Letters to the Editor: Drug smugglers aren’t ‘terrorists’ and killing them isn’t the answer

To the editor: Despite Humpty Dumpty’s assertion in Lewis Carroll’s “Through the Looking Glass” that a word can mean whatever you want it to mean, President Trump’s application of the word “terrorist” to domestic protesters and, recently, to suspected drug smugglers from Venezuela is an abuse of our common language (“How Rubio is winning over Trumpworld on striking Venezuela,” Oct. 17).

Drug smugglers are generally not motivated by a desire to sow domestic unrest in our country; they simply want to make illicit money. They are common criminals and should be apprehended by our maritime forces and sent to prison to await trial. Instead, alleged drug smugglers were and continue to be subject to extrajudicial killings on the high seas.

If Trump sincerely aspires to a Nobel Prize for Peace, his actions need to reflect that sincerity. This ruthless and likely unlawful killing spree does not.

Philip Baer, North Hollywood

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To the editor: Emerging reports of deadly U.S. operations connected to Venezuela should alarm every American. If U.S. personnel or policy decisions contributed to the deaths of civilians, that would not simply be a policy failure — it could constitute murder under international law.

Such grave allegations require more than silence or dismissal. The United States has a moral and legal duty to investigate any credible evidence of extrajudicial killings or human rights violations, regardless of who authorized or carried them out.

Our nation’s credibility depends on transparency and justice. To look away from possible crimes committed in our name is to condone them.

Carl F. Enson, Oak View