A US senator is questioning the legality of military strikes on alleged drug boats, suggesting innocent lives may have been lost. Senator Tim Kaine, a Democrat from Virginia, wrote to President Donald Trump expressing concerns over the strikes, which have killed at least 221 people and destroyed 67 vessels since last September.
Operation Southern Spear
The US military’s Operation Southern Spear campaign aims to combat drug cartels, but Kaine believes the strikes may have gone beyond their intended targets. He urged the president to examine the circumstances of the strikes and cease the operation, which he called ‘illegal, costly, and ineffective.’ The White House has defended the strikes, saying they target ‘designated narcoterrorists’ and are necessary to stop the flow of deadly drugs into the US.
Kaine’s comments come during a pause in the boat strikes, with the most recent one occurring on June 21. Law enforcement officials and experts have expressed skepticism about the effectiveness of the strikes in disrupting the region’s drug trade.
Original reporting: KTVZ (Central Oregon) — read the source article.
