Press secretary Karoline Leavitt claimed the apparent war crime was legal even as she said Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth knew nothing about it.

The White House on Monday shifted the blame for killing the survivors of a U.S. military strike on an alleged drug smuggling boat from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and onto the commanding admiral.

Killing survivors of a destroyed vessel is literally an example of a war crime in the U.S. Department of Defense Law of War Manual. “For example, orders to fire upon the shipwrecked would be clearly illegal,” the manual reads.

Press secretary Karoline Leavitt, nevertheless, repeatedly stated that it was legal – even as she further claimed, as Donald Trump did Sunday, that Hegseth was unaware that it had happened.

  • JohnnyFlapHoleSeed@lemmy.world
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    14 hours ago

    Ok… So common sense would read that as: ’ it wasn’t legal, it’s a prime example of a war crime, and Pete may not have explicitly approved of that action, but probably gave a vague order like ‘no survivors’ , which the admiral took literally, and so it’s entirely the admirals fault for not disobeying an unlawful order. ’

    All I want for Christmas is a military coup, cold hard justice for the traitors enabling Trump, and emergency elections, monitored by the military, and un observers

    • UnspecificGravity@infosec.pub
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      10 hours ago

      Ordering that operations be conducted on the basis that there be “no survivors” is also specifically cited as an example of a war crime by the same manual: “Moreover, it is also prohibited to conduct hostilities on the basis that there shall be no survivors, or to threaten the adversary with the denial of quarter.”

      Page 211 https://media.defense.gov/2023/Jul/31/2003271432/-1/-1/0/DOD-LAW-OF-WAR-MANUAL-JUNE-2015-UPDATED-JULY 2023.PDF

    • Horsecook@sh.itjust.works
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      14 hours ago

      All I want for Christmas is a military coup

      It’s too late for that. The entire point of this is to make sure everyone left in the military understands that they’ll be executed if the dictator falls.

        • Horsecook@sh.itjust.works
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          13 hours ago

          Dictatorships can last for more than a lifetime. There’s no guarantee those complicit in its formation won’t die of old age before it falls.

          Trump’s almost certainly going to die of old age before any meaningful amount of Democrats realize that pacifism is not a virtue, that there’s no nobility in victimhood. The question to ponder now is who Trump’s successor will be, and if they’ll be able to keep power without the cult of personality.