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Bipartisan lawmakers call strike unlawful

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Bipartisan U.S. lawmakers opened congressional inquiries and said a U.S. follow-up strike on an alleged Venezuelan drug boat could amount to a war crime, urging investigations.

Reposted by Sanford F. Schram, Timothy D. McBride

10%
New York Times
Lawmakers Suggest Follow-Up Boat Strike Could Be a War Crime

Top Republicans have joined Democrats in demanding answers about the escalating military campaign the Trump administration says is aimed at targeting drug traffickers.

Lawmakers Suggest Follow-Up Boat Strike Could Be a War Crime
Reposts 76 10h

Reposted by Sanford F. Schram, Eric Goldman, David R. Miller , and 3 more

23%
santiagomayer.com
If the Venezuelan sailors were enemy combatants, then the 2nd strike is a war crime.

If the Venezuelan sailors weren’t enemy combatants, then both strikes are criminal murder.

It’s that simple.
November 30, 2025 at 8:42 PM

by Kim L. Scheppele

63%

Reposted by Ryan Goodman, Andrew L. Whitehead, David R. Miller , and 2 more

26%
acyn.bsky.social
Reporter: If there were a second strike that killed wounded people, would that be legal?

Trump: I don’t know that happened and Pete said he did not even know what people were talking about. I wouldn’t have wanted a second strike. The first strike was very lethal. It was fine.
November 30, 2025 at 11:17 PM

by Richard W. Painter

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Reposted by Joe R. Feagin, Gerald Friedman, Diane Ravitch , and 2 more

19%
thebulwark.com
Bash: "Do you believe if there was a second strike to eliminate any survivors that it constitutes a war crime?"

Mark Kelly: "It seems to."

Bash: "If you received that order, would you have carried it out?"

Mark Kelly: "No…Going after survivors in the water is unlawful."
November 30, 2025 at 2:15 PM

by Joe R. Feagin

28%
profjoefeagin.bsky.social
www.dailykos.com/stories/2025...
BOAT STRIKE COULD BE THE ONE
The killing of boat strike survivors story is rapidly metastasizing into the one that actually might bring down the T administration. The news that Congress will be vigorously investigating the murder...
www.dailykos.com
December 1, 2025 at 2:07 AM

Reposted by W. Andy Knight, Anne Norton

15%
atrupar.com
Van Hollen: "It's either murder from the first strike if their whole theory is wrong, and I think the weight of the legal opinion is they've concocted this ridiculous legal theory. But even if you accept it, then it is a war crime. I do believe the secretary of defense should be held accountable"
November 30, 2025 at 4:31 PM

by Sanford F. Schram

31%
sandysfs.bsky.social
Lawmakers Suggest Follow-Up Boat Strike Could Be a War Crime www.nytimes.com/2025/11/30/u...
Lawmakers Suggest Follow-Up Boat Strike Could Be a War Crime
www.nytimes.com
November 30, 2025 at 10:07 PM

Reposted by Kim L. Scheppele, Steve Peers, Stacy D. VanDeveer

40%
joycewhitevance.bsky.social
1/ You must refuse illegal orders.” That’s what 6 Democratic members of Congress said on video. Trump called it seditious. The FBI launched an investigation. Then came reporting in WAPO about an order SecDef Hegseth gave ahead of the 9/2 attack on a boat allegedly trafficking drugs in the Caribbean.
November 30, 2025 at 1:11 PM

by Kim L. Scheppele Reposted by David R. Miller

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kimlanelaw.bsky.social
Just Security has compiled a very helpful timeline to keep track of all of the vessel strikes that Hegseth has ordered, along with the official legal rationales and criticisms that these actions have generated. Experts and allies are uniformly opposed. www.justsecurity.org/124002/timel...
Timeline of Vessel Strikes and Related Actions
A timeline that chronicles major events in the Trump administration’s campaign of lethal strikes against suspected drug traffickers.
www.justsecurity.org
November 30, 2025 at 4:56 PM

by Guntram B. Wolff

11%

Reposted by Daniel W. Drezner, Steven S. Taylor

8%
atrupar.com
Mark Kelly says Pete Hegseth's reported double tap strike on a boat "seems to" be a war crime, and adds, "if what has been reported is accurate, I've got serious concerns about anybody in that chain of command stepping over a line that they should never step over. We are not Russia. We are not Iraq"
November 30, 2025 at 2:28 PM

by Ilya Somin

37%

Reposted by Daniel W. Drezner

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jasonkander.bsky.social
Aside from the extremely dubious question of whether the occupants of the Venezuelan boat even qualified as “combatants,” ordering a second strike from an aircraft for the sole purpose of killing defenseless people was absolutely an illegal order.
November 30, 2025 at 9:05 PM

Reposted by Brendan Nyhan, Edgar Morgenroth, Rosemary A. Joyce , and 1 more

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gregsargent.bsky.social
On the horrific news that Pete Hegseth ordered the killing of boat bombing survivors, remember: The Trump Murder Memo "authorizing" the strikes preemptively clears those carrying them out. That's unusual. And we still haven't heard from the commander who resigned:

newrepublic.com/article/2032...
November 30, 2025 at 1:55 PM

by Ryan Goodman

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rgoodlaw.bsky.social
2/ "The policy ... was changed because Hegseth knows he can’t justify killing boat operators who survive attacks."
‘We Intended the Strike to Be Lethal’ Is Not a Defense | National Review
The laws of war, incorporated in the federal war crimes statute, prohibit the killing of people who have been rendered hors de combat.
www.nationalreview.com
November 30, 2025 at 4:21 PM

Reposted by Brendan Nyhan, Scott A. Imberman, Aaron Sojourner

8%
deanbaker13.bsky.social
This is great, now Team Trump is acknowledging that illegal orders were given to kill survivors of the initial strike, the only question is who gave them? www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
Pete Hegseth denies he gave orders to ‘kill everybody’ on alleged ‘narco-boat’
Defense secretary called reports about his role in strike as ‘fake news’ intended to discredit US military
www.theguardian.com
November 30, 2025 at 9:32 PM

Reposted by Stacy D. VanDeveer

3%
ronfilipkowski.bsky.social
The Republican chairs of both the House and Senate Armed Services committees signed a letter yesterday stating that they requested specific info many weeks ago on these strikes and the WH & Pentagon have refused to provide it. If the story is fake news, then turn everything over.
December 1, 2025 at 12:22 AM

Reposted by Anne Norton

7%
atrupar.com
Kaine: "We had to pry with a crowbar after weeks and weeks out of the administration the supposed rationale for the strikes in international waters. It was very shoddy. It was not at all persuasive that these are legal actions ... It's time for Congress to rein in the president."
November 30, 2025 at 5:01 PM
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