2025 U.S. - Venezuela conflict

[McG]

Does this mean Trump’s war has started?

https://twitter.com/x/status/1994760100376891748

 

[ModlrMike]

It's gettin' spicy!

 

[HavokFour]

Pete better hope there isn't real weight behind the allegations of what he ordered.

Senators to investigate Pete Hegseth ‘kill everybody’ allegations

GOP Senator Roger Wicker, Chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, and Democratic Senator Jack Reed, announced the investigation in a joint statement

www.independent.co.uk

 

[KevinB]

Ok, so in your opinion western society doesn’t have to be better than our enemies or opponents.

Question.

How would you handle survivors that are no longer a threat. Wounded? Still alive? Helpless?

The aspect is that Uncrewed vehicles create no means in many cases to render aid.

If we accept that extra judiciary killings of criminals or suspected criminals are justified then are we accepting shifting from the norms of the LOAC?

I think one needs to make a clear line between what is a legitimate military action and what is not.
Because there have been kill lists of personnel for years during GWOT, which was perfectly acceptable since they were not lawful combatants, and even before when dealing with the narcotics trade.

As well if anyone wants a deeper dive into some of the murkier aspects of blackside SOF, I would recommend reading:
Relentless Strike by Sean Naylor
Killing Pablo by Mark Bowden
And
Kill Bin Laden by former Delta Col Tom Greer (pen name Dalton Fury)


Upon request of the Columbian government JSOC sent operators to eliminate Pablo Escobar. Unless one believes the fairy tail that a Columbian Policeman shot him with a .38 revolver at 95m away — and the Delta guy with the tricked out M4 beside him wasn’t shooting…

The big difference being a Government request for assistance in their territory.

No one can truly say what those boats are doing. But we have struck them without warning lethally, without any authority.

 

[brihard]

The US has signed and ratified the Geneva Conventions but they have not ratified protocols 1,2 & 4.

Some of these issues, as far as they are concerned, are non-issues.

Ditto UNCLOS. The United States is a non-party to the Law of Sea.


The debate about whether orders were lawful or not need to be entirely contextualized on what the accepted US stance is on issues.

There’s also customary international law- those state practices that are so prevalent and accepted that they have crystallized into accepted and enforceable law. The norm against “no quarter” and the norm against murdering the shipwrecked are both about as wel established as any law can be.

Plus there’s the U.S. military’s own law and policies on the matter.

There’s no tortured logic or twisted legal reasoning that can defend and save orders, whether carried out or only given, to kill the hors de combat survivors of a sinking.

While not perfectly analogous, it’s close enough that it’s worth noting the German U-Boat commander Eck who was executed following Nuremberg. Heinz-Wilhelm Eck - Wikipedia