The U.S. military’s summary killing of more than 80 people suspected of transporting drugs in the waters around South America rests on a shaky legal foundation. Transporting drugs is a crime, not an act of war. Suspected criminals — even the guilty — ought to be apprehended when possible, not shot on sight.
The Post reported Friday that the military is not just bombing the small boats, but in at least one instance intentionally killed shipwrecked survivors. After Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth reportedly gave a spoken order to kill everyone on board a boat in September, the Special Operations commander overseeing the mission ordered a second strike that killed two men clinging to the wreckage.
The revelation ought to prompt a recognition that these killings were rotten from the start. It seems to at least be puncturing the complacency of several congressional Republicans who have previously bit their tongues about the attacks. The leaders of the Senate and House Armed Services committees are promising inquiries.
Hegseth has responded with his trademark bluster, including making light of the situation with a children’s book meme and insisting he’s done nothing wrong. President Donald Trump said Sunday that Hegseth told him he did not give the order. “I believe him, 100 percent,” the president said. On Monday, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt claimed the strikes were “conducted in self-defense.”
What danger did the shipwrecked men pose? Without a second strike, they probably would have drowned. They plainly posed no immediate threat. Such flagrantly immoral behavior helps explain why the United Kingdom, America’s closet ally, suspended intelligence sharing for the boat strikes.
Congress has oversight powers to get to the bottom of this. Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Dan Caine called senior lawmakers over the weekend to discuss the mission’s “intent and legality,” his office said Monday. Private calls are insufficient. There should be public hearings to probe the entire bombing campaign, not just the September strike.
Congress hasn’t authorized the use of military force against drug traffickers, but the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel prepared a classified memosaying the killings are legal under the president’s inherent authority. If the reasoning is strong, why not make it public?
Beyond legality, Congress deserves to hear more about the strategic implications of this campaign. The U.S. has limited resources and faces threats in many theaters. How many missiles is the Pentagon using for target practice on speedboats that could be easily stopped by the Coast Guard?
The Trump administration insists the strikes are necessary to stop the flow of drugs into the United States. If that’s the paramount concern, Trump would not have announced plans last Friday to pardon former Honduran president Juan Orlando Hernández, who was sentenced last year to 45 years in prison for helping move at least 400 tons of cocaine into this country. Perhaps Trump thinks he can negotiate with drug kingpins but not their mules. Either way, he has to act within the law. Good for Congress for belatedly getting on the case.
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