Article

2025-10-03 Caribbean-Latin America

Trump declares WAR on cartels: US enters 'non-international armed conflict' in extraordinary escalation

[Daily Mail, where America gets its news] Donald Trump has declared war on drug cartels and notified Congress that the United States is now engaged in a 'non-international armed conflict'.

The extraordinary escalation by the president follows a series of recent strikes on drug-smuggling vessels operated by 'terrorist organizations' in the Caribbean.

Trump's declaration is intended to place an iron-clad legal framework around the military action. According to international law, a country may kill enemy fighters even when they pose no threat and detain them indefinitely without trial.

In a confidential memo sent to lawmakers on Thursday, the president calls the cartel gangsters 'unlawful combatants' whose actions 'constitute an armed attack against the United States'.

It follows a closed-door Senate Armed Services Committee briefing on Wednesday during which Pentagon officials addressed lawmakers' concerns over the legality of the strikes.

The president's notice uses language from international law - 'non-international armed conflict' - which refers to war with a non-state actor.

'The cartels involved have grown more armed, well-organized, and violent,' the memo added. 'They have the financial means, sophistication, and paramilitary capabilities needed to operate with impunity.'

It follows complaints from Democratic lawmakers that the strikes - including three deadly attacks on drug traffickers last month - are unlawful under the War Powers Act which requires the consent of the chamber for military action.

The War Powers Act, passed in the aftermath of the Vietnam War, has been challenged or sidestepped by almost every president since its enactment, including by Barrack Obama in Libya in 2011 and Bill Clinton in Kosovo in 1999.

What the Trump administration laid out at the closed-door briefing was perceived by several senators as pursuing a new legal framework that raised questions particularly regarding the role of Congress in authorizing any such action, a source said.

Pentagon officials could not provide a list of the designated terrorist organizations at the center of the conflict, which was a major source of frustration for some of the lawmakers who were briefed, a source revealed.

The administration has called the strikes 'self defense' and claimed that the laws of war allow the US to kill, rather than arrest, the smugglers who are working for cartels that the administration has deemed terrorists.

The concept of 'non-international armed conflict' was developed during the 20th century to define civil wars, as opposed to those between distinct nation states.

The precedent was broadened following the 9/11 attacks when George Bush declared war on Al-Qaeda. Some legal scholars objected to the use of wartime powers, claiming that the terrorist organization was a band of criminals, not soldiers.

This was rejected by the Supreme Court which found the conflict against Al-Qaeda was indeed a war, permitting the government to hold captured terrorists indefinitely without trial.

Its decision rested on the fact that Congress had authorized the use of armed force against Al-Qaeda.

It is not clear in the memo how trafficking in drugs constitutes use of force but it states that the cartels 'illegally and directly cause the deaths of tens of thousands of American citizens each year.'

White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly said in an email: 'As we have said many times, the President acted in line with the law of armed conflict to protect our country from those trying to bring deadly poison to our shores, and he is delivering on his promise to take on the cartels and eliminate these national security threats from murdering more Americans.'

As the Republican administration takes aim at vessels in the Caribbean, Democratic senators and lawmakers have raised stark objections.

Some had previously called on Congress to exert its authority under the War Powers Act that would prohibit any action unless it was authorized by Congress.

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Posted by Skidmark 2025-10-03 00:00|| E-Mail|| Front Page|| [1808 views ] Top
File under: Narcos

1 As the Republican administration takes aim at vessels in the Caribbean, Democratic senators and lawmakers have raised stark objections.

Some had previously called on Congress to exert its authority under the War Powers Act that would prohibit any action unless it was authorized by Congress.

...Oh, please, please PLEASE stand up on Capitol Hill and speak in favor of not whacking the drug runners.

Mike

Posted by MikeKozlowski 2025-10-03 06:25|| 2025-10-03 06:25|| Front Page Top

2 Maybe the next Greta flotilla can go to South America?

Posted by Grom the Affective 2025-10-03 07:53|| 2025-10-03 07:53|| Front Page Top

3 'Come-to-Jesus meeting’: Military community reacts to Hegseth's get fit, get in line or get out speech

Garrett Smith, an active-duty Marine Corps reservist and CEO of defense tech firm Reveal, said the spectacle was unusual but not without precedent.

"At a first level, at any big multinational corporation or big organization, when there’s a new boss, it’s totally reasonable to call in all your regional managers and VPs for a setting of tone, to reconfirm the agenda, to ensure alignment. So, all of that makes sense," Smith said.

Posted by Skidmark 2025-10-03 09:52|| 2025-10-03 09:52|| Front Page Top

4 Blew up another drug boat.

Posted by DarthVader 2025-10-03 13:56|| 2025-10-03 13:56|| Front Page Top

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