By Walt Zlotow
Some sensible US congresspersons, government officials, pundits and others are furious over reports Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ordered a second strike on a mysterious little boat off Venezuela September 2 that killed two hapless souls clinging to the US inflicted wreckage.
They correctly point out that bombing survivors of a wrecked boat is against the USA’s own Law of War Manual:
“Persons who have been rendered unconscious or otherwise incapacitated by wounds, sickness, or shipwreck, such that they are no longer capable of fighting, out of combat… It would be dishonourable and inhumane to make them the object of attack.”
Hegseth initially denied there was a second bombing killing the survivors, invoking the Trumpian charge “fake news.” Under intense criticism Pete pivoted admitting it happened but only after he’d left the room following the first strike, giving him plausible deniability. Then, despicably, he blamed the fatal order on Adm. Frank M. Bradley, the commander of US Special Operations Command. Hegseth didn’t condemn Bradley for ordering the second strike. He praised him saying he’s “got his back.”
The second strike on survivors upset congressional Republicans and Democrats enough to consider investigating it as a possible war crime. What that implies is that the 22 boats sunk, killing over 80 unidentified soles is OK as long as the US does not bomb survivors clinging to the wreckage of America’s dastardly war crimes. That first boat obliterated September 2 was a war crime repeated 21 times in 3 months.
Hegseth, Trump and every officer involved in these strikes are war criminals. Every serviceman ordered to commit these dastardly crimes should refuse those orders. Recently 6 morally centered congresspersons publicly implored all service members to do just that, no doubt with the illegal Trump/Hegseth boat obliterations in mind. Trump’s response? Maybe these congresspersons should be executed.
Focusing on the murder of survivors clinging to wreckage detracts from the monumental war crimes Trump commits nearly every day of his presidency.
By providing the bombs that have killed over 70,000 Palestinians in Gaza, bombing Somalia over 100 times this year, bombing imaginary Iranian nuclear sites, and most recently sending 22 small unarmed boats with 83 innocents down to Davy Jones Locker, Trump and Hegseth deserve indictment and prosecution for directing the most murderous administration in America’s 250 years.
Walt Zlotow West Suburban Peace Coalition Glen Ellyn IL
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I find it interesting that Trump and his military have to date only used their military power on those countries that lack the capacity to hit back. When it comes to the likes of Russia, China and North Korea all with the capability to hit back Trump treads with care or is that fear?
jonangel, if you look back at the history of American military interventions since the end of WWII, you’ll see the typical pattern of engagement. It’s not only Trump. All aggressive engagements under whichever president were guided by the belief that the actions would be quick, bloody and victorious. Obviously, their so-called military intelligence (a profound oxymoron) got it badly wrong in Korea, Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan.
To state the obvious, Americans are slow learners in this context of martial incursions. Where they do shine, however, is in their unparalleled manufacture and sale of weaponry to third parties. The pathology of that nation’s leaders and the corporations that belong to the military-industrial complex is sickening.
Hugo Chavez summed it up quite accurately in his 2006 address to the UN. The Yanks have never forgiven him, or Venezuela for that matter, for calling them out.
Karma is coming. Or worse still, blowback.
I agree, I think you are right, I’d never thought of it in that way!! I smell a storm, which won’t go away. Good luck evey one.
The drug lords must be extremely stupid to keep sending small boats, incapable of reaching the US, knowing they have massive flotilla waiting to blow them out of the water once they reach the open sea. The likelihood is that they are not associated with drugs. Isn’t it more cost effective for the US to pick them up when they reach the US coast?
FH: It may be more “cost effective”, as you put it, but it all depends on how you define costs and effectiveness. The present Trump admin. measures effectiveness by clickbytes and cost for the government only when it involves giving money to non-billionaires.