‘All of Them Constitute Murder,’ Amnesty Says of Trump Boat Bombings
Brad Reed for Common Dreams
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| The Coast Guard demonstrates the correct, legal way to make ocean drug arrests |
Daphne Eviatar, director for security and human rights for
Amnesty International USA, said that it would be a mistake to merely
condemn the Trump
administration for launching a double-tap strike aimed at killing
shipwrecked survivors of an initial attack, because the entire campaign of
bombing vessels based on the suspicion that they are carrying illegal narcotics
is unlawful.
“All the strikes so far have been illegal under both domestic and international law,” she said. “All of them constitute murder because none of the victims, whether or not they were smuggling illegal narcotics, posed an imminent threat to life. Congress must take action now to stop the US military from murdering more people in the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific.”
Eviatar said that law enforcement organizations for decades
have had the power to intercept suspected drug boats at sea without having to
resort to mass killing.
“Intercepting purported drug boats is a law enforcement operation, subject to policing standards derived from international human rights law, which holds that all people have the rights to life and a fair trial, and only allows states to use lethal force when an imminent threat to life exists,” she said. “A state intentionally killing someone outside those circumstances is committing an extrajudicial execution, a form of murder, no matter what crime the person is alleged to have committed.”
The Trump administration’s boat strikes have come under fresh legal scrutiny after the Washington Post revealed last week that the US military had launched a second strike during an operation on September 2 to kill two men who had survived an initial strike on their vessel.
Rep. Jim Himes (D-Conn.), the ranking member of the House
Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, watched video of the September 2
double-tap attack during a classified briefing on Thursday, and he described
the footage as “one of the most troubling things I’ve seen in my time in public
service.”
Himes told reporters that the video showed the US military firing
missiles at two men who had survived an initial attack on their vessel and who
were floating in the water while clinging to debris.
“You have two individuals in clear distress, without any
means of locomotion, with a destroyed vessel, [who] were killed by the United
States,” he said.
The US so far has carried out 22 known strikes on purported
drug boats, killing at least 87 people.
