Timeline of US attacks in Caribbean and what Congress has had to say

By BEN FINLEY and KONSTANTIN TOROPIN, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — In less than two months, President Donald Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth say the U.S. military has killed 32 people in seven strikes against drug-smuggling vessels in the Caribbean Sea.

Trump has justified the attacks as a necessary escalation to stem the flow of drugs into the United States. He has asserted the U.S. is engaged in an “armed conflict” with drug cartels , relying on the same legal authority used by the Bush administration when it declared a war on terror after the Sept. 11 attacks.

But as the number of strikes has grown, a debate in Congress has escalated over the limits of the president’s power . The attacks have occurred without any legal investigation or a traditional declaration