The idea of rules to war might seems strange but I think the idea is that there IS such a thing as a legitimate military objective. For example if the boat IS a legitimate military threat to your nation, you’ve neutralized that threat by sinking the boat.
“Exterminate people you don’t like” is NOT a legitimate military objective, so the second strike is NOT legitimate as the legitimate military objective has already been achieved.
But yes, I think many would agree that the initial strikes were ALSO illegal, it’s just that the administration is hiding behind a declaration that these boats are a legitimate military threat so they create a grey area where they are unlikely to ever be held accountable.
The second strike is blatantly illegal and there’s really no sane defense for that, by defending the second strike they’re essentially admitting to being psychopaths who aren’t behaving like legitimate military leadership.
That’s not even the argument the administration is making. Their argument is that the drugs themselves are the weapon/combatant. So they argue it’s perfectly legal to destroy the drugs and hand wave away the collateral damage of the humans operating the boat. But if the drugs were already destroyed then their entire argument goes out the window for a need for a second strike.
But, really, it’s the order for no quarter that is the main course of illegality. Simply put, even if they make a claim of bad intel or “I was just following orders”, the extra twist of the knife in the no-quarters order is in of itself a fundamental illegal knife twist that prevents him from getting away with any “whoopsie daisy” defense.
Can someone explain to me why this second strike is such a big deal but the first isn’t?
The idea of rules to war might seems strange but I think the idea is that there IS such a thing as a legitimate military objective. For example if the boat IS a legitimate military threat to your nation, you’ve neutralized that threat by sinking the boat.
“Exterminate people you don’t like” is NOT a legitimate military objective, so the second strike is NOT legitimate as the legitimate military objective has already been achieved.
But yes, I think many would agree that the initial strikes were ALSO illegal, it’s just that the administration is hiding behind a declaration that these boats are a legitimate military threat so they create a grey area where they are unlikely to ever be held accountable.
The second strike is blatantly illegal and there’s really no sane defense for that, by defending the second strike they’re essentially admitting to being psychopaths who aren’t behaving like legitimate military leadership.
It’s just always cut and dry, firing on the ship wrecked is always illegal they are considered non-combatants at that point.
This is actually the example they use of an illegal order in the DOD manual.
Page 1117 18.3.2.1 https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/23892053-dod-law-of-war-manual-june-2015-updated-july-2023/
Ok, so it really is defined very precisely and everyone should have known.
They were non-combatants the entire time.
That’s not even the argument the administration is making. Their argument is that the drugs themselves are the weapon/combatant. So they argue it’s perfectly legal to destroy the drugs and hand wave away the collateral damage of the humans operating the boat. But if the drugs were already destroyed then their entire argument goes out the window for a need for a second strike.
Its stupid, I know.
Because it’s illegal to shoot survivors of a ship you have sunk.
I understand this. My question was, why it wasn’t illegal to shoot the ship in the first place.
It was. But, the illegality of the second action is absolute, while the first action is up for debate (by morons).
Why not both?
But, really, it’s the order for no quarter that is the main course of illegality. Simply put, even if they make a claim of bad intel or “I was just following orders”, the extra twist of the knife in the no-quarters order is in of itself a fundamental illegal knife twist that prevents him from getting away with any “whoopsie daisy” defense.