Democracy Now! “A War Crime & Murder”: David Cole on U.S. Killing of Survivors of Boat Strike in Caribbean

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As bipartisan criticism intensifies over U.S. attacks on alleged “drug boats” in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific, the White House is defending a September 2 operation that killed 11 people. _The Washington Post_ reports Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ordered a second attack to kill two survivors of an initial strike, which legal experts say would constitute a war crime. The White House on Monday confirmed the second strike but said the authorization came not from Hegseth, but from Admiral Frank “Mitch” Bradley, then head of Joint Special Operations Command.

This comes as Hegseth threatens to court-martial Democratic Senator Mark Kelly, a former naval officer, after Kelly and five other Democratic veterans urged service members to refuse unlawful commands.

“Killing civilians who are not engaged in armed conflict against us is a war crime,” says law professor David Cole of Georgetown University.

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