Evil on the High Seas

Dear Editor,

Let’s call out the summary execution of foreign nationals in international waters for what it is: cold-blooded murder.  For months now, Trump has been using the world’s most powerful military to blow up defenseless motorboats more than 1700 miles from the nearest U.S. border.  His Highness has decreed the dozens of Venezuelans killed to be “narco-terrorists” without feeling obliged to offer any proof whatsoever.  

Even if the targeted vessels were filled to the brim with illegal drugs, there is not a state in our country where that would constitute a capital offense.  Even if the occupants of those boats qualified as terrorists, our laws would require judicial due process in order to determine appropriate punishment.  

This is not about drug smuggling.  If all the illegal drugs originating in Venezuela disappeared tomorrow, it would barely put a dent in the traffic crossing our borders.  What it is about is achingly transparent. Trump wants a war with a weak enemy.  He’s looking for a quick, easy military victory in order to reinvent his draft-dodging self into some kind of warrior.

So far, our valiant Department of War is keeping the campaign tidy.  No witnesses for the defense.  No troublesome evidence to gather.  No chance of American casualties.   But – as Trump’s boy-crush Putin has learned in Ukraine – fighting people on their own turf can get messy in a hurry.

Michael Bandt, Spring Green, WI