WASHINGTON (AP) — In less than two months, President Donald Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth say the U.S. military has killed 34 people in eight strikes against drug-smuggling vessels in the Caribbean Sea and Pacific Ocean.

Trump has justified the attacks as a necessary escalation to stem the flow of drugs into the United States. He has asserted the U.S. is engaged in an “armed conflict” with drug cartels , relying on the same legal authority used by the Bush administration when it declared a war on terror after the Sept. 11 attacks.

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