Maduro ran a terrible country and was an authoritarian and human rights abuser - Venezuela cant be worse off than they were before. The drug angle is bogus and this was an illegal regime change by the US.
Maduro can be a bad human rights abuser and the US action illegal at the same time.
"Illegal" how? Because no declaration of war was voted on by Congress? It's not like the first time that's ever happened, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama both did the same thing.
During his presidency, Barack Obama's administration initiated several military actions, particularly in Libya, Syria, Pakistan, Yemen, and Somalia, that generated significant legal and constitutional debate regarding their legality, both under U.S. domestic law (specifically the War Powers Resolution) and international law.
The primary domestic legal controversy centered on the President's authority to use military force without specific congressional authorization, as required by the
War Powers Resolution and Article I of the U.S. Constitution, which vests the power to declare war in Congress.
Libya Intervention (2011
): The administration argued that its involvement in the NATO-led intervention to protect civilians and enforce a UN no-fly zone was a "limited kinetic military action" and not a "war" in the constitutional sense, thus not requiring full congressional approval beyond notification. This interpretation was highly contested by legal scholars and members of Congress from both parties, who argued it was a clear violation of the War Powers Resolution. The House of Representatives even voted to rebuke the president over the issue.
Drone Strikes and Counterterrorism Operations: The Obama administration expanded the use of drone strikes in countries like Pakistan, Yemen, and Somalia, primarily under the authority of the 2001 Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF) passed after the 9/11 attacks. This was also controversial, with civil liberties groups and some legal experts arguing that the broad interpretation of the AUMF for actions far from "hot battlefields" violated constitutional and international law, as it allowed for targeted killings of suspected terrorists (including U.S. citizens) without judicial review.
But it's only bad if Trump does it to a country that's flooding our nation with drugs and gang members, right?