A US senator is questioning the military’s strikes on alleged drug boats, suggesting that some of the individuals killed may not have been involved in drug trafficking. Senator Tim Kaine, a Democrat from Virginia, made the comments in a letter to President Donald Trump after reviewing classified information about the strikes.

Operation Southern Spear

The US military has killed at least 221 people and destroyed at least 67 vessels in the ‘Operation Southern Spear’ campaign, which began last September. The administration has told Congress that the US is in an ‘armed conflict’ against drug cartels, labeling those killed ‘unlawful combatants’ and claiming the ability to engage in lethal strikes without judicial review due to a classified Justice Department finding.

However, Kaine said that his review has led him to believe that the US is engaged in violent and fatal attacks against people far beyond the parameters of the classified legal opinion. He added that a careful review of the available evidence suggests that the US has killed individuals who are not involved in narcotrafficking.

Kaine urged Trump to examine the circumstances of these strikes and cease what he called an ‘illegal, costly and ineffective’ operation. The senator sits on the Senate Armed Services Committee and pointed to classified information shared with Congress about the strikes and the targets that he had seen.

A White House spokeswoman defended the strikes, saying that they have been against designated narcoterrorists bringing deadly poison to the US shores. The President will continue to use every element of American power to stop drugs from flooding into the country and to bring those responsible to justice.

Original reporting: KRDO (Colorado Springs metro) — read the source article.