Facing mounting criticism from their Democratic rivals and rights advocates, allies of United States President Donald Trump are increasingly invoking the so-called “war on terror” to justify his deadly strikes on boats around Latin America.But legal experts have stressed that the analogy between the bombing of alleged drug boats and the post-9/11 US attacks on suspected al-Qaeda fighters has no basis because Washington is not in armed conflict in Latin America.Recommended Stories list of 3 itemsend of list“We have to acknowledge that these strikes are expanding on those abuses of power that we saw in the ‘war on terror’,” Annie Shiel, US advocacy director at the Center for Civilians in Conflict, told Al Jazeera.“These strikes are also breaking completely new, very dangerous ground.”Shiel underscored that the ongoing US bombardment in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific, which has killed nearly 100 people since September, also lacks congressional authorisation.Invoking ObamaTo fend off scrutiny, lawmakers from Trump’s Republican Party have drawn parallels between the vessel bombings and the drone assassination campaign waged by former Democratic President Barack Obama against suspected “terrorists”.“Throughout the Obama years, we used this targeting system to find and kill a lot of bad guys all over the world,” Senator Tim Sheehy told reporters on Tuesday.Senator Markwayne Mullin echoed that assessment, stressing that drug smugglers are “terrorists”.“What’s the difference between Obama attacking these individuals when they were deemed terrorist organisations in the Middle East versus the ones that are here right now poisoning our streets?” Mullin said.While rights groups have criticised Obama’s drone pol …
