Posted on 11/30/2025 6:35:06 PM PST by RandFan
An explosive Washington Post report, the subject of so much discussion the past two days, says that, in the first missile strike the Trump Defense Department carried out against operatives of a boat suspected of transporting narcotics on the high seas off Venezuela, two survivors were rendered shipwrecked. As they clung to the wreckage, the U.S. commander ordered a second strike, which killed them.
If this happened as described in the Post report, it was, at best, a war crime under federal law. I say “at best” because, as regular readers know, I believe the attacks on these suspected drug boats — without congressional authorization, under circumstances in which the boat operators pose no military threat to the United States, and given that narcotics trafficking is defined in federal law as a crime rather than as terrorist activity, much less an act of war — are lawless and therefore that the killings are not legitimate under the law or armed conflict. (See my Saturday column, with links to prior posts on this subject.)
Nevertheless, even if we stipulate arguendo that the administration has a colorable claim that our forces are in an armed conflict with non-state actors (i.e., suspected members of drug cartels that the administration has dubiously designated as foreign terrorist organizations (FTOs)), the laws of war do not permit the killing of combatants who have been rendered hors de combat (out of the fighting) — including by shipwreck.
To reiterate, I don’t accept that the ship operators are enemy combatants — even if one overlooks that the administration has not proven that they are drug traffickers or members of designated FTOs. There is no armed conflict. They may be criminals (if it is proven that they are importing illegal narcotics), but they are not combatants.
(Excerpt) Read more at nationalreview.com ...
Scumbag traitors such as yourself need to be removed from FR!!
Andy jumped the shark a long time ago. Mark Levin severed ties.
NR is more like The New Republica or CNN now.
Mush Morton was denied the Medal of Honor becuse he machine gunned surviors of a Maru the Wahoo had sunk. Had later in the year the Wahoo not been sunk with all hands Morton would have faced court martial. And that was a real war.
Here’s a truism. Andy is always on the wrong side of anything concerning Trump.
This is no different than the war against the Barbary Pirates, which wasn’t formally declared either. Lawyers and judges can always find some technical violation in any action undertaken by the President, but he can also ignore them, since in cases like this there’s no such thing as “international law”. If the Democrats re-take control of Congress next year, they’re going to impeach DJT for any and everything anyway, so he might as well go all-in.
“Even National Review says it out loud”
National Review - LOL!
China isn’t pushing fentanyl in the U.S. for money, they pushing it for revenge. For the U.S. selling Opium in China in the 18th and 19th century.
I’m not defending that sh*t it’s awful
Mostly comes from Mexico gangs though. Let’s be frank.
I just replied to someone who mentioned it
read my #48
Iggzactly ! F ‘em for sending death into our country.
If they’re running drugs, KILL them all, and feed them to the fish.
NR are hardly libertarians. They’r neocons and agree with us on nothing but this strangely .
It’s worth noting
NR are hardly libertarians. They’r neocons and agree with us on nothing but this strangely .
It’s worth noting
So, NR says that WP says it happened....right after the seditious sicks (pun fully intended) make their Color Revolution PSA and everyone just assumes it is true?
CandyRandpaul is crying again
So, it’s whacking cocaine runners that you object to?
There is no world government that is sovereign over the United States to hold us to account. You better make your appeals about “war crimes” to God, everything else is a joke.
It’s nice to see Andrew McCarthy is still a putz.
Forgot about the opium thing.
You really think this is revenge?
Out of my American / Western short memory and attention span. That would definitely be a cultural difference.
The cheap and nasty stuff comes from Mexico
Go blow them up not some fishermen
You don’t really buy that “fisherman” nonsense, do you?
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