The six Democratic members of Congress, all former military or intelligence officers, were exactly right in their video saying that U.S. troops should not act dishonorably or unlawfully and the questions about a second strike on a supposed drug boat in the Caribbean which killed two survivors floating in the water clinging to the vessel’s wreckage makes their point vividly real.
President Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth threw a fit over the Nov. 18 message from Sens. Mark Kelly and Elissa Slotkin and Reps. Jason Crow, Chris Deluzio, Maggie Goodlander and Chrissy Houlahan. Trump spoke of “sedition” and that they should hang. The FBI is investigating and Hegseth said that the Pentagon is considering recalling Kelly, a retired Navy captain and combat aviator and astronaut, back into fulltime naval service to court-martial him.
It’s all hooey; while lawful orders must always be obeyed, illegal orders, like killing shipwrecked survivors, must not be obeyed. It is a crime to follow an illegal order, just as it is a crime to issue one.
Which brings into even sharper focus what happened with the Sept. 2 attack at sea. The Washington Post reported that Hegseth issued the command to “kill them all” and that Adm. Mitch Bradley ordered a second strike that killed the two remaining survivors.
Bradley will be meeting with the leaders of the House and Senate Armed Services Committees and House and Senate Intelligence Committees today as Congress pursues a bipartisan effort to learn the truth about what happened and if this was murder and even arguably a war crime. When Trump and Hegseth went nuts over the Democrats’ video they were demanding that the “Seditious Six” say what illegal orders have been issued. Well, maybe there was one on Sept. 2 and maybe it should not have been obeyed.
Given how obvious it is that the two men floundering in the water who were targeted posed no threat to the service members attacking them, the White House has pivoted to the absurd contention that the drugs on the sinking boat — which it has yet to present any concrete evidence for — was a clear and present threat to the safety of the American public and needed to be sent to Davy Jones’ locker.
And there’s also the larger issue of the U.S. blasting of the supposed drug boats, of which the Sept. 2 strike was the first. There have been more than 20 vessels sunk, with dozens of people aboard them killed. When did possession and transportation of illicit drugs now turn drug runners into enemy combatants subject to death?
Lawmakers imploring troops to remember their duty to the rules and laws of war is not and will never be inappropriate. The administration’s extreme and almost certainly unlawful reaction to this simple reminder is as clear an indication that they could have given that this reminder is necessary and that they have something to hide.
Lawmakers of both parties should keep up the pressure and use their authority to bring these orders to light, and deal with the potential perpetrators accordingly, no matter how high up the chain of command it goes, including to Hegseth and Trump.
Lawful orders from superiors have to be obeyed. Illegal orders from superiors should never be obeyed.
