This week, President Donald Trump sought to justify his new policy of summarily executing suspected drug smugglers by declaring that his targets are "unlawful combatants" in an "armed conflict" with the United States. But that terminology, which Trump deployed in a notice to Congress, does not change the reality that he has authorized the military murder of criminal suspects who pose no immediate threat of violence.

So far, Trump has ordered three attacks on speedboats in the Caribbean Sea that he said were carrying illegal drugs, killing a total of 17 people. The first attack was a September 2 drone strike that killed 11 people on a boat that reportedly "appeared to have turned around before the attack started because the people onboard had apparently spotted a military aircraft stalking

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