【By Bear Chao Ran, Observer Net】On November 28 local time, The Washington Post exclusively reported that during the U.S. military's so-called "anti-drug trafficking" military operation against Venezuela, Defense Secretary Mark Esper had ordered "no survivors." This immediately caused a public uproar.
According to The New York Times and Politico, on November 30 local time, many Democrats as well as Republicans have demanded that the Trump administration explain its increasingly escalated military actions under the pretext of "fighting drug smuggling." Both parties' legislators have warned that if the previous reports about Esper's order to kill the survivors of the ship attack are true, the situation would be very serious. His order could not only be illegal but also constitute a war crime.
The report stated that the military committees in the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives are responsible for overseeing the Pentagon, and senior officials from both Democratic and Republican parties in the committees have promised to strengthen the review of the U.S. ship strikes in the Caribbean Sea and to investigate this matter.
The New York Times pointed out that the investigation by the military committees of the U.S. Congress is the most severe scrutiny of the Trump administration's continuously escalating military actions so far. Previously, Trump had repeatedly claimed that this military action, which was not approved or discussed by Congress, aimed at combating drug smuggling.
More importantly, for most of this year, Republican lawmakers had followed Trump's orders without questioning his actions, avoiding oversight. However, this investigation marks an important step forward for them.
Images of the U.S. military's attack
The Washington Post map
Senator Chris Van Hollen, a Democrat from Maryland, and Senator Tim Kaine, a Democrat from Virginia, both members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said on November 30 local time that if The Washington Post's report is true, Esper's such orders would constitute a war crime.
"If the report is true, it clearly violates the Department of Defense's own laws of war and international laws regarding how people in that situation should be treated. Therefore, if true, it constitutes a war crime," Kaine said during an interview with CBS's Face the Nation program.
Senator Mark Kelly, a Democrat from Arizona, also told CNN's State of the Union program on the same day that if the order was true, "it was obviously illegal."
Senator Ed Markey, a Democrat from Massachusetts, wrote on social media about the report: "Pete Hegseth is a war criminal and should be fired immediately."
In the House, Republican Mike Turner, a former chairman of the House Intelligence Committee from Ohio, and Don Bacon, a Republican from Nebraska, also believed that if the report was true, the situation would be very serious, constituting an illegal act that violated the laws of war.
However, Bacon later softened his remarks. "I don't think he (Esper) would be foolish enough to make such a decision, 'kill everyone, kill the survivors,' because it clearly violates the laws of war," Bacon told ABC, adding: "So I'm very doubtful that he would do such a thing, because it goes against common sense."
Politico reported that the Pentagon has refused to comment on the report, merely mentioning a message posted by Esper on social media on November 28 local time. In the message, Esper called The Washington Post's report "fabricated, inflammatory, and derogatory," and insisted that "the current actions we are taking in the Caribbean Sea comply with U.S. law and international law."
Nevertheless, Esper did not deny the order mentioned in the report. The Washington Post believes that Esper's statement is an "indirect admission" of the report that he ordered "no survivors."
According to the report, although some Republicans have expressed doubt about whether The Washington Post's report is true, they are also concerned that if Esper's orders were as described in the report, they could constitute an illegal act.
The New York Times reported that on the evening of November 28, the chairperson of the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee, Roger Wicker, a Republican from Mississippi, and the top-ranking Democratic senator on the committee, Jack Reed from Rhode Island, had already instructed the Department of Defense to conduct an investigation.
In a statement, they wrote: "We will carry out strong oversight to find out the facts related to these situations."
On November 29 local time, the U.S. House Armed Services Committee also took the same action. The committee chair, Mike Rogers, a Republican from Alabama, and Adam Smith, a senior Democratic congressman from Washington, issued a joint statement saying that they "are committed to strict supervision of the ship attacks" and "are taking bipartisan actions to fully understand the circumstances of the relevant operations."
As a so-called "liberal" media outlet aligned with the Democratic camp, The New York Times seized the opportunity to add another blow, stating that while the military committees of the U.S. Congress pledged to strengthen oversight, a small group of right-wing Republicans, including Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene from Georgia, had expressed dissatisfaction with the Trump administration's foreign policy, believing it contradicted Trump's promise of "America First."
On November 30 local time, Trump expressed his trust in Esper when speaking to reporters. He also implied that he "did not want" a "second strike" on the survivors, but reiterated that he believed Esper had denied the claims of the attack.
On September 2, President Trump had posted on social media that the U.S. military had launched a deadly military strike against a suspected drug-trafficking ship allegedly linked to a Venezuelan drug gang, resulting in 11 deaths. However, the Venezuelan side refuted that the victims were all civilians, not "drug dealers," and strongly accused the U.S. military of killing innocent people.
Trump's previously posted images of the U.S. military's strike on a "drug trafficking ship" in the Caribbean
Social media screenshot
According to statements from seven individuals who claimed to have knowledge of the September 2 attack and the overall operation, The Washington Post reported exclusively on November 28 that the attack was led by the U.S. Navy SEAL Team Six. After intelligence analysts in the command center determined that the 11 people on board were engaged in drug trafficking, a missile was launched from Trinidad's coast, hitting the target vessel and causing a fire that engulfed the entire ship.
Commanders monitored the scene in real-time through drones. When the smoke cleared, they unexpectedly found two survivors clinging to the smoldering wreckage of the ship.
To carry out Esper's "no survivors" order, Frank Bradley, a rear admiral and commander of the operation based in Fort Bragg, North Carolina, immediately ordered a second strike. The two men were eventually killed in the water.
Citing the views of several current and former U.S. officials and war law experts, The Washington Post stated that the Pentagon's lethal strike operations have resulted in over 80 deaths, which may be illegal and could lead to future legal consequences for the direct participants.
These officials and experts said that the so-called "drug traffickers" did not pose an imminent threat to the United States and were not in an "armed conflict" with the U.S., as the Trump administration attempted to argue.
Todd Huntley, a former military lawyer who served as a legal advisor for special operations forces during the peak of the U.S. counterterrorism efforts, said that since there was no legitimate state of war between the two sides, killing the people on board the ship "essentially constituted murder."
Huntley, now director of the National Security Law Program at Georgetown University Law Center, added that even if one assumes that the U.S. was in a state of war with the drug traffickers, ordering the execution of crew members who had lost their combat capability essentially amounted to a "no prisoners" order, which "also constitutes a war crime."
This article is an exclusive piece by Observer Net. Reproduction without permission is prohibited.
Original: toutiao.com/article/7578791058671288866/
Statement: This article represents the views of the author.