"Conservative legal commentator Andy McCarthy torpedoed Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's response to the blockbuster report which stated the secretary ordered the killing of everyone on board a suspected drug boat in the Caribbean in September. In a scathing National Review column published late Saturday, McCarthy who also serves as a Fox News contributor made clear that he believes the events, as laid out in the Washington Post report, are patently illegal."
"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."
"Even if you buy the untenable claim that they are combatants, it is a war crime to intentionally kill combatants who have been rendered unable to fight, McCarthy wrote. It is not permitted, under the laws and customs of honorable warfare, to order that no quarter be given to apply lethal force to those who surrender or who are injured, shipwrecked, or otherwise unable to fight."
Strikes in the Caribbean allegedly killed everyone aboard a suspected drug-smuggling boat and a second strike reportedly targeted two survivors clinging to the damaged vessel. Such actions meet elements of a war crime under federal law when they intentionally target individuals rendered unable to fight. Attacking suspected drug vessels without congressional authorization and when operators pose no military threat lacks legal justification under U.S. law. Narcotics trafficking is treated as a criminal matter, not an act of war, which further undermines claims of lawful use of lethal force. International laws and customs forbid orders to give no quarter to surrendering or shipwrecked persons.
Read at www.mediaite.com
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