"Those actions fit the textbook definition of a war crime under the Department of Defense Law of War Manual, which stresses that in the case of shipwrecked individuals who are "in need of assistance and care" without an operable boat, who "refrain from any hostile act," the department cannot consider them as active targets."
"Tell that to GOP Senator Tom Cotton (AR), though, who after being treated to some snuff footage of the boat strikes as part of a Thursday congressional briefing, said that he not only supported the strikes, but thoroughly enjoyed watching the murder of the Venezuelan nationals, going as far as to laugh about it as he spoke to reporters, according to Huffpost."
""I saw two survivors trying to flip a boat, loaded with drugs bound for the United States, back over so they could stay in the fight," said Cotton, referring to men he reportedly watched bob in the water for 41 minutes, clinging to the wreckage of a boat already destroyed by U.S. missiles."
U.S. military forces struck and sank a boat in the Caribbean that was identified as carrying alleged Venezuelan drug smugglers, then struck the capsized vessel a second time, killing survivors clinging to wreckage. The Department of Defense Law of War Manual holds that shipwrecked individuals who are in need of assistance and who refrain from hostile acts cannot be targeted. Senator Tom Cotton publicly supported and celebrated the strikes, calling them "righteous strikes" and laughing while describing survivors he said attempted to flip a boat. Admiral Frank "Mitch" Bradley ordered the strikes and briefed Congress.
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