Key takeaways

• Donald Trump’s broader aerial campaign against alleged drug-smuggling boats in the Caribbean (almost certainly) violates international law. • Donald Trump and Pete Hegseth have repeatedly called on the US military to commit more war crimes throughout their careers in public life. • Violating the laws of war undermines America’s national security interests.

In early September, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ordered the US military to “kill everybody” aboard a speedboat in the Caribbean.

A missile then shattered the vessel and set its fragments ablaze. When the smoke cleared, US surveillance drones showed two people clinging to the smoldering wreckage. An admiral then ordered a second strike against these flailing survivors — an act that violated a wide array of internatio

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