Sullivan votes in support of killing suspected drug smugglers without trial; Murkowski opposed

Last week, Alaska’s two senators split on whether to bring the issue to a vote of the full U.S. Senate

Alaska Republican U.S. Sens. Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan (Alaska Beacon file photos)

By James Brooks

Alaska Beacon

Alaska’s two U.S. senators are split on whether or not it is appropriate for the U.S. military to kill suspected drug smugglers without trial or a declaration of war.

On Tuesday, the federal government said it had killed another six people aboard a boat in international waters of the Caribbean Sea, with President Trump claiming on social media that they were drug smugglers.

Since Sept. 2, the U.S. military has killed 27 people in the Caribbean Sea without a declaration of war or criminal trial, according to statistics kept by the New York Times. 

In each case, the federal government has asserted without evidence that all the people killed aboard the boats were smuggling drugs.

Last week, Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, voted to have the Senate vote on a resolution that would have ended the Caribbean Sea bombings unless approved by Congress.

Sixty votes were needed to call a vote. Only 48 senators — all Democrats, plus Murkowski and Sen. Rand Paul, R-Kentucky — voted in favor of bringing the issue to a vote. 

“While I commend the administration’s concerted efforts to address the devastation of drug trafficking on communities across the country, I do not believe the information I have received justifies this interpretation of the President’s Article II powers,” Murkowski said, referring to the section of the Constitution that names the president the commander in chief of the military.

“I take very seriously my Article I responsibility when it comes to Congress’s power to declare war. I don’t think that full information on the legal and factual justification for armed attacks on suspected drug traffickers is too much to ask,” Murkowski said.

Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, joined the rest of the Senate’s Republicans and Democratic Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania in voting to support the bombings.

Afterward, he offered a written statement explaining his vote.

“Days ago, I was briefed by Secretary of State Rubio on Venezuelan narcoterrorist cartels flooding our country with deadly drugs. Nicolás Maduro — the illegitimate leader of Venezuela and a criminal indicted by U.S. prosecutors — refuses to cooperate with the U.S. and is clearly aiding these vicious drug traffickers who are responsible for killing tens of thousands of Americans. President Trump’s lawful strikes against these cartels are saving lives and, importantly, establishing deterrence. Under Article II, he has the authority to defend our homeland, just as President George H.W. Bush did when he ordered the invasion of Panama in 1989 to remove the drug-trafficking dictator Manuel Noriega,” the statement said.

“Senate Democrats’ resolution was another attempt to restrict the President’s ability to act — emboldening cartels and putting American lives at risk. These senators would never tolerate ISIS or al-Qaeda operating freely near our shores: eliminating a terrorist organization like Tren de Aragua that is literally killing thousands of Americans is no different. More Americans have died from drug overdoses in the past seven years than in both World Wars and the Vietnam War combined. Alaskans know this devastation firsthand, as poisons like fentanyl tear apart families in our cities and Alaska Native villages. Eliminating these cartels before they reach our shores protects our county and sends a strong message of deterrence.”

• James Brooks is a longtime Alaska reporter, having previously worked at the Anchorage Daily News, Juneau Empire, Kodiak Mirror and Fairbanks Daily News-Miner. Alaska Beacon is part of States Newsroom, the nation’s largest state-focused nonprofit news organization.