Sen. Tim Kaine says reported second strike on alleged drug boat "rises to the level of a war crime if it's true"
Source: CBS News
November 30, 2025 / 11:44 AM EST / CBS News
Washington Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia said Sunday that a reported U.S. follow-on strike on an alleged drug boat earlier this year "rises to the level of a war crime if it's true." "If that reporting is true, it's a clear violation of the DoD's own laws of war, as well as international laws about the way you treat people who are in that circumstance," Kaine said on "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan."
The Washington Post reported Friday that in the U.S.' first strike on a suspected drug smuggling boat in the Caribbean in September, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth gave a verbal order to leave no survivors. A follow-on strike was ordered to comply with the instructions, killing two survivors in the water, the Post reported. Hegseth called the reporting "fabricated, inflammatory and derogatory," claiming the operations in the Caribbean are "lawful under both U.S. and international law."
CBS News has not independently confirmed the Washington Post's reporting.
Targeting civilians or members of the armed forces who are wounded is prohibited under the Geneva Conventions, which also require the wounded to be "collected and cared for." A group of former military lawyers outlined in an assessment Saturday that the reported second strike would be a violation of international or domestic law. And the leaders of the House and Senate Armed Services committees pledged to investigate the reported follow-on strike.
Read more: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/venezuela-strike-alleged-drug-boat-hegseth-tim-kaine-face-the-nation/
But remember - there is no "DOD" anymore. It was "abolished" by Executive Order and replaced with DOW.
617Blue
(2,157 posts)thought crime
(1,057 posts)If the report is anywhere close to being true, court-martials should be held against those responsible. This is exactly what Sen. Mark Kelley and others warned about.
UpInArms
(53,816 posts)eom
AloeVera
(3,929 posts)By claiming only THIS one rises to the level of a war- crime?
We'd have no trouble labelling them as such if these were our own citizens, right?
Sneederbunk
(17,059 posts)twodogsbarking
(17,021 posts)House of Roberts
(6,336 posts)The idea that he was differentiating them sickens me.
KPN
(17,063 posts)No wonder I wasn't enthralled with this guy when Hillary picked him. We need fighters not Boy Scouts. (no offense to Boy Scouts -- I was one myself and thoroughly enjoyed and certainly gained from it -- but then I grew up).
LetMyPeopleVote
(173,330 posts)malthaussen
(18,337 posts)Except since there is no "war," one would be justified in simply calling it a "crime."
-- Mal
Cirsium
(3,224 posts)The first strike on an alleged drug boat was a crime.
"Judge Haywood... the reason I asked you to come. Those people, those millions of people... I never knew it would come to that. YOU must believe it, YOU MUST believe it."
Judge Dan Haywood:
"Herr Janning, it 'came to that' the first time you sentenced a man to death you knew to be innocent."
From the film Judgment at Nuremberg
BaronChocula
(3,865 posts)I've been thinking about that movie just about every day lately.
Cirsium
(3,224 posts)Thanks for that. Powerful scene.
BaronChocula
(3,865 posts)MuirHero
(78 posts)Viewed this film two weeks ago. Russel Crowe's command performance as Hermann Goring should garner an Academy Award nomination. The parallels between what is shown in this film and what is currently happening in this country are chilling.
BaronChocula
(3,865 posts)Haven't heard anything about it yet so I'm glad to see a good review.
Irish_Dem
(78,380 posts)It is not a war crime. It is first degree murder.
TomSlick
(12,828 posts)See my post below.
ToxMarz
(2,651 posts)And international law doesn't care what "cute" nicknames the offenders use.
TomSlick
(12,828 posts)The better term is the law of international armed conflict. To have an international armed conflict, there must be two nations fighting each other. In this case, we just have one nation destroying civilian boats from another.
What we are experiencing is simple murder.
Irish_Dem
(78,380 posts)I am not a military attorney but even I can see:
THERE IS NO WAR.
THESE ARE CIVILIANS.
It is murder.
It is disturbing that even sitting US senators have their heads up their asses
and calling it a damn war crime. Which gives it legitimacy somehow.
MuirHero
(78 posts)Punishable by death.
paleotn
(21,287 posts)I'd say ship them off to Brussels, but the penalties imposed would be far too lenient for this pack off scum. No, they deserve good, old fashioned American retribution. After all, they long to return to those days of yesteryear. OK. Fine with me.
MuirHero
(78 posts)Anything less than the death penalty or life in prison would be a gross miscarriage of justice if these bastards are found guilty of this alleged crime.