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2025-09-18 09:16:28
[Pentagon lawyers raise concerns about Trump's crackdown on suspected drug trafficking vessels] According to reports, some military lawyers and other Department of Defense officials are raising concerns about the legal implications of US President Trump's expanding military campaign against Latin American drug cartels. The above-mentioned people said that these concerns involve the legitimacy of the crackdown itself and the potential legal consequences faced by US military personnel participating in the operation. According to one of the people familiar with the matter, some Department of Defense officials and career military lawyers have provided written and oral legal opinions to decision makers within the Pentagon, but believe that their opinions have been ignored or deliberately shelved. News of internal dissent is likely to intensify external scrutiny of the operation, which has been condemned by members of Congress and outside experts as a series of illegal extrajudicial killings. But so far, these concerns have not prevented the Trump administration from expanding the operation: the Pentagon attacked a second ship in international waters on Monday, accusing it of trafficking illegal drugs to the United States, and the attack resulted in the deaths of three people.
