"In a word, they were illegal. It is a core principle of the rule of law and of the law of war that you cannot target and kill people who have been rendered incapacitated or defenseless. That conflicts with the Geneva Convention. There was a group of Judge Advocate General, former military attorneys, who came out with this statement over the weekend saying that these acts would be patently illegal."
"If you look at the Department of Defense's own manual on the law of war, it uses as an example of something that would be illegal this exact scenario. It says if you have survivors of a shipwreck, they cannot be targeted because they are incapacitated. So if somebody took this order or gave this order knowingly and with the intent to take out two survivors who had been rendered helpless in the water, then yes, it would absolutely be illegal."
A double tap strike that targets survivors of a shipwreck constitutes an illegal act under the law of war. On September 2, a mission targeting a suspected narco-trafficking boat allegedly escalated after a drone observed two survivors clinging to wreckage and a second strike was ordered to kill everyone. The Geneva Conventions prohibit targeting persons rendered incapacitated or defenseless, including shipwreck survivors. Military legal experts and Judge Advocate General attorneys describe such acts as patently illegal. Criminal liability for officers depends on their knowledge and intent when following or issuing orders to attack incapacitated survivors.
Read at www.mediaite.com
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