What you think of USA blowing up Venezuala boats?

[Anonymous]

I heard directly from my representative on Intelligence committee... the boats are drug boats moving cocaine, but the his concern is the low level people that are being killed and that congress has not approved the use of military power.

They don't have a choice but to drive those boats and the kingpins running it are the ones that are the problem. Thus, for that reason and others, the representative was opposed to attacking the boats.

Do you approve of USA govt protecting it's shores via the drug boat routes?

Reality is... they will use other means... flying drugs, submarines, who knows what...

https://www.cnn.com/2025/11/16/politics/us-military-drug-boat-strike-21

Yes

No

Don't know/not my issue

[purplepoppy]

Smuggling does not carry a death sentence. These boats could easily be stopped, other countries have no problems stopping boats. Boats are easily tracked and could be searched when docking. These events are nothing more than a breech of international law and Trump should be arrested.

[Asker]

true. but ya catch them, release, repeat. how many decades do that before start blwoing them up? once out of boats, airplanes, submarines... they are done. I assume that's the argument..."we're done with this".

[purplepoppy]

So if American citizens smuggle drugs into my country can we blow up their boats?

[Asker]

Yes under some parameters Id be ok with it. Like lets say we pumped some poisonous foods into your country, like our GMO corn and wheat. UK said no... and tried to stop it for decades but couldn't, so UK people started to get sick like Americans costing the UK billions and putting the country at risk...

Im fine with them blowing up the barges in self defense.

UK may have to dwell on this because they were a driver of the first and second opium wars. Forcing someone to buy your addictive drug is a real pisser.

[SeekerOfTruth007]

Yes. I'm perfectly fine with that. Anyone selling deadly illegal drugs should get a death sentence anyway, because they are technically murderers, and you ought to all know I believe in the Death Penalty for murder.

[Chazmatazz269]

If i had a boat that i didn’t want blown up, i would just not try to smuggle drugs with it. Seems pretty simple to me.
This is an old game that the US is playing. Choose your enemy based on resources we want to control. Declare them terrorists and go to war. It’s particularly helpful if they are neither democratic nor capitalist. Then we can claim that we’re liberating the free people of (Venezuela) and bringing them democracy and capitalism. With the largest proven oil reserves on Earth and insurmountable challenges extracting it, they were bound to become a target eventually. The US will eventually push to install new leadership in Venezuela. It will benefit the citizens, but it will benefit the US more because the new leader will be an ally who favors petroleum deals with the US and its other allies. I’m not sure if they could avoid the conflict even if they withdrew from OPEC.

[NaultD]

Blow them up on usa shores. At least there's plausible self defense. With a level of restraint that they could be usa civilians who are law abiding people so you can't open fire.

This ultimately gives the cartels more leverage then anything else because the mules doing more dangerous points of entry are more then likely USA citizens.

https://youtu.be/VrKW58MS12g?si=3-Q-mh_W2MAYBw5E

Not exactly the same but shows how many disconnected loops thier are. So targeting the most disposable and easiest to replace loop is not breaking the weakest link of the chain so to speak.

[FreyaRed]

Killing couriers was never effective, it's just increase prices. What is probably intention of US.
I think 2000lb GBU at night at some drug baron hacienda is more effective. Of course it would cause lot of collateral damage but a war without war crimes is like a Pina Colada without rum.

[Syntosi]

It is basically just murder.

USA has been dealing with drug boats since forever. There is an established way for dealing with them and no drug boat is going to offer any real resistance to being boarded by American forces. The idea to just blow them up though is crazy. To put it bluntly, this is an act of war and the only reason that nobody appears to care is that America is too powerful to worry about an invasion. Point remains though, we should not be doing things like this and this violates the sovereignty of Venezuela in several different ways.

If this was actually about stopping drug boats then we know how to do that. This is not it. This is something entirely different with the pretense of stopping drug boats. We can only speculate on what the real motivation is. Either way, this will harm Americas position internationally and especially alienate America against every south American and Central American nation. Nobody likes this and they will remember it.

[SeekerOfTruth007]

lol? The Cartels in Mexico and South America will KILL you just for looking at them sideways. They'll kill you and your entire family, but you think the President striking back against them is "Murder"?

I think you have your priorities backward, just about the same as so many other users on this website.

[Syntosi]

@SeekerOfTruth007 So fucking what? You think it is the US navy and military's job to play law enforcement officers? And pray tell, what makes you think that US law such as laws against murder would apply to other citizens inside other nations? USA does not have any legal jurisdiction in there and no right to judge or execute people. I mean WTF are we even talking about at this point? You literally have no idea how any of this works do you?

[Syntosi]

@SeekerOfTruth007 Literally irrelevant. Good job wasting my time.

[SeekerOfTruth007]

Lol. You're unworthy of my time then.

[Syntosi]

@SeekerOfTruth007 Ditto. Learn what national sovereignty is.

[SeekerOfTruth007]

The U. S. Constitution grants Congress the power to define and punish piracy through Article I, Section 8, Clause 10. This authority allows Congress to pass laws, such as 18 U. S. C. § 1651, which makes it a crime to commit piracy on the high seas as defined by the law of nations. The federal judiciary, under Article III, also has jurisdiction over maritime cases, including those involving piracy.
Constitutional basis
Article I, Section 8, Clause 10: Grants Congress the power to "define and punish Piracies and Felonies committed on the high Seas, and Offences against the Law of Nations".
Article III, Section 2: Establishes the judicial power of the United States to extend to "all Cases of admiralty and maritime Jurisdiction".
Congressional action and legal precedent
Congress has used its constitutional power to pass laws against piracy.
18 U. S. C. § 1651: This is the primary federal statute criminalizing piracy, which applies to anyone who commits piracy on the high seas and is found in the United States.
Early Legislation: Following the Constitution's ratification, Congress passed legislation in 1790 and later strengthened it in 1819 to explicitly address piracy as a crime under the law of nations.
United States v. Smith (1820): The Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of the 1819 act, confirming that Congress could use the law of nations to define piracy.
Modern application
Definition: Modern U. S. law incorporates the international definition of piracy, which includes acts of violence or detention committed for private ends by the crew of a private ship against another ship on the high seas.
Punishment: Conviction for piracy under 18 U. S. C. § 1651 can result in a punishment of life in prison.

[Syntosi]

@SeekerOfTruth007 ... You dont get it do you? That is US legal code. That applies ONLY within US borders.

[SeekerOfTruth007]

No, it uses the Law of Nations and applies to all international waters too. Re-read guy.

[Syntosi]

@SeekerOfTruth007 This was in Venezuelan territorial waters and even if it was in international waters this would still result in USA getting raped by the legal code.

[Spencer10]

They are smugglers. They are criminals. They are not terrorists. What the USA is doing is a violation of International Law. They are executing criminals without due process. Does this mean any drug dealer on any street corner can be summarily executed with out cause? Want to win the "war" on drugs? Do something about the demand and the supply will dry up. America likes to blame others for its own problems.

[Asker]

your points seem valid.
But then again, they've been doing this for a long time. The Barbary pirates... were they terrorists, or just criminals? Is someone that delivers enough fentanyl to kill a city a criminal or terrorist. Granted, this case, it's probably cocaine... which makes people happy and more productive vs killing people.
So it's a stretch...
Yes, demand is the problem! Have to wonder the market price of the drugs now.

[Spencer10]

Seriously demand is the problem. Maybe start waging war on why people use drugs? Help them battle their addictions. Do something about the root causes like poverty. Instead of blaming countries like Venezuela maybe help Venezuelan to tackle its problems. Think of all the positive things America could do to tackle the root causes for drug use in Alabama with the money being spent keeping the USS Ford on station...

[Asker]

not the personality of this bunch, it has gone on so long with ideas and this and that. They will just blow things up. I have no interest in flying anywhere near that area or sailing there, for obvious reasons.

[Spencer10]

No kidding. This is a terrible policy. Its like Vietnam... the leadership is judging success with body counts. And remember these bodies are civilian.

[NewtoTheSouth]

What about American drones killing suspected terrorists in the Middle East? How do you feel about that?

[Spencer10]

@NewtoTheSouth There is a bit about that that makes me pause. But when you have a group actively using weapons against your military, infrastructure or civilians thats seems clear they are "combatants" In the case of drug trafficing they are out to make money. Are people harmed? Yes but there is a difference between criminal activity and actual terrorism. Should America start executing without process biker gangs? Organized crime? It seems what is happening in international waters right now is a slippery slope.

[RingOfFire]

How many wars ago was it that Congress declared the wars a war again?

Fuck 'em. They are murdering hundreds of thousands of Americans with tainted drugs in collusion with China including someone I knew. They are inviting enemies of the United States including China, Russia and Iran to set up military bases right in our back yard.

They destroyed one of the richest countries in the world (their own) with their socialism, emptied their prisons and insane asylums and dumped tens of thousands of violent criminals into the United States over the Democrats open border under Biden's watch. And hundreds of thousands of other Venezuelans broke into our country under Biden when they ran out of zoo animals and pigeons in the parks to eat in their country after they went from capitalism to socialism.

It is about time we get that bastard out of leadership there. It won't take much. They may not have to even fire a single shot to get it done.

[RingOfFire]

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/a4r8FU6RMwA

[SeekerOfTruth007]

The constitution already gives the President power to intervene in cases of piracy and similar international offenses, which international drug trafficking falls under piracy, so there is nothing wrong with the President ordering strikes on drug traffickers.

[boundless]

I think your theory has a problem... Terrorist organizations have relied on drug trafficking and cartel-controlled financial networks to fund their activities for many years, thus they are authorized targets due to their aid to terrorist organizations that attacked the United States of America.

https://www.congress.gov/107/plaws/publ40/PLAW-107publ40.pdf

[boundless]

www.youtube.com/watch

[boundless]

Did you think couriers (mules) that carry money across borders to finance terrorism in the USA were able to operate outside of the Latin American cartels? Can they pass over the southern border through Mexico without the cartel's permission and assistance? Nope.

[Surely]

After the first couple. If the others had any active brain cells. You would think that they would find another way to make a living.
Apparently, there must be enough drugs getting through or manufactured here in the United States. Since there isn’t a shortage of rehabilitation centers for drug withdrawal.

[exitseven]

Yes, blow them out of the water. If they try to use airplanes, we have ways to deal with that as well. Same with subs. If we make it too expensive to smuggle drugs into the US the problem will stop.

[Anonymous]

If we know for sure they’re hauling drugs, then blow them out of the water.

[FunkyMonkee]

As long as they really ARE bringing drugs into the country.
Fuck around and find out!!

[DJB72]

My only real issue is the sharks suffering withdrawal symptoms when they stop sinking the boats...

[Anonymous]

Yeah, drugs are a serious issue in the USA. We need to curb their entry into our country. It will especially help the most vulnerable Americans because drugs disproportionately affect poor and minority communities.

[DrPepper12]

Extrajudicial murder

[Sal_Monella]

They deserve it.

[beefcakebradybatson]

Near war crime zone.

[blackeagle007]

No matter what I say, I’ll get backlash

[Pterodon]

I love when the USA flexes its muscles