Trump Administration Says Drug-Boat Strikes Are Not Really ‘Hostilities,’ as Death Toll in Caribbean Climbs

The administration is taking this position despite having killed over five dozen people in at least 15 drone strikes.

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President Donald Trump speaks in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, D.C., February 11, 2025.

Kevin Lamarque/Reuters

Three more people were killed by a U.S. strike on a boat in the Caribbean on Saturday, according to a social media post that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth published late on Saturday night. That brings the number killed to at least 64 since September 2, the start of the attacks. Such combat operations have neither been authorized by Congress nor provoked by any military threat against U.S. interests. The attacks have nevertheless been carried out by the prodigious American forces President Trump has amassed — and continues to amass — in the region.

‘EXACTLY’ the Same as al-Qaeda?

Andrew C. McCarthy

About the Author

Andrew C. McCarthy

Andrew C. McCarthy is a senior fellow at National Review Institute, an NR contributing editor, and author of Ball of Collusion: The Plot to Rig an Election and Destroy a Presidency.

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