Hegseth boat strike (Trump administration brewing)

[C C]

VIDEO EXCERPT: “Yet again, Donald Trump has gotten Democrats to be on the side of a terrorist and drug lord.”

"But the president through his pardon has put himself on the side of a drug lord..." (Juan Orlando Hernández)
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2025 United States military strikes on alleged drug traffickers: The New York Times and Associated Press reported that national security sources acknowledged that the boat seemed to be turning back when it was hit. In November 2025, The Washington Post, citing two sources with direct knowledge of the operation, reported that Hegseth had given a verbal order to SEAL Team Six to leave no survivors; two men who survived the initial strike were killed in a second strike, according to anonymous sources.

Sean Parnell, a public affairs spokesperson for the Pentagon, stated: "This entire narrative is completely false." Hegseth responded on social media that "the fake news is delivering more fabricated, inflammatory, and derogatory reporting to discredit our incredible warriors fighting to protect the homeland".

CNN stated that "Hegseth had ordered the military prior to the operation to ensure the strike killed everyone on board, but it's not clear if he knew there were survivors prior to the second strike, one of the sources said." The Washington Post also reported that intelligence analysts observing the boat via surveillance aircraft were increasingly confident that it was carrying drugs, and that "protocols were changed after the strike", providing for rescue of survivors, according to anonymous sources.

2WAY: "Hegseth boat strike" ... https://youtu.be/t4NDt6JJiy4

https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/t4NDt6JJiy4

[Syne]

There's a lot of legacy/leftist media hand-wringing over whether the survivors were an "imminent threat," but this is conflating domestic law enforcement, where the use of deadly force has strict criteria, and military operations, where the operational objectives can very often include ending any ability to recoup from an attack.

[Magical Realist]

Trump's lunatic logic that these drug runners are "terrorists" that should be killed because some of the fentanyl they supply to the US might cause death when overdosed is mindlessly parroted by Hogsweat too. As if someone who sells guns is also a terrorist because he's responsible for the death that might be caused by it. They're playing games with words again, like they did when they tried to label antifa protesters as "domestic terrorists" and hence justify military action.

[Syne]

Guns are not, themselves, illegal. Fentanyl is illegal to use, possess, traffic, etc..

The likelihood of a fentanyl overdose is extremely high due to its extreme potency and its prevalent, often hidden, presence in the illicit drug supply. Fentanyl is the primary driver of drug overdose deaths in the United States, and as little as two milligrams (the size of a few grains of sand) can be a lethal dose.
- Google AI

As such, it is a relatively potent chemical weapon. The trafficking and deployment of chemical weapons is an act of terrorism, especially when facilitated by a geopolitical enemy state actor.

[geordief]

Trump's lunatic logic that these drug runners are "terrorists" that should be killed because some of the fentanyl they supply to the US might cause death when overdosed is mindlessly parroted by Hogsweat too. As if someone who sells guns is also a terrorist because he's responsible for the death that might be caused by it. They're playing games with words again, like they did when they tried to label antifa protesters as "domestic terrorists" and hence justify military action.

Seems to be a pattern setting in.FIrst we see Israel's boot boys shooting 2  surrendered "enemies" in cold blood and now US Navy preparing the waters for the sharks to feed on another 2  defenceless seamen.

Cruelty is a team sport these days.

Maybe there will be  some oversight  this time  - or maybe Trump can pardon  them posthumously  if there is any real estate  floating around in the Gulf of NovoAmerica to make it worth his while.

[Magical Realist]

As such, it is a relatively potent chemical weapon. The trafficking and deployment of chemical weapons is an act of terrorism, especially when facilitated by a geopolitical enemy state actor.

But it's not a "weapon" at all. As if the drug runners had some ideological motive to attack American citizens, the real definition of a terrorist. They do not. Fentanyl is a very lucrative commodity like all drugs are and sells well solely because of its high demand, which is the fault of American drug abusers not the drug runners. If you overdose it's your own fault, not the drug runner's. You can't kill them just for the crime of running drugs any more than you can just outright kill a drug pusher in the US. There is simply no ethical precedent at all for this.

[Syne]

Harming and profiting off of a free country to fund a dictatorship is plenty of motive. Narcoterrorism uses drug trafficking to influence politics by means of terrorism. Just because the trafficking is funding terrorism in Venezuela to keep Maduro in power doesn't mean that we should ignore that US citizens are dying to fund a dictator.

Drug traffickers are not innocent just because there is demand... amplified by a drug designed to be especially addictive. What is with leftists always making excuses for the worst criminals in the world?

Someone just made an argument about guns. Where a legal gun seller isn't responsible for how the gun is used, drug dealers are often prosecuted for overdose deaths.

Yes, drug dealers can be found guilty of an overdose victim's death, often facing charges such as drug-induced homicide, manslaughter, or even murder, depending on state and federal laws. This is an evolving area of law and prosecution has increased dramatically in recent years.
- Google AI

[Magical Realist]

Nope...drug runners are guilty of smuggling drugs, not terrorism or murder or anything else. And the penalty for drug smuggling isn't being blown up in a boat. It's a trial and prosecution, the sentence of which is usually prison time and not death. Like I said, we don't shoot drug pushers on the street, and so we have no business killing drug smugglers for a crime they are not committing. America is better than that. It's called justice.

[Syne]

Seems someone mentioned something about "funding terrorism," not directly committing terrorism. And if drug dealers can be prosecuted for "drug-induced homicide, manslaughter, or even murder," certainly drug smugglers and cartels are just as culpable.

Under the federal Controlled Substances Act, if a drug trafficking offense involves a substance that results in death or serious bodily injury, the defendant faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 20 years in prison and a maximum of life imprisonment. Federal prosecutors frequently use this "death resulting" charge to pursue severe sentences against those involved in the supply chain.

Yes, Drug-Induced Homicide (DIH) laws and similar federal statutes
can be applied to high-level drug smugglers and cartels, and are explicitly intended to target them.
...
Foreign nationals generally do not have U.S. constitutional due process rights when they are outside of U.S. territory and lack substantial voluntary connections to the country. U.S. courts have consistently ruled that constitutional protections for "persons" apply to individuals physically present within the United States or who have developed significant ties to the country.
- Google AI

IOW, no right to a trial in the US, and smugglers and cartel are obviously included in the supply chain, in terms of "drug-induced homicide, manslaughter, or even murder."
Drug smugglers are illegally invading our borders with chemical weapons like fentanyl. Drug pushers in the streets are in the US and subject to its laws, international drugs smugglers are not. Completely different circumstances.


As usual, a leftist's so-called "justice" is to leave Americans to die under the predations of criminals, worrying more about the criminal's "rights" than American lives. And then they wonder why people think they are anti-American. 9_9

[Magical Realist]

Nope...smuggled drugs are not "weapons", the penalty for drug smuggling as well as drug pushing is prison not death, Americans overdosing on drugs are responsible for their own deaths, and this has nothing to do with leftism. It is basic American justice. Take a college course sometime.