The Trump administration is ramping up military aggression against Venezuela. U.S. attacks on several boats in the Caribbean have killed at least 27 people as of Friday, October 17, The Independent reports. Now, President Donald Trump has signed a presidential finding, which approves CIA covert action in Venezuela.

The military and national security veterans at the Eisenhower Media Network disagree strongly with the use of the U.S. military in the Caribbean and the bullying of Latin America more broadly.

Senior fellow Michael Baker assesses the situation succinctly: The airstrikes in the Caribbean are "murder in international waters of unknown people and without due process."

"Members of the Trump administration are like vigilante cops," says senior fellow Bill Astore. "They think they can enforce the law by breaking the law. In attempting to display toughness, they're showing moral weakness by murdering people who could well be innocent."

The White House and the Pentagon have not even released the identities of the people on board or the precise nature of the cargo.

Senior fellow Matthew Hoh recalls the Tom Clancy war novel A Clear and Present Danger, which featured a well-funded covert program against a drug cartel in a Latin American country. "That storyline is now being implemented with one important addition: regime change," Hoh explains.

"Tom Clancy was a hawk's hawk, but even he knew the limits of military power, as well as the great dangers that come from a President's constitutional crimes. Clancy's story is a tragedy and a cautionary tale, not a triumph." Citing the United States' catastrophic military interventions in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, and Syria, Hoh stresses that Washington's efforts at regime change never end well.

Legality

The legal foundations for murder in the Caribbean are shaky, as Congress has authorized neither missile strikes nor war.

The administration designated the Cartel of the Suns ("Cartel de los Soles") a terrorist organization and continues to argue that the cartel is a criminal group headed by Venezuelan President Nicholás Maduro. Such a designation triggers an asset freeze and certain travel restrictions. It also demonizes the group and convinces some members of the American public to support attacks on that group.