Anonymous A started this discussion 4 months ago#128,920
BREAKING: Senator Jack Reed drops bombshell news and reveals that the evidence presented by the MAGA Pentagon to justify their military strike on a boat in the Caribbean does not prove that they were drug smugglers for Tren de Aragua.
Trump may have blown up a boat full of innocent people...
“They have offered no positive identification that the boat was Venezuelan, nor that its crew were members of Tren de Aragua or any other cartel,” said Senator Jack Reed, the ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Committee.
Reed and his staff were formally briefed by the Department of Defense. According to two sources who spoke to CNN, the Pentagon officials who briefed them admitted that they were unable to discern exactly where it was that the boat was headed.
The attack was already deeply controversial due to its blatantly illegal nature. Trump released footage of the killing, claiming it as a massive victory to bolster his strongman persona. But even if there were drug smugglers on the boat — which has not been conclusively proven — the president had no right to deny those people due process and unilaterally murder them without trial.
Trump has insisted that the assassinated individuals were on their way to the United States despite Secretary of State Marco Rubio initially stating that they were "probably headed to Trinidad or some other country in the Caribbean, at which point they just contribute to the instability these countries are facing.”
One source revealed that the briefers also admitted that the boat turned around after seemingly spotting the military surveillance aircraft that had been following it. In other words, there is no argument to be made that the occupants of the boat posed an immediate threat to U.S. national security. Even if they were drug smugglers, they were headed back in the direction that they'd come from. Trump killed them to score a cheap PR win with his base.
"There is no evidence – none – that this strike was conducted in self-defense,” said Senator Reed. "That matters, because under both domestic and international law, the US military simply does not have the authority to use lethal force against a civilian vessel unless acting in self-defense."
Reed and his staff were shown recordings of the victims speaking to each other which may indicate that they were low-level drug traffickers, but they did not prove that they were members of Tren de Aragua or any cartel at all. Drug smuggling is a crime but not a capital one. We don't execute low-level drug smugglers apprehended on the streets of American cities and we cannot start murdering them abroad.
Donald J. Trump joined in and replied with this 4 months ago, 4 minutes later[^][v]#1,389,009
I am about to carry out the most important military operation the world has ever seen. And I have generals who have seen a lot of military operations but none like this. I had one general he told me, "Wow Trump I’ve never seen a military plan like this, this is a ridiculous plan there’s no way we can do this successfully." And this is a tough guy, he was held captive by the Koreans in Afghanistan this guy. Strong guy, broad shoulders. Anyway, what we’re going to do here, is we’re going to send seal team six to come rescue me from the White House while I’m still inside. Nobody’s ever done a military mission quite like this.
> I am about to carry out the most important military operation the world has ever seen. And I have generals who have seen a lot of military operations but none like this. I had one general he told me, "Wow Trump I’ve never seen a military plan like this, this is a ridiculous plan there’s no way we can do this successfully." And this is a tough guy, he was held captive by the Koreans in Afghanistan this guy. Strong guy, broad shoulders. Anyway, what we’re going to do here, is we’re going to send seal team six to come rescue me from the White House while I’m still inside. Nobody’s ever done a military mission quite like this.