CNN Military Analyst Challenges Justification For U.S. Strikes On Venezuela: ‘Bit Of A Stretch’ | EUROtoday

CNN navy analyst and retired U.S. Air Force Col. Cedric Leighton on Saturday questioned Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s justification of the nighttime operation to bomb Venezuela and seize its chief, Nicolas Maduro.

Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) cited Rubio’s reasoning on social media.

“He informed me that Nicolás Maduro has been arrested by U.S. personnel to stand trial on criminal charges in the United States, and that the kinetic action we saw tonight was deployed to protect and defend those executing the arrest warrant,” Lee wrote Saturday, including that the nighttime operation “likely falls” inside the president’s authority beneath Article II of the Constitution to guard U.S. personnel from an assault.

Leighton evaluated that assertion on “CNN This Morning Weekend.”

“Well, it’s a bit of a stretch, in terms of combining a law enforcement action with what actually is a military action,” he mentioned. “So the actual removal of a head of state has all kinds of ramifications from an international law perspective and certainly from a military perspective.”

Trump introduced at 4:21 a.m. on his Truth Social platform that Maduro and his spouse, Cilia Flores, had been captured and flown to the U.S. to face justice. News of the nighttime operation in Venezuela’s capital of Caracas shocked quite a few world leaders, a lot of whom decried the transfer.

The Trump administration has accused Maduro of trafficking narcotics similar to fentanyl into the U.S. It has launched lethal strikes on alleged drug smugglers off the nation’s coast since September, killing scores of individuals with out due course of or congressional approval.

The administration has additionally seized a number of Venezuelan oil tankers, elevating suspicions from Democratic lawmakers, pundits and advocates for worldwide regulation concerning the true motivation behind the battle — as Venezuela holds the world’s largest oil reserves.

When requested final month if this may nonetheless be justified as a campaign in opposition to drug trafficking, Trump mentioned, “Well, it’s about a lot of things.” He elaborated in a “Fox & Friends” interview hours after Saturday’s strike.

When requested over the cellphone about “the future” of the oil business in Venezuela, Trump mentioned, “Well, I see that we’re going to be very strongly involved in it, that’s all. I mean, what can I say?”

Leighton mentioned Saturday’s operation is “very similar” to Operation Just Cause in 1989, when the U.S. bombed Panama to overthrow its then-dictator Manuel Noriega, as each U.S. regulation enforcement and navy personnel had been used “to help make that arrest happen.” U.S. authorities equally wished Noriega on the time for drug trafficking.

“So there is some precedent for this kind of action within the U.S. history of these kinds of operations,” Leighton mentioned Saturday. “But it is definitely a stretch to say that this was the protection of law enforcement personnel to conduct this operation.”

During his cellphone interview on “Fox & Friends,” Trump bragged about “the speed, the violence” and the “bravery” on show through the nighttime navy operation, stating, “I watched it literally like I was watching a television show.”