"Meaning of 'Respect and Protection' of the wounded, sick and shipwrecked. The wounded, sick and shipwrecked must be respected and protected at all times. This means that they should not be knowingly attacked, fired upon or necessarily interfered with."
– Department of Defense Law of War Manuel, section 7.3.3 Shipwrecked, P. 451
On Sept. 2 of this year, the Department of Defense, under Secretary Pete Hegseth, began its campaign of attacking and destroying alleged drug-running speedboats from Venezuela in the Caribbean Sea and Pacific Ocean. These attacks have been done without due process and without the approval of Congress. Mostly, they appear to be deadly operations conducted by a rogue Department of Defense.
The very first in the series of drone attacks – there have been 22 so far, resulting in 88 deaths – took nearly everyone by surprise because after the boat was destroyed, two survivors were seen to be clinging to the wreckage of the hull. They were in the water for perhaps up to an hour as the DoD tried to figure out what to do next because, well, they didn't plan for this. The survivors were seen waving their arms, probably in distress, perhaps to catch the attention of aircraft seen overhead.
What to do next should be explained in the DoD's own Law of War manual, which states that shipwrecked persons cannot be knowingly attacked or fired upon. Section 7.3.3 of the manual draws much of its language from the Geneva Convention of 1949 regarding humanitarian rules and international standards, which says the sick and wounded are to be retrieved and given care. Not blown up.
Instead, the DoD responded with a second attack, this one incinerating the two survivors.
I don't know if the DoD's manual carries the weight of law or if it's just a collection of suggestions. But there is international law. There is maritime law. There is The Hague and the Court of International Justice. There is the International Criminal Court.
This entire violent operation puts our country in a difficult position. The Trump administration insists we are in a war with narco-terrorists and the attacks are therefore justified if we are to stop the flow of drugs crossing our borders.
But only Congress – not the president – has the Constitutional power to declare war on a sovereign nation. So here we are: we are either a nation at war committing war crimes (as suggested by the DoD's own manual regarding shipwrecked survivors not to be fired upon), or we are a nation committing murder on the high seas. Take your choice.
After last week's congressional hearings into the matter (where video of the second "double tap"strike was seen) the supposedly bi-partisan meeting predictably retreated to party lines. Arkansas Republican Senator and former veteran Tom Cotton absurdly claimed the video he saw showed the survivors trying to flip the bow half of their overturned motorless boat in order to continue their mission, adding that the attack was "righteous." Republican Kentucky Senator Rand Paul, by contrast, said the attack was an "extrajudicial killing."
Virginia Democrat Senator Mark Warner asked "Are they drug boats, are there narco traffickers on those boats?. If there are, why don't you interdict them and show the world rather than simply blowing them up – to make sure that sailors are not doing something that's inappropriate?"
Warner makes valid points. Usually, it's the Coast Guard that intercepts and boards alleged drug boats, bringing with them due process. That's their job description. That way there's little question whether the crew of the targeted speedboats are running drugs. That's how you show us the evidence.
In addition, if the crew are found to be running drugs, you then have actual living prisoners – not cadavers – to interrogate for more information about the cartels. Why has the Coast Guard's mission seemingly been abandoned in favor of lethal assaults – which might include illegal orders, thus putting our servicemen in legal jeopardy? This is exactly what the six Democratic congressmen were talking about a few weeks ago when they cited the Uniform Code of Military Justice that a serviceman has a duty to disobey an illegal order.
Interestingly, the Coast Guard has noted that in at least 25 percent of their boardings of suspected boats, no drugs were found. Extrapolate that statistic to the government's war on suspected narco terrorists, then you could possibly presume that 22 of the 88 dead were ... simply murdered without cause.
We are treading strange and murky waters with a dangerous undertoe here. Do these assaults make our country look strong or out of control? Are we an humanitarian nation, or are we a ruthless oligarchy without a moral compass?
Are we a nation that believes in the rule of law?
Or are we not?
