The U.S. military is deploying more than 4,000 Marines and sailors to the waters around Latin America and the Caribbean as part of a ramped-up effort to combat drug cartels, two U.S. defense officials told CNN — a dramatic show of force that will give the president a broad range of military options should he want to target drug cartels.

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The deployment of the Iwo Jima Amphibious Ready Group (ARG) and the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit to U.S. Southern Command, which has not been previously reported, is part of a broader repositioning of military assets to the SOUTHCOM area of responsibility that has been underway over the last three weeks, one of the officials said.

A nuclear-powered attack submarine, additional P8

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