Trump official admits 'many' targeted drug boats lacked capacity to even reach US

[tblue37]

https://www.rawstory.com/venezuela-2674235743/

Trump official admits ‘many’ targeted drug boats lacked capacity to even reach US

senior U.S. official admitted that many of the sea vessels targeted by the Trump administration suspected of drug trafficking did not have the motor capacity or necessary gasoline to reach the United States, according to a report from Drop Site News.

The Trump administration has ramped up hostilities with Venezuela in recent weeks, deploying an aircraft carrier strike group to the Caribbean last week, and destroying at least 10 suspected drug-carrying sea vessels since September, killing at least 43 people that the administration has labeled as “narco-terrorists.” The Trump administration’s rationale for the targeted strikes – which have received bipartisan condemnation as “extrajudicial killings” – has been to combat drug trafficking it says is orchestrated, in part, by Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.

However, according to a senior U.S. official who spoke with Drop Site News on the condition of anonymity, a significant number of the vessels that were destroyed lacked the capacity to even reach U.S. waters. Furthermore, the same official told the outlet that the Trump administration’s purported rationale for the strikes – to curb the trafficking of fentanyl – was also not supported by U.S. intelligence.

Much more: https://www.rawstory.com/venezuela-2674235743/

[CMell]

1. He needs a war right now, but not too big? n/t

[tblue37]

2. Just big enough to steal Venezuela's oil & other resources.

[Iggo]

40. Just big enough to ignore the Epstein files.

At first I thought he was just embarrassed to be caught in a lie. Now I think he might actually have fucked children.

[popsdenver]

44. LOL

Why do you think Ivanka has such endless power over him??????????

[Walleye]

4. He definitely has the bloodlust

[ananda]

34. He's always had it.

The only one keeping him from using nukes
in his first terms was General Mark Milley.

[Walleye]

35. Yep, he's dying to blow up some weaker country. He won't take on Putin.

[ananda]

41. Putin has too much on him.

Every single time he tries to get tough on Putin,
they have a little phone call and... well, you know.

[popsdenver]

45. AND

when Trump needs a real spanking from Putin,...... Putin orders Trump to meet him in Alaska for a one on one.......

Putin has been collecting Kompromat for decades on anyone who was up and coming.....Politcians, CEO's, Millionaires, Billionaires
And Putin was bestest friends with Epstein all along........

Putin, by way of Trump, OWNS a ton of Republican Politicians, probably with the aid of Epstein setting them up with his form of playtime....

[IronLionZion]

10. Goldilocks war, not too small, not too big, just right

I doubt he will send troops on the ground. This will likely be missiles and drone strikes.

[Walleye]

36. Starting a war is like starting a fire, you never know what it's gonna consume

I remember when President Clinton went to help Kosovo. They were after him to put ground troops in the whole time. You know how men are. He said the most profound thing, he said, “I could put them in easily, but I don’t know how I could get them out.”

[IronLionZion]

37. Democrats think about such things

for GOP, look at Afghanistan and Iraq. Getting them out is someone else's problem.

[DPS]

14. Yup. This way he can negotiate a ceasefire

and claim he deserves the Nobel Peace Prize.

[popsdenver]

46. Exactly DPS.... nc

AND, at the same time, install a Republican Friendly dictator, AND Trump and Putin negotiate an exclusive oil deal worth trillions....

[Walleye]

3. Where are the Republicans who constantly repeat the phrase "sanctity of life"

[Lonestarblue]

5. Sanctity of life applies only to embryos to control women's lives.

Otherwise, the lives of hateful white men matter. All others are meaningless.

[SamKnause]

7. They are zygote, embryo, and fetus worshipers.

[Walleye]

12. Well, they bitch and moan all the time about federal funds going to abortion. I don't want my money Going to killing

With no due process whatsoever. This is immoral and they know it. They don’t talk about morals anymore, just religion. and nobody talks about how much it cost us to blow up one of these boats. These missiles aren’t cheap. Wouldn’t it be cheaper just to track them down and keep the drugs if there are any. Are they just worried they’re only gonna end up with fish

[wolfie001]

16. David Koresh couldn't wait to push over the barrels of gasoline he had stored inside his complex

Mixing our government policies with religious fervor/bullshit always leads to people dying. My opinion of course.

[Walleye]

21. So true, we are reliving the Spanish inquisition. People will get killed.

[Qutzupalotl]

38. and the phrase "law and order"

[Walleye]

39. Oh, and they will bore you to death with their love of the country and constitution. All lies.

[Lovie777]

6. Duh.............

what's that saying from shithole? Oh wait..................

"I could shoot somebody on Fifth Avenue and not lose voters".

US SC six asshole justices gave shithole IMMUNITY, and the right to treat human beings inhumanly, ignore the rules and laws.

I guess murder is ok with the Republican party as well.

[Walleye]

23. Do you think the maga 6 on the court will ever regret some of these decisions they made and how they affect people

Do they ever think about how their decisions affect other people at all? We have a dictator now and it’s their fault. They should try ruling against him every once in a while. He will definitely turn on them viciously.

[NotHardly]

29. No, They are shameless.

[TBA]

8. "Many" as in "All"

Anyone with a map and a rudimentary knowledge of how gasoline works should have figured that out.

We are so dumb to believe these are drug-running boats going from Venezuela to the US (1100 miles).

[barbtries]

17. does anyone believe it?

I don't know that.

[Walleye]

25. Even if they are running drugs into the United States. That's not a capital crime and they are allowed due process.

I think the question of whether they have drugs on those boats is beside the point. It’s an illegal arbitrary execution. What if someone shot our fishing boats out of the water, would we do? I assume the people in these boats are innocent because they haven’t been proven guilty of anything. Isn’t that what used to be the American way? Trump is counting on the fact that nobody will attack our mighty military. It’s the strength of the United States other countries are afraid of, not him.

[spanone]

9. So he sent an Aircraft Carrier to eliminate them.

HE'S OUT OF HIS FUCKING MIND

[Botany]

11. I.O.W.s Trump was murdering people based on lies.

Some of the videos I have seen show those boats are outboard motor boats which do not
have the range to get even close to American waters and fentanyl does not come from
Venezuela too.

[twodogsbarking]

13. Murder. Trump is a murderer.

[Walleye]

26. Even worse, he has a bloodlust now

[barbtries]

15. so they just have this need or desire

to murder people. it's a test run. how many people can we murder without consequences?

i cannot even express how this fucks with my mind and my heart.

[Rebl2]

18. I am

beginning to think he would bomb a large democratic city if they didn’t cooperate with his demands.

[barbtries]

20. I think it's pretty hard at this point

to avoid the conclusion that they want us dead. Public health and science out the window. rfk jr and krasnov himself giving the worst possible advice to parents. the shutdown: now they're going to start starving people. ICE brutality and detentions. USAID, gone. Warmongering Venezuela, murdering innocent people.

it goes on and on. they want us dead. I've had one goal in life since the election: save democracy. Now I have an second goal: don't let them kill me. I'm pretty old, I still smoke cigarettes, my days are numbered. I may not get out of this dystopia alive, but if I can avoid dying because of a preventable respiratory infection I will have achieved that goal at least.

[Walleye]

27. He could easily give Putin the greenlight to do that

[Rebl2]

30. That

was my exact thought sorry to say.

[Johonny]

19. Wheb Biden captured fentanyl at the border

GOP would go on FOX and complain about captured drugs!!! But when Trump does shit that murders people, doesn't appear to even dent the drug trade, FOX News sucks both Trump's balls while praising it.

The GOP, it's a fucking cult.

[Marthe48]

22. Murder Inc.

n/t

[mwmisses4289]

24. Yup, he wants their resouces.

Sadly for him, he is starting to get push back from the counties in south and central America. Just like he got push back from Canada, Greenland and Europe when he thought Canada and Greenland would be easy targets for him so he and his cronies could take their resources.
How long before the u.s. has to face the possibility of another country or countries going to the icc and issuing an arrest warrant for crimes against humanity? Like with the younger Bush (if I recall correctly, that is why he does not travel out of the u.s.)?

[travelingthrulife]

33. We are no longer signatories to the ICC. Dubya pulled us out when he was committing

war crimes in Iraq.

[Fil1957]

28. It's murder on the high seas. Period.

[subterranean]

31. Expect this official to be fired shortly.

That’s what happened to the official who admitted that Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s deportation was a mistake. He was fired for telling the truth.

[travelingthrulife]

32. Murderers.

[gfarber]

42. The Phantom Fleet

There once was a fleet on the sea,
Accused of drug-running, you see.
But the boats were too small,
With no gas — none at all —
To reach us or threaten D.C.

A strike group set sail in a huff,
To show that they’d had quite enough.
They blasted some skiffs,
And claimed “drug-terror” myths,
Though the proof was exceedingly rough.

Said an aide, “It’s a bit of a farce,
Their tanks wouldn’t get them that far!
No motors, no fuel,
Just floating as cool
As ducks in a pond made of tar.”

The word from the top was quite clear:
“Call them narcos, instill some more fear!”
But the intel was thin,
And the facts wore a grin —
The truth wasn’t anywhere near.

They said, “Maduro’s the hand
Behind every boat in the sand!”
Yet those “drug” ships destroyed
Were mostly decoyed —
A mirage of command gone unmanned.

An official, anonymous, sighed,
“These targets were mostly misapplied.
They couldn’t reach shore,
Let alone start a war —
But politics needs its high tide.”

[Dem4life1970]

43. These are war crimes and Epstein distractions.