the U.S., destroying the boat and killing the 11 individuals onboard.
The Trump administration has justified the strike by labeling TdA as “narco-terrorists” and has charged that Maduro is directing TdA. “Interdiction doesn’t work,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio said. “When you blow them up, that stops them.” Rubio forecast more such strikes.
True to their word, the President said this week that the U.S. had struck two other boats, killing at least three. In later comments, President Trump suggested there would be more strikes, including on land, which would ratchet up the legal issues.
Unlike President Obama’s drone war against al-Qaida, which justified its actions under the Authorization for the Use of Military Force that was passed by Congress in the wake of 9/11, there is no equivalent statute for a “war” on drug smuggling.
In suggesting that the strike on TdA was illegal, critics of the Trump administration and particularly Democrats find themselves — at least rhetorically — on the wrong side of an issue.
Whether it is drug smugglers, illegal aliens, or fighting crime in American cities, arguing that laws be followed, that due process be granted, that the administration might introduce a crime bill in Congress is often a loser politically. Whose side are you on?
One can make the argument that the organizations that smuggle drugs into the United States do not meet the definition of “terrorists.” Terrorism is the calculated use of violence to intimidate or coerce a civilian population or government, with the goal of achieving political or social objectives.
Labeling drug smugglers terrorists does not make it so. They are essentially businessmen. It is a vile, illegal business, but a business nonetheless. Secretary Rubio said it himself. He said Maduro’s objective was to “become a billionaire.”
We don’t know, but I hope there were members of the U.S. military who balked at the order to strike. I hope there were people of conscience who questioned the legality of that order. Executing people without a legal process on the high seas cannot be justified, no matter how heinous their activities.
Shrugging and looking the other way because those on the boat were “bad hombres” (another Trump favorite) is a dangerous and slippery slope.
The United States is supposed to be a nation of laws but the law is not whatever the President of the United States says it is. Both Democrats and Republicans have expressed unease with these strikes, thus there needs to be oversight and legislative action. They need to call these strikes what they are — illegal.
• Keith Peterson, of Lake Barrington, served 29 years as a press and cultural officer for the United States Information Agency and Department of State. He was chief editorial writer of the Daily Herald 1984-86. His book “American Dreams: The Story of the Cyprus Fulbright Commission” is available from Amazon.com.