When Congressman Jason Crow and five Democratic colleagues with military and intelligence service released a video on social media urging troops to refuse orders \u201cthat violate the law or our Constitution,\u201d detractors complained the message was dangerously ambiguous; it implied the administration was giving illegal orders but provided no specific examples.<\/p>\n
These critics had a point, that is, until The Washington Post exposed one such incident<\/a>, a potential war crime no less. Turns out, the video\u2019s warning about illegal orders was right on target.<\/p>\n Whether the episode will garner the bipartisan scrutiny it deserves, time will tell. Republicans in Congress have been hesitant to criticize the Trump administration, fearing retribution — a Trump-backed primary opponent, an agency investigation, or a lawsuit.<\/p>\n With President Trump\u2019s approval rating dropping to a near-low of 36% in the most recent Gallop poll, they might find the courage to defy their leader. Let\u2019s hope so. The illegal order exposed by The Washington Post isn\u2019t the only one worth questioning.<\/p>\n According to the news story, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth commanded \u201ckill them all\u201d before a September 2 military strike on an alleged drug boat that slew 11, including two who survived the first strike and were clinging to the wreckage. Firing upon shipwrecked combatants is a violation of the Geneva Conventions and the Department of Defense\u2019s own Law of War Manual.<\/p>\n Hegseth assailed the allegation as \u201cfake news\u201d on a social media post that also boasted \u201cBiden coddled terrorists, we kill them.\u201d He was referring to the 80-plus suspected drug traffickers whose boats the military has blown up in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific since early September.<\/p>\n Hegseth also tweeted a meme of Franklin the Turtle firing missiles at drug boats further undermining his credibility and assuring him another cameo on South Park. The Canadian publisher of Franklin the Turtle has since condemned the misuse of their children\u2019s storybook character to depict violence. Later, Hegseth tried to distance himself from the incident, claiming he had left the room after the first strike, and then by saying the \u201cfog of war\u201d prevented him from seeing the survivors.<\/p>\n U.S. House and Senate Armed Services Committees have opened investigations into the incident. To do it justice, they need to examine the wider situation. While killing the incapacitated is a war crime, we have not declared war on Venezuela. Moreover, the alleged drug traffickers targeted by these missiles are not soldiers; they are civilians. They pose no imminent threat to troops. Labeling them \u201cnarco-terrorists\u201d doesn\u2019t negate military rules of engagement. Even if they are guilty of drug trafficking, killing them isn\u2019t a justifiable use of the military power. Their deaths are extrajudicial executions.<\/p>\n And if they aren\u2019t guilty? This week, the family of a Colombian man who was killed in a strike made an official complaint against the U.S. with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. He was a fisherman, they say, the primary breadwinner for a family of six and they want compensation for their loss. It\u2019s hard to secure evidence of guilt or innocence post-obliteration. Bomb first, ask questions later doesn\u2019t work.<\/p>\n There are lawful ways to intercept drugs and bring drug traffickers to justice that assure due process, protect the innocent, and maintain the integrity of the armed forces. The U.S. Coast Guard, the Drug Enforcement Administration, and the U.S. Border Patrol regularly seize illicit drugs and arrest smugglers who are then prosecuted in federal courts.<\/p>\n One such drug trafficker, Juan Orlando Hern\u00e1ndez, former president of Honduras, was arrested by the DEA in 2022, extradited to the U.S., tried, and convicted of moving more than 400 tons of cocaine into the U.S. Although sentenced to 45 years in prison, he walked free this week thanks to a pardon by President Donald Trump.<\/p>\n During the upcoming hearings on Hegseth\u2019s \u201ckill them all\u201d moment, senators and representatives should inquire why suspected, low-level smugglers get death without due process and convicted kingpins walk.<\/p>\n They should also ask Hegseth if he plans to bomb civilian targets on the Venezuelan mainland, as Trump alluded to this week.<\/p>\n Is the man who renamed the Department of Defense, the Department of War, itching to start one? Is he aware that only Congress has the authority to declare war? If not, the committee could take the opportunity to show the secretary a recently-released video about the military\u2019s responsibility to uphold the law and the Constitution.<\/p>\n Krista Kafer is a Sunday Denver Post columnist.<\/em><\/p>\n Sign up for Sound Off to get a weekly roundup of our columns, editorials and more. <\/a><\/em><\/p>\n To send a letter to the editor about this article, submit online<\/a> or check out our guidelines<\/a> for how to submit by email or mail.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" When Congressman Jason Crow and five Democratic colleagues with military and intelligence service released a video on social media urging troops to refuse orders \u201cthat violate the law or our Constit<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-473","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-opinion"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stuntsintrucks.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/473","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stuntsintrucks.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stuntsintrucks.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stuntsintrucks.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=473"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/stuntsintrucks.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/473\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stuntsintrucks.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=473"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stuntsintrucks.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=473"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stuntsintrucks.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=473"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}