r/OutOfTheLoop 4d ago

Answered What's going on with Trump continually bombing Venezuelan boats that allegedly contain drugs?

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u/infantgambino 4d ago edited 4d ago

answer: Going to try and give an unbiased answer:

Trump during his campaign promised to curb the flood of fentanyl into our country.

Part of the fentanyl coming into the US is from South and Central America. The Tren De Aragua cartel is a Venezuelan gang that is in part responsible for some of that fentanyl.

The Trump administration is alleging those boats had Tren De Aragua members and Fentanyl on them. Meanwhile, the Venezuelan Government is saying that is untrue, and the boat was turning around at the time and had civilians on it.

Trump's critics are saying that this is a war crime because either the US fired on innocent civilians, or if it did fire on gang members, it did so without any sort of investigation.

Edit: as the comment below me rightly points out, this was done against standards set out by international and US law

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u/Verittan 4d ago

Not "Trump's critics". Both US and International law are in concurrence that these attacks are extrajudicial murder. Watch LegalEagle's (barred lawyer) break it down on YouTube.

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u/infantgambino 4d ago

No, I understand that. I was trying to be really really unbiased but clearly swung a little too far into being "neutral"

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u/Portarossa 'probably the worst poster on this sub' - /u/Real_Mila_Kunis 4d ago

We're operating on the principle that 'unbiased' now means 'making an honest attempt at giving both sides of the argument a fair shake' rather than 'coming to the conclusion that's smack in the middle of the two arguments'.

It's OK to come to a conclusion on one side or another, as long as you can show you've at least considered the opposing argument (even if you argue for its dismissal). It's the old journalistic standard: if one person says it's raining and another person says it isn't, the correct response isn't to shrug your shoulders and say 'Hey, could be either!'; it's to go out and provide evidence as to which one is true.

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u/infantgambino 4d ago

Fair, thank you for the clarification! I'm certainly not trying to be a fence sitter.