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Last Updated on October 9, 2025.

Washington – Win Without War Executive Director Sara Haghdoosti made the following statement in response to the Trump administration’s unauthorized missile strike against alleged drug smugglers in the Caribbean Sea:

“The War on Drugs is a failure, and bringing it back with extra violence won’t turn it into a success. Yesterday’s brazenly unlawful strike makes no difference whatsoever in the lives of people struggling with their own or a loved one’s addiction. It does not restore the proven methods for reducing overdose deaths that Trump’s budget cuts have ravaged.

“Instead, the strike has done what it was actually intended to do: grow Trump’s reputation as a strongman who can ignore the Constitution he has sworn to protect and uphold. What we’ve seen is a summary execution, conducted with no oversight or Congressional approval, for which the administration has offered neither evidence nor legal justification. Donald Trump has brought George W. Bush’s dream to full fruition: under Trump, if the president declares you a terrorist, the U.S. military will apparently execute you on his behalf, no questions asked. That should deeply alarm us all, especially at a time when the president thinks nothing of labeling anyone from a USAID worker to a college student as a terrorist.

“There is no military solution to the overdose crisis, but there is a political solution to a president with authoritarian ambitions. Congress must act now to end unauthorized military action in the Caribbean, investigate these apparently lawless killings, and restore the proven health and harm reduction programs that people struggling with the scourge of fentanyl desperately need.”

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Win Without War is a diverse network of activists and national organizations working for progressive foreign policy in the United States.

September 3, 2025