US President Donald Trump has determined that the US is in an "armed conflict" with the drug cartels his administration has designated as terrorist organizations, according to a notice the Pentagon provided to Congress on Wednesday obtained by CNN, SİA informs.
The notice also says the president has determined that smugglers for the cartels are "unlawful combatants," and therefore the Defense Department was legally authorized to strike a boat in the Caribbean last month believed to be transporting members of a group the administration has designated a terrorist organization.
The US military has carried out at least three such strikes over the last month, which have killed 17 people in total, CNN has reported. But the notice provided to Congress only mentioned one of the strikes, which took place on September 15. It is not clear why the other strikes were not mentioned.
The notice did not name the group, but Trump said the first strike in early September targeted suspected smugglers affiliated with the Venezuelan criminal organization Tren de Aragua.
The Pentagon"s general counsel Earl Matthews and uniformed representatives from the department also briefed lawmakers on Wednesday about the legal justification for the strikes, a source familiar with the briefing told CNN.
The briefing largely echoed the written notice, the source said.
"The cartels involved have grown more armed, well organized, and violent. They have the financial means, sophistication, and paramilitary capabilities needed to operate with impunity," the notice says. "These groups are now transnational and conduct ongoing attacks throughout the Western Hemisphere as organized cartels. Therefore, the President determined these cartels are non-state armed groups, designated them as terrorist organizations, and determined that their actions constitute an armed attack against the United States."
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