The following article is what I submitted to the Waco "Tribune Herald" newspaper as a possible column, 21 December. As of this posting they have not used it, although that might change. I reproduce it here word-for-word as submitted, in the hopes of wider public exposure of the real issues needing resolution.
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There are three things going on at sea ordered by the White
House. They are drug boat strikes, seizing tankers, and the buildup of invasion forces near
Venezuela. The first two are notorious
in the press, the third is not. These require comment for the public to
understand.
Under the laws of war as embodied in US law, international law, and the US Uniform Code of Military
Justice, armed forces are forbidden from
deliberately targeting civilians! That
does not apply to collateral damage civilian deaths when attacking a proper
military target. To deliberately target
and kill civilians themselves is a crime comparable to war crimes.
Under those same laws,
to kill survivors in the water,
whether they are civilians or not,
is a war crime! That first drug
boat strike, where a second missile
killed two survivors in the water, was therefore
a war crime, despite what Secretary of
Defense Pete Hegseth said trying to justify it.
There is no doubt about that.
The question about the other boat strikes relates to how
they are done: destruction from a
distance as if an enemy military vessel.
These boats were not stopped and boarded to find out “for sure” who and
what is aboard. To have the White House
and other officials designate them as “narco-terrorists”, and use that to “justify” making war upon
them, is simply not right.
Words from a politician’s mouth do not reclassify criminal
civilians as a hostile armed force! Characteristics do, as in the case of wars made after the 9-11
attacks. Those terrorist forces had more
than just guns as weapons, and they had
targets to capture or destroy. The drug
runners have none of those characteristics!
While criminal scum, they are
civilian! There is simply no doubt about
that.
The drug boat strikes as they are being done are therefore
definitely the crime of deliberately targeting civilians by military
forces. There is no doubt about that!
The Coast Guard stops and boards vessels. That is the right way to do it! If the speedboat is too fast for the Coast
Guard cutter to intercept, you could
pair it with a US Navy frigate that has an armed helicopter. The helicopter is fast enough to intercept
the speedboat, and being armed with a
machine gun, can target the boat motors
to stop it. If there are casualties from
doing this, having a real target avoids
the commission of the crime of deliberately attacking civilians.
Doing it correctly this way creates a lot less chaos and
controversy. It does not rate nearly as
much news coverage. Now you know why
they are continuing to do this the illegal way:
to get political faces in front of cameras as often as possible.
Killing people for publicity. How heinous is that? How is that not a “high crime or
misdemeanor”, as the Constitution
describes it?
There is another centuries-old aspect of the law of the sea
that also applies here, regarding
flagged versus unflagged vessels. A
vessel not flying a flag of national identity (or flying a false flag) is
presumed to be “pirate”. The designation “pirate” would cover
“criminal” today. It can be stopped and
boarded, to determine the truth of
“pirate” or not. You can only try to
sink it, if it uses arms to resist.
This applies to any unflagged vessel, including your pleasure boats. You have the right to be boarded, not sunk on sight!
That law of the sea would also apply to the drug boats. And my helicopter suggestion for stopping the
fast ones stays within all aspects of our laws, and that law of the sea.
The same law of the sea applies to the two tankers that have
so far been seized by the US Navy and the US Coast Guard, off Venezuela. You’ll note that these were not fired upon
from a distance, they were boarded. That’s because unarmed tankers are inherently
civilian, despite any personal guns the
crew might possess.
That’s doing it the right way! And I think all the furor over the drug boat
strikes, plus the size of these
ships, is why they did it “right”.
One tanker stopped willingly, the other was boarded by an armed team
dropped from a helicopter onto the moving ship.
At least one of them was flying a national flag. Both were engaged in the illegal shipment of
sanctioned oil. That is “criminal” (“pirate”) activity, and so they were legitimate civilian targets
to be stopped and dealt with.
The buildup of invasion forces near Venezuela is
different. According to the
Constitution, only Congress can declare
war. And Venezuela has not attacked us
with its armed forces. Our forces are in
place, trained, and ready,
and President Trump so very clearly is not going to Congress for the
authorization to start a war with another country!
President Trump may be doing the right thing trying to
topple evil dictator Maduro in Venezuela,
but he is going about it the wrong way!
He is doing it wrong just like the drug boat strikes, where the words he chooses do not actually
justify what is being done! How is that
not another “high crime or misdemeanor”?
When you read about these things, or see it on TV or the internet, what you have to do is not listen to what the
politicians are saying, look only at
what they are actually doing! Only there
lies the truth! And you need that truth
to decide what to do with those politicians!
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