Trump can gain almost unlimited military power

New Bill would give Trump power to attack countries and groups without supervision of Congress, expanding international risks

A new bill under review in the United States can grant the president Donald Trump almost unlimited authority to launch military attacksnot only against drug cartels, but also against any country he claims to be providing shelter or support to these groups, the New York Times On September 23, citing sources close to negotiations.

According to the report, the legislative proposal would allow the president to classify as “terrorists” organizations involved in drug trafficking or companies that fund such activities. From that, he would have full powers to authorize military actions not only against these groups, but also against governments considered accomplicessignificantly expanding the American executive’s margin of action on the international scene.

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The context of the measure includes recent episodes of military attacks that generated controversy. This month, the US Armed Forces performed attacks on three vessels in the Caribbean Seawhich, according to Trump, were involved in drug trafficking. In all, 17 people died in these attacks, and human rights organizations, such as the Human Rights Watch (HRW)classified actions as “illegal extrajudicial executions”, questioning the legality of operations.

O NOW points out that the bill is clearly inspired by Authorization for the use of military force (AMF) that Congress gave the former president George W. Bush After the attacks of September 11, 2001. At the time, AMF aimed to allow the United States to fight al-Qaeda and its supporters in Afghanistan. However, the broad language of the document has made room for military actions in several countries over decades, including Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Syria and Yemenreaching Islamic militant groups and expanding the concept of “war against terror” in an almost unlimited way.

As well as the original AMF, the new project does not name a specific enemywhich means that, if approved, the US president could unilaterally determine which groups or countries constitute a threat and authorize attacks anywhere in the world. Foreign policy experts warn that this could establish a permanent warwithout the need for additional Congress approval, and further increasing the risks of international confrontations and human rights violations.

For critics, the proposal represents a unprecedented increase in presidential power on the use of forceequating, in terms of amplitude, to the authority granted to Bush in the early 21st century, but now focused on combating drug trafficking and those who support them. The concern is that the measure, if approved, can create a dangerous precedentallowing future presidents to conduct global military operations with little or no legislative supervision.

With the vote still pending, the bill already generates intense debates in Congress and between international analysts, which fear that the document transforms the country into a Perpetual War Global Agentexpanding conflicts without clear geographical limits and without guarantees of liability for military actions.

O New York Times stressed that the bill raises a worrying question: Congress would be giving Trump authority to conduct a War of change of regime in Venezuela? The possibility is not just theoretical. In addition to recent attacks on three vessels in the Caribbean Sea, the president ordered the additional sending US Airplanes and Ships to the region and accused the Venezuelan president, Nicolás Maduroto lead a drug cartel.

In July, Trump signed a EXECUTIVE ORDER STILL SECRET Which instructed the Pentagon to begin to use military force against certain Latin American drug cartels and gangs, according to NYT reports.

O Institute for the Art of Responsible Government warned that, if approved, the legislation could be used as a justification for military interventions in at least 60 countriesdramatically expanding the scope of the president’s military power.

Experts in foreign law and foreign policy have criticized the breadth of the measure. In comments to NOWthe Harvard teacher Jack Goldsmith classified the project as “insanely broad”, defining it as A virtually unlimited war authorizationcapable of achieving an incalculable amount of countries, organizations and individuals that the president could consider within the scope of his actions.

The situation becomes even more delicate because, at the beginning of this year, the White House added a long list of Latin American cartels to the national list of ‘foreign terrorist organizations’ (fto). If the legislation is approved, this would give the US a formal pretext to carry out military operations against several groups in dozens of countriescreating a global war scenario virtually without restrictions.

International analysts and democratic and republican legislators express concern about what they consider excessive power focused on the hands of the executivewarning that the project could lead to unilateral military actions that circumvent the traditional processes of congressional approvalwith potentially serious consequences for foreign policy and international security.

With information from The Cradle*