According to the Washington Post, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth ordered on September 2 not only to blow up a ship in the Caribbean, but to kill everyone on board. Hegseth initially did not publicly deny the statement, but the Trump administration did. The ship was hit at least twice on September 2, the New York Times reported. Military norms prohibit a second strike against a vessel that has been disabled or wrecked and no longer poses a military threat. Because once the military objective is achieved, a second strike means certain death for the survivors. In view of the seriousness of the charges, it was the duty of the Secretary of War to provide details of the records and other particulars of the orders given. Instead, Hegseth joked about it.
The fact that the War Department will assassinate an accused drug trafficker on September 2 should not be a matter of debate. If you think about Trump's famous statement on October 23: “I think we're just going to kill the people who are bringing drugs into our country. Okay? We're going to kill them, you know, and they're going to die.”
International law experts (not including those in the Trump administration) agree that the current bombings of 22 ships in the Caribbean constitute extrajudicial killings without any legal basis. It's no surprise that Hegseth didn't go through legal channels. That's because there is no such thing as a “judicial execution.” There was no judge ordering the killing, which is essentially what happened with the second attack. Even if it turned out (which it wasn't) that the boats were carrying drugs, no judge would order the killing of those on board. In fact, “judicial execution” is an oxymoron.
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 Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth gave verbal orders to kill everyone on the ship during the first attack on September 2. CNN reported that after the military found survivors, a second attack was conducted to kill them.”
“In September, the New York Times reported that multiple attacks occurred during the first operation. The Times also reported that the attacked ship changed course before the attack began and appeared to have turned around because those aboard apparently spotted a military aircraft tracking it.”
Democratic leaders, starting with Senate Leader Chuck Schumer, criticized the bombing as an act of war and that the decision to wage war was made by Congress, not the executive branch. But Schumer’s statement fell far short of what needed to be said. The real problem is not a legal one, but a humanitarian one. Democrats need to focus their criticism on moral and humanitarian grounds, not just legal ones.
