It is war crimes to bomb suspected drug smugglers. Even boarding suspected drug smugglers in international/foreign waters is not permitted, but you might credibly say something like “the drug problem is too damn high” even if Cocaine doesn’t seem to be any bigger of a problem than it ever was. Process of inspecting boats is normal interdiction behaviour.
There’s a big deal made about murdering defenseless survivors, but the first strikes (in the 20s, afaik so far) is already a murder/war crime. There is no credible evidence that most of the boats would even have the fuel capacity to reach the US.
The attacks are broadly a blatant attempt to start another Iraq War 2, which is disgusting on the face of it.
In specific though, the thing that makes it a fact that Pete Hegseth is a murderer is at least some of these strikes hit a powerboat once with a missile and then after survivors were clinging to wreckage and flailing in the water Pete Hegseth ordered a second strike to kill the survivors who were now helpless and in need of emergency rescue.
This is considered by most militaries and societies the world over as a warcrime/murder because it is.
I have many problems with the US military, I consider the US as a military empire, but for the most part I do not think the professional core of the US military desires this. Even if the politics of many of those military personnel are on the face of it conservative, they do not want this especially when it actually starts happening. These strikes are an attempt to drive a division and set warhawks and the military against the rest of US society in the US as much as they are an outward projection of violence, Republicans are desperately trying to completely transform the military into a rightwing murder machine and alienate it from the rest of US society and I wouldn’t underestimate how little the US public and bulk of the US military desires this outcome especially in such an economically desperate moment for the US. In order for the US military to become fundamentally a rightwing murder machine it must shed its professionalism, and there are a whole lot of people who no matter their politics can see that process as plain as day happening and correctly understand it is a form of extinction for the professionalism of what they do.
What I am trying to say is that the executive branch is FORCING the military to murder, and the military should absolutely be held accountable for fulfilling illegal orders but yes the key issue here is that the US government is corrupted from the top down here. Pete Hegseth is a wildly dangerous person to have as Secretary Of War both because he is extraordinarily incompetent and because he harbors an extremely hateful world view that will demand the systems he controls commit murder for utterly frivolous reasons.
Honest question for someone a bit lost in the sea of news. What are the war crimes? Aggressing Venezuela and sinking boats without warning?
Murdering civilians in general, particularly those in distress.
Killing shipwreck survivors is the actual, literal example of a war crime in the Department of Defense’s manual on war crimes.
It is war crimes to bomb suspected drug smugglers. Even boarding suspected drug smugglers in international/foreign waters is not permitted, but you might credibly say something like “the drug problem is too damn high” even if Cocaine doesn’t seem to be any bigger of a problem than it ever was. Process of inspecting boats is normal interdiction behaviour.
There’s a big deal made about murdering defenseless survivors, but the first strikes (in the 20s, afaik so far) is already a murder/war crime. There is no credible evidence that most of the boats would even have the fuel capacity to reach the US.
The attacks are broadly a blatant attempt to start another Iraq War 2, which is disgusting on the face of it.
In specific though, the thing that makes it a fact that Pete Hegseth is a murderer is at least some of these strikes hit a powerboat once with a missile and then after survivors were clinging to wreckage and flailing in the water Pete Hegseth ordered a second strike to kill the survivors who were now helpless and in need of emergency rescue.
This is considered by most militaries and societies the world over as a warcrime/murder because it is.
He didnt do it alone… The fact that a military can do this, means the government is also corrupted.
The US government is evil, thats just a fact. But what to do about it is anyones guess.
I have many problems with the US military, I consider the US as a military empire, but for the most part I do not think the professional core of the US military desires this. Even if the politics of many of those military personnel are on the face of it conservative, they do not want this especially when it actually starts happening. These strikes are an attempt to drive a division and set warhawks and the military against the rest of US society in the US as much as they are an outward projection of violence, Republicans are desperately trying to completely transform the military into a rightwing murder machine and alienate it from the rest of US society and I wouldn’t underestimate how little the US public and bulk of the US military desires this outcome especially in such an economically desperate moment for the US. In order for the US military to become fundamentally a rightwing murder machine it must shed its professionalism, and there are a whole lot of people who no matter their politics can see that process as plain as day happening and correctly understand it is a form of extinction for the professionalism of what they do.
What I am trying to say is that the executive branch is FORCING the military to murder, and the military should absolutely be held accountable for fulfilling illegal orders but yes the key issue here is that the US government is corrupted from the top down here. Pete Hegseth is a wildly dangerous person to have as Secretary Of War both because he is extraordinarily incompetent and because he harbors an extremely hateful world view that will demand the systems he controls commit murder for utterly frivolous reasons.
Keep in mind they’ve gotten rid of the leading generals that opposed Trump and put in loyalists.
Yes but that is just the command structure, we are talking about a massive amount of people here.