(C) Daily Kos
This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered.
. . . . . . . . . .
Breaking: Drug-smuggling boat turned around before being hit by American aircraft [1]
['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.']
Date: 2025-09-10
Those defending last week’s military strike against a Venezuelan boat flagged for smuggling drugs say that drug smuggling suspects are no different from combatants in a war. Well, in the last half-hour, The New York Times tore that defense to shreds. According to officials close to the situation, the boat had turned from its previous course when it detected that it was being bird-dogged by a naval aircraft.
A Venezuelan boat that the U.S. military destroyed in the Caribbean last week had altered its course and appeared to have turned around before the attack started because the people onboard had apparently spotted a military aircraft stalking it, according to American officials familiar with the matter. The officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive matter, added that the military hit the vessel repeatedly before it sank.
When a number of military lawyers learned about this development, they were stunned—and with good reason.
Many legal specialists, including retired top military lawyers, have rejected the idea that Mr. Trump has legitimate authority to treat suspected drug smuggling as legally equivalent to an imminent armed attack on the United States. Even if one accepted that premise for the sake of argument, they added, if the boat had already turned away, that would further undermine what they saw as an already weak claim of self-defense. “If someone is retreating, where’s the ‘imminent threat’ then?” said Rear Adm. Donald J. Guter, a retired top judge advocate general for the Navy from 2000 to 2002. “Where’s the ‘self-defense’? They are gone if they ever existed — which I don’t think they did.” Rear Adm. James E. McPherson, the top judge advocate general for the Navy from 2004 to 2006 who later served in the first Trump administration in several prominent civilian military roles, including general counsel of the Army, agreed. “I would be interested if they could come up for any legal basis for what they did,” he said, adding, “If, in fact, you can fashion a legal argument that says these people were getting ready to attack the U.S. through the introduction of cocaine or whatever, if they turned back, then that threat has gone away.”
It’s hard not to agree. If I’m reading this right, this is no different from shooting someone in the back who is running away. Even if the person being shot committed a crime, if you shoot someone in that situation, you’re the one going to prison.
Regardless of what you think about the drug threat, there’s no defending this move by Trump. This was done in our name.
[END]
---
[1] Url:
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2025/9/10/2342759/-Breaking-Drug-smuggling-boat-turned-around-before-being-hit-by-American-aircraft?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=trending&pm_medium=web
Published and (C) by Daily Kos
Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified.
via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds:
gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/
