The Washington Post reported that Secretary of War Pete Hegseth ordered on September 2 not only to blow up a ship in the Caribbean but also to kill everyone on board. Hegseth initially refrained from publicly disavowing the statement, but the Trump administration did so. The New York Times reported on September 2 that the boat had collided at least twice. Military norms prohibit second attacks on ships that have been disabled or wrecked and no longer pose a military threat. Once the military objective is achieved, a second attack means certain death for the survivors. Considering the seriousness of the accusation, it is the duty of the Secretary of War to furnish particulars of the records and other particulars of the orders given. Instead, Hegseth jokes about the incident.
There is no dispute that the War Department actually went out on September 2 to kill suspected drug traffickers. Not if you consider Trump’s famous statement on October 23: “I think we’re going to kill the people who bring drugs into our country, okay? We’re going to kill them. You know, they’re going to be as dead.”
There is a consensus among international law experts (excluding the Trump administration) that the current bombing of 22 ships in the Caribbean constitutes extrajudicial killings without legal justification. It’s not surprising that Hegseth didn’t go through legal channels. This is because there is no such thing as ‘judicial killing’. No judge ever orders someone to be killed and that’s basically a second strike. Even if it is proven that the boat was transporting drugs (which is not the case), the judge will not order that the people on the boat be killed. In reality, ‘judicial killing’ is a contradiction.
The following is a statement from a November 29 New York Times article titled “Trump announces closure of Venezuelan airspace.”
“On Thursday, the Washington Post reported that during the first attack, on September 2, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth gave a verbal order to kill everyone on the boat. And CNN reported that after the military found survivors, they launched a second attack to kill them.”
“In September, the New York Times reported that there were several attacks during the first operation. The Times also reported that the boat that was attacked appeared to have changed course and turned before the attack began, because those on board had apparently spotted a military aircraft stalking the boat.”
Democratic leaders, starting with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, have criticized the boat bombings on the grounds that they represent an act of war and that decisions about war should rest with Congress, not the executive branch. But Schumer’s statement falls far short of what it needs to say. The real problem is not a legal one, but a humanitarian one. The Democratic Party should focus its criticism not only on legal grounds, but also on ethical and humanitarian grounds.
