Trump’s strikes on alleged narco-boats spark rift with allies

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00:00The United States and Venezuela seem to be on a path toward direct conflict.

00:05At the same time, some American allies are questioning the legality of U.S. operations

00:11in the Caribbean, specifically the strikes on speedboats suspected of carrying drugs.

00:18Now there are conflicting reports some allies are withholding intelligence from their American

00:23counterparts because of the strikes.

00:25So, to really understand where this all started, we sort of need to go back to January 20th

00:34of this year.

00:35That's when President Donald Trump retook the Oval Office and signed an executive order,

00:40laying the groundwork for certain South American cartels getting the Foreign Terrorist Organization

00:47label.

00:48In February, the White House formally declared eight Latin American crime organizations

00:54as FTOs.

00:56In August, the U.S. military buildup began in the Caribbean, and on September 2nd, the U.S.

01:02carried out its first known strike on a small boat suspected of carrying drugs.

01:08A month later, after all sorts of debates in Washington and abroad about the legality of

01:14the strikes, Trump sent a memo to Congress informing them the U.S. was now involved in a non-international

01:21armed conflict with the cartels that were declared FTOs.

01:25And therefore, killing anyone working for or with the cartels was justified, because they

01:32were considered unlawful combatants.

01:35We've reported on this before, so check out san.com for a full breakdown.

01:40But basically, the Trump administration's legal arguments for the strikes is because a country

01:45has a right to defend itself, and because these cartels are now considered foreign terrorist

01:50organizations, the strikes are legal.

01:53But outside of the administration, it's not so clear-cut.

01:57Democrats on Capitol Hill, and even some Republicans, are accusing the administration of carrying

02:03out extrajudicial killings, which is a nice way of saying these strikes amount to murder.

02:09And this is where we start getting into conflicting reports of intel sharing or not sharing.

02:16France and the U.K. both have a significant military presence in the Caribbean, and often

02:21work closely with the United States on drug intradictions.

02:25CNN reported the U.K. suspended intelligence sharing with the U.S. over the boat strikes.

02:31But both U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and his British counterpart, Yvette Cooper, denied

02:37that claim, and called it fake news.

02:41France did call the strikes on speedboats flatly illegal, but Paris and Washington are still

02:47sharing secrets, too.

02:49Colombia did stop sharing intelligence with the United States.

02:53The decision was made after Colombia's president, Gustavo Petro, said the fight against drugs must

02:59come second to the fight to protect human rights.

03:03Now, up until this point, all of the U.S. strikes in the Caribbean and the Eastern

03:07Pacific happened in international waters.

03:11But if the U.S. starts hitting stuff on land in Venezuela, then U.S. allies may rethink their

03:18stances on intel sharing, which happens in the international community.

03:23For instance, the Netherlands is not sharing intel with the U.S. right now because the Dutch

03:28think it might wind up at the Kremlin.

03:30There have been at least 20 more strikes on suspected drug boats since the first one in

03:37September.

03:38Around 80 people were killed in those strikes, maybe more.

03:41There have also been several efforts in Congress led by Democrats to rein in the president's

03:46authority in what's now being called Operation Southern Spear.

03:50But none of those efforts were successful.

03:53For more unbiased straight fact reporting like this, download the Straight Arrow News app today

03:57or check out the website, SAN.com.

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