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Home / Western Hemisphere / U.S. strikes on Venezuela drug smugglers raise legal questions about lethal force
Western Hemisphere, Military analysis, Venezuela

September 17, 2025

U.S. strikes on Venezuela drug smugglers raise legal questions about lethal force

“I think it’s an administration that seems to feel like it doesn’t own the American people an answer or any clarity on how lethal force is used in their name, and I know at this point, the global war on terror kind of helped it get us here, and that we got very blasé about regular military strikes conducted by U.S. military assets for pretty dubious aims on the other side of the world, but this is a lot closer home,” Gil Barndollar, a nonresident fellow at Defense Priorities, told the Washington Examiner [. . .]

“We did some things I think were legally very dubious, if not outright illegal, during the [Global War on Terror]. But I think what’s going on now puts that to shame,” Barndollar said. “The legality of it should have all Americans, irrespective of parties, asking hard questions.” [. . .]

Barndollar said the buildup and military operations could be the start of an effort to topple the Maduro regime, though he warned that such an effort could have unintended consequences in the U.S.’s own backyard.

Read at Washington Examiner

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Photo of Gil Barndollar

Gil
Barndollar

Non-Resident Fellow

Defense Priorities

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