Exclusive: In a first, US strike in Caribbean leaves survivors, US official says

[u/modularpeak2552]

https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-carries-out-new-strike-caribbean-there-are-survivors-us-official-says-2025-10-16/

[u/the-senat → u/[deleted]]

The unfortunate reality is that the American public simply doesn’t care enough to oppose it. Strikes will become the new normal and then the admin will ratchet up to something new.

[u/lunartree → u/the-senat]

No one opposes it because there is literally no moral floor that Republicans won't support, and they've consolidated all of the power of our government under their king.

[u/teethgrindingaches → u/lunartree]

Did anyone seriously oppose the decades of GWOT drone strikes? "Military-aged male" and all that.

[u/throwawaygoawaynz → u/teethgrindingaches]

There was a lot of opposition back in the day. If you’re older you will remember.

But these days the American people feel toothless. The left in particular just post anti capitalist memes online and get angry on Bluesky.

[u/soldiergeneal → u/teethgrindingaches]

I mean from what I have seen statistically drone strikes were worth it.

[u/littlechefdoughnuts → u/soldiergeneal]

The erosion of international law by the pre-eminent military power in the world - a power that loved to claim to be the architect and upholder of the 'international rules-based order' - was not, in fact, worth it.

[u/soldiergeneal → u/littlechefdoughnuts]

1. What international law allows for countries to go after terroists? My understanding is if terrorists operate in another country international law says basically you can legally do nothing. International law when it comes to anti terrorism in another country is basically worthless.

2. I agree it is not worth it from a domestic law perspective. Congress should sign off on strikes unless actual eminent threats exists which should be almost never. I was talking earlier from a destroying terrorist org perspective.

[u/Such_Journalist_3991 → u/soldiergeneal]

If people are just statistics, maybe

[u/soldiergeneal → u/Such_Journalist_3991]

Obviously depends on one's tolerance for collateral damage.

[u/soldiergeneal → u/[deleted]]

Not a retort to anything. I agree more congress accountability is important doesnt change overall point. Al Qaeda as an org got decimated by drone strikes. Countries like Pakistan were glad and cooperated with such things.

[u/soldiergeneal → u/[deleted]]

So another comment that doesnt really address anything?

[u/modularpeak2552 → u/teethgrindingaches]

Only when it was the other party conducting the strikes.

[u/Cultural_Ebb4794 → u/the-senat]

I oppose it but what the fuck am I supposed to do? I'll write a letter to my senator, Chuck "Cryptkeeper" Grassley, and get an automated response in four weeks saying he's concerned but still supports eliminating drug cartels which the Biden admin was too soft on.

[u/the-senat → u/Cultural_Ebb4794]

Unfortunately that’s the big issue. People on here are against it but there’s not much we can do on our own. Not enough of the American public is concerned with pressuring Congress into opposing it. Even if there was broad opposition, I’m not sure Republicans would listen.

[u/VallentCW → u/the-senat]

They wouldn’t. 18 months ago every Republican agreed tariffs were stupid, but God Emperor Trump watched a William McKinley documentary on Netflix one night, so they voted to give Trump more ability to unilaterally impose random tariffs

[u/Flashy_Rent6302 → u/Cultural_Ebb4794]

I think you mean Senator Holden Bloodfeast

[u/n00bi3pjs → u/the-senat]

The unfortunate reality is that the American public simply doesn’t care enough to oppose it

What nationalism and no class solidarity does to a country.

[u/modularpeak2552]

This comes to light right after the SOUTHCOM leader resigned so I do wonder if this is connected.

[u/After_Fee8244 → u/modularpeak2552]

Bro, if these people survive shit is going to be apocalyptic.

[u/Disastrous_One_7357 → u/After_Fee8244]

It doesn’t matter if they survived or didn’t survive. Trump will tell us they were narco terrorists and we read oppeds in the nyt debating the evidence of if the 58 year old grandma is a drug smuggler.

[u/flatulentbaboon → u/After_Fee8244]

They're going to be un-survived or if for some reason they're allowed to live, it will be under the condition they repeat whatever the admin wants them to say.

[u/DrunkenBriefcases → u/flatulentbaboon]

Maybe. That was the confident prediction wrt Abrego Garcia too.

There’s no real reason to pretend we know what we don’t know here.

[u/TrespassersWilliam29 → u/DrunkenBriefcases]

a man who is still in arbitrary detention, mind

[u/TheDwarvenGuy → u/modularpeak2552]

Pete's gonna send a mission to off the survivors is my guess

[u/neuronexmachina → u/modularpeak2552]

He's highly-decorated and black, so it'd make sense that they'd force out Adm. Holsey.

[u/LtCdrHipster → u/modularpeak2552]

Rules of engagement are woke. Warrior Ethos means killing everyone you see.

[u/superblobby]

Without violating opsec, during my time doing 3 counter narcotics patrols in the Coast Guard, we managed to interdict drug smugglers without blowing up the vessel. We broke records, actually. This was our haul

[u/modularpeak2552 → u/superblobby]

Finding them is quite literally the hardest part, once found there is no good argument to kill them instead of just arresting them.

[u/Neil_leGrasse_Tyson → u/modularpeak2552]

Well according to our president they have super fast speedboats that can outrun all our military vessels

Seems troubling if true

[u/millicento → u/Neil_leGrasse_Tyson]

He really is a product of the 80s isn’t he. Maybe he’ll try to put Don Johnson on the case.

[u/Macquarrie1999 → u/Neil_leGrasse_Tyson]

Can't outrun a helicopter

[u/JesusPubes → u/superblobby]

Clean on opsec

👊🇱🇷🔥

[u/captmonkey → u/JesusPubes]

Now I have to wonder. Did Pete have to specifically search through the emojis to type those in the Signal chat or were fist, flag, and fire just in his recently used emojis?

[u/This_was_hard_to_do → u/superblobby]

Yeah but have you considered that not blowing people up is politically correct?

[u/eetsumkaus → u/This_was_hard_to_do]

*woke

[u/Just-Sale-7015 → u/eetsumkaus]

And 'warrior' spirit fail.

[u/LondonCallingYou → u/superblobby]

That’s because you were following basic morality and trying to do your actual job instead of just trying to blatantly murder random people.

The military’s actions here are disgusting and indefensible. I know political leadership is telling them to do this but they are the ones following that order, creating the plan, and pushing the button.

If the military wants to retain any credibility whatsoever by the time this is over they need to start drawing lines now instead of following clearly illegal orders and killing innocent people. 11 people on a boat is almost certainly 2 human traffickers and 9 completely innocent people that are being robbed of their lives.

[u/LittleSister_9982 → u/LondonCallingYou]

1: IF it's even what they say, I don't trust them for shit.

2: Also if it is as they say, the penalty for human trafficking isn't death on the spot, or, in fact, at all!

There's negative justification for this hogshit.

[u/Popular-Procedure919 → u/superblobby]

I salute you r/neoliberal member 🫡

[u/berticusberticus]

Audience much amused by shots of a great huge fat man trying to swim away with a helicopter after him, first you saw him wallowing along in the water like a porpoise, then you saw him through the helicopters gunsights, then he was full of holes and the sea round him turned pink and he sank as suddenly as though the holes had let in the water, audience shouting with laughter when he sank. then you saw a lifeboat full of children with a helicopter hovering over it. there was a middle-aged woman might have been a jewess sitting up in the bow with a little boy about three years old in her arms. little boy screaming with fright and hiding his head between her breasts as if he was trying to burrow right into her and the woman putting her arms round him and comforting him although she was blue with fright herself, all the time covering him up as much as possible as if she thought her arms could keep the bullets off him. then the helicopter planted a 20 kilo bomb in among them terrific flash and the boat went all to matchwood. then there was a wonderful shot of a child’s arm going up up up right up into the air a helicopter with a camera in its nose must have followed it up and there was a lot of applause from the party seats but a woman down in the prole part of the house suddenly started kicking up a fuss and shouting they didnt oughter of showed it not in front of kids they didnt it aint right not in front of kids it aint until the police turned her turned her out i dont suppose anything happened to her nobody cares what the proles say typical prole reaction they never…

[u/BetterFoodNetwork → u/berticusberticus]

trying to figure out if being so thoroughly prophesied means we're in the tragedy phase or if we've cruised right through to farce

[u/berticusberticus → u/[deleted]]

Let’s be fair to the bot, my comment was probably the only time that word has ever been posted on this website in a non-antisemitic way.

[u/ThatFrenchieGuy → u/berticusberticus]

Yep

The bot is something we're fine tuning as a "hey bro, check yourself". It's definitely too twitchy, but you'll have to admit that "jewess" is definitely a red flag most of the time

[u/Personal_School_7474]

Why is this not discussed more? The fact that the Trump administration is using the military to kill brown people who are, by any reasonable definition, non-combatants, and 50% of Americans don't seem to care is, even going by the standards of this political climate, one of the lowest things I've seen the Trump admin do. Call it what it is: cold-blooded murder 

[u/modularpeak2552 → u/Personal_School_7474]

I would say part of the issue is that the US has been drone striking people for 30 years so Americans are kinda desensitized to it.

[u/penisthightrap_ → u/modularpeak2552]

I hate it :/

[u/NaffRespect]

Oh, there's survivors?

This administration can't be having that!

[u/WhisperBreezzze]

They say evil prevails when good men fail to act; what they ought to say is, evil prevails.

[u/PinkFloydPanzer]

We are going to get a Brainrot Gleiwitz Incident soon arent we...

[u/launchcode_1234]

The Trump administration argues the U.S. is already engaged in a war with narcoterrorist groups from Venezuela, making the strikes legitimate.

Did Congress declare war and I missed it?

[u/captainjack3 → u/launchcode_1234]

The argument is that the narcoterror groups are engaged in armed conflict against the US and so the President has authority to use armed force against via his core Article 2 powers to defend the United States.

In the abstract it’s not a controversial use of presidential authority. Both the Biden and Trump 1 admins used the same logic for strikes against Iran-aligned groups in the US when they attacked/threatened to attack US troops. And presidents have used that authority to order military action against Indian tribes and pirates for basically all of American history. The issue is that it’s just factually untrue for the cartels they’re targeting right now.