US military forces struck two small boats off the Pacific coast of Colombia Wednesday, killing at least five people. The strikes were the eighth and ninth since President Trump issued orders September 2 for a campaign of military violence against alleged drug traffickers that is both illegal and unconstitutional.
While Trump claims that the strikes are justified because the United States is at war with drug cartels based in Latin America, the White House has not sought a declaration of war from Congress, or even a congressional resolution authorizing military operations, as in Afghanistan and Iraq.
The strikes are in flagrant violation of international law. The US government has offered no evidence against the people it is annihilating, and even their names are unknown. And the military assaults are taking place in international waters, where ships of any nationality supposedly have “freedom of navigation,” a right that Washington claims to be defending in the South China Sea…
You have a good point but may not have an appreciation for what that means for the individual soldiers. I recommend this legal eagle vid. Even if they were clearly in the right in refusing the order (which they obviously are in this case) - do you think there is any chance they would get a fair trial with this regime in power?
Imo the check on this is impeachment and prosecution of the president and officials.
It’s either they get court martialed now for disobeying “lawful” orders or court martialed later for following clearly illegal orders later?
Thats the thing, do you really think anyone will be prosecuted for carrying out the orders? Its 99.9% for disobeying orders vs maybe 0.1% for carrying them out.
Didn’t the Supreme Court basically say that if the president says it it’s not illegal? Kind of a Catch 22 for anyone involved. Glad I got out!
Sounds awfully familiar.