{"id":8419,"date":"2026-08-03T23:35:22","date_gmt":"2026-08-03T23:35:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/relocationtimess.com\/?p=8419"},"modified":"2026-08-03T23:35:22","modified_gmt":"2026-08-03T23:35:22","slug":"they-are-murder-victims-senator-suggests-us-strikes-have-killed-people-who-werent-involved-in-drug-trafficking","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/relocationtimess.com\/?p=8419","title":{"rendered":"\u2018They are murder victims\u2019: Senator suggests US strikes have killed people who weren\u2019t involved in drug trafficking"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<div>\n<p>\n            The US military\u2019s strikes on alleged drug boats have likely illegally killed \u201cindividuals who are not involved in narcotrafficking,\u201d Sen. Tim Kaine told the White House on Monday, following \u201ca careful review\u201d of classified information he has seen so far.\n    <\/p><p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/relocationtimess.com\/?p=8415\">Satellite imagery captures race to recover 170-foot SpaceX Starship in the Indian Ocean<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\n            \u201cThey are murder victims,\u201d the Virginia Democrat wrote in  to President Donald Trump.\n    <\/p>\n<p>\n            So far, the US military has killed at least 221 people and destroyed at least 67 vessels in the \u201cOperation Southern Spear\u201d campaign, which began last September. The administration has told Congress the US is in an \u201carmed conflict\u201d against drug cartels, labeling those killed \u201cunlawful combatants\u201d and claiming the ability to engage in lethal strikes without judicial review due to a classified Justice Department finding.\n    <\/p>\n<p>\n            But Kaine said Monday that his review has led him to believe \u201cthe United States is engaged in violent and fatal attacks against people far beyond\u201d the parameters of the classified legal opinion. He added, \u201cA careful review of the available evidence suggests that the United States has killed individuals who are not involved in narcotrafficking.\u201d\n    <\/p>\n<p>\n            Kaine urged Trump to \u201cexamine the circumstances of these strikes\u201d and cease what he called an \u201cillegal, costly and ineffective\u201d operation.\n    <\/p>\n<p>\n            The senator sits on the Senate Armed Services Committee, and in the letter, he pointed to classified information shared with Congress about the strikes and the targets that he had seen.\n    <\/p>\n<div>\n<\/div>\n<p>\n            White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly defended the strikes in a statement to CNN on Monday evening.\n    <\/p><p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/relocationtimess.com\/?p=8405\">White House directly involved in Blanche order rescinding \u2018anti-weaponization\u2019 fund<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\n            \u201cAll of these decisive strikes have been against designated narcoterrorists bringing deadly poison to our shores, and the President will continue to use every element of American power to stop drugs from flooding into our country and to bring those responsible to justice,\u201d she said.\n    <\/p>\n<p>\n            CNN has previously reported that military officials don\u2019t always know the identities of everyone on board the boats they target. Officials told the Pentagon inspector general they could not publicly disclose what criteria determine whether a boat is destroyed or intercepted by the Coast Guard.\n    <\/p>\n<p>\n            Kaine\u2019s comments come during a pause on the boat strikes \u2014 the most recent occurred on June 21. It is not clear why there has been a break, but law enforcement officials and experts who previously spoke with CNN stressed the resiliency and adaptability of drug smuggling networks and expressed skepticism about whether the strikes will meaningfully change the region\u2019s drug trade.\n    <\/p>\n<div>\n<header>\n<span>\n      Related article\n    <\/span>\n<\/header>\n<section>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div>\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"On June 3, at the direction of #SOUTHCOM commander Gen. Francis L. Donovan, Joint Task Force Southern Spear conducted a lethal kinetic strike on a vessel operated by Designated Terrorist Organizations. Intelligence confirmed the vessel was transiting along known narco-trafficking. Screengrab from video shared by US Southern Command's X account.\" class=\"wp-image-8418\" height=\"144\" src=\"https:\/\/relocationtimess.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/0674de636899883808fea2cfd3978673.jpg\" width=\"256\"\/><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<span>On June 3, at the direction of #SOUTHCOM commander Gen. Francis L. Donovan, Joint Task Force Southern Spear conducted a lethal kinetic strike on a vessel operated by Designated Terrorist Organizations. Intelligence confirmed the vessel was transiting along known narco-trafficking. Screengrab from video shared by US Southern Command&#8217;s X account.<\/span>\n<\/div>\n<figcaption>US Southern Command\/X<\/figcaption>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>\n<span>The US military hasn\u2019t blown up an alleged drug boat in a month. Has the campaign worked?<\/span>\n<\/p>\n<div>5  min read<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n<\/div>\n<p>\n            Meanwhile, US Southern Command, the headquarters overseeing the campaign, has insisted that the mission allows the military to fight the cartels before \u201ctheir violence and poison\u201d reach the country.\n    <\/p>\n<p>\n            Kaine has previously criticized the administration over how it has conducted operations in the Caribbean and east Pacific. In December 2025, he raised alarm about a so-called double-tap strike that killed survivors on an alleged drug vessel in the Caribbean, suggesting that it \u201crises to the level of a war crime if it\u2019s true.\u201d\n    <\/p><p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/relocationtimess.com\/?p=8400\">FBI agent accused of stealing nearly $1 million in cryptocurrency<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The US military\u2019s strikes on alleged drug boats have likely illegally killed \u201cindividuals who are not involved in narcotrafficking,\u201d Sen. Tim Kaine told the White House on Monday, following \u201ca careful review\u201d of classified information he has seen so far.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8416,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8419","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>\u2018They are murder victims\u2019: Senator suggests US strikes have killed people who weren\u2019t involved in drug trafficking - Relocation Times<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/relocationtimess.com\/?p=8419\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"\u2018They are murder victims\u2019: Senator suggests US strikes have killed people who weren\u2019t involved in drug trafficking - Relocation Times\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The US military\u2019s strikes on alleged drug boats have likely illegally killed \u201cindividuals who are not involved in narcotrafficking,\u201d Sen. Tim Kaine told the White House on Monday, following \u201ca careful review\u201d of classified information he has seen so far.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/relocationtimess.com\/?p=8419\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Relocation Times\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-08-03T23:35:22+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/relocationtimess.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/0674de636899883808fea2cfd3978673.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"256\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"144\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/relocationtimess.com\\\/?p=8419#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/relocationtimess.com\\\/?p=8419\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/relocationtimess.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/3d25fb966f660ab012820a9e0acc09be\"},\"headline\":\"\u2018They are murder victims\u2019: Senator suggests US strikes have killed people who weren\u2019t involved in drug trafficking\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-08-03T23:35:22+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/relocationtimess.com\\\/?p=8419\"},\"wordCount\":610,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/relocationtimess.com\\\/?p=8419#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/relocationtimess.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/3af86b87b8d371204fca79d216a2f6d7.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Politics\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/relocationtimess.com\\\/?p=8419#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/relocationtimess.com\\\/?p=8419\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/relocationtimess.com\\\/?p=8419\",\"name\":\"\u2018They are murder victims\u2019: Senator suggests US strikes have killed people who weren\u2019t involved in drug trafficking - 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