BumRushDaShow (163,191 posts)
Wed Nov 12, 2025, 03:18 PM
U.S. troops not liable in boat strikes, classified Justice Dept. memo says
Source: Washington Post
November 12, 2025 at 11:24 a.m. EST
The Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) stated in a classified opinion drawn up in the summer that personnel taking part in military strikes on alleged drug-trafficking boats in Latin America would not be exposed to future prosecution, according to four people familiar with the matter.
The decision to pursue an opinion, drafted in July, reflects the heightened concerns within the government raised by senior civilian and military lawyers that such strikes would be illegal.
The strikes, now totaling 19, with a death toll of 76, began in September, though interagency discussions regarding the use of lethal force to combat drug cartels started early in the Trump administration.
Top officers, including Adm. Alvin Holsey, the head of Southern Command, sought caution on such strikes, according to two people, who like several others interviewed for this story spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the matter’s sensitivity.
Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2025/11/12/trump-drug-boat-venezuela-legal/
No paywall (gift) [I've seen this verbiage at a different forum. ~SSG]
I expect Kegsbreath will have a meltdown.
I'm not sure what SecWar would have a meltdown about, but whatevs.
Irish_Dem (77,800 posts)
2. That's what Hitler told his gestapo.
Username checks out:
in2herbs (4,065 posts)
3. If they have immunity for the killing, do they have immunity for complying with the orders to kill? And, if they have
immunity to both orders why are they complying???
What? No, seriously, I can't decipher what it's trying to say.
2na fisherman (165 posts)
5. International Criminal Court
I wonder if this legal body will bring charges in future since these extrajudicial killings will be swept under the MAGA rug by a corrupt US Supreme Court. This may be a hollow gesture since they have gone after Netanyahu for his crimes against humanity but nothing happens.
bluestarone (20,756 posts)
9. Maybe not while you guiys are in control. BUT
Allowing this, would give military the right to kill US citizens, without a trial.
First of all, one thing you are not allowed to do to Americans is prosecute them ex post facto. And secondly...
24601 (4,126 posts)
10. Remember Anwar Nasser Abdulla al-Awlaki? He was a native-born US citizen killed by a drone strike on September 30, 2011,
in Yemen. There was no trial before the strike. Al-Awlaki was the first U.S. citizen to be targeted and assassinated by a U.S. government drone strike.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anwar_al-Awlaki
But, that's okay, we have an excuse for that:
Prairie Gates (6,799 posts)
14. Comparing the al-Awlaki case to these continuing attacks on boats is quite the stretch
Whether Awlaki was an active threat is certainly debatable, but it doesn't seem reasonable to me to say these are the same type of activity or even similar.
Go find the Wikipedia page on even one of the people who has been killed in the boat strikes, for example.
al-Awlaki was a hype man for AQ. Not a trigger-puller or a bomb-builder, just someone convincing others to join the cause.
These narcos are actively poisoning millions of Americans with chemical weapons.
TomSlick (12,806 posts)
13. An incorrect and meaningless legal opinion.
Reliance on legal advice may be a mitigating factor but it is not a defense.
Anyone forwarding or executing the orders is guilty of murder.
We'll remember you said that the next time you want to arrest J6ers just for being present. Or gun owners. Or vaccine resisters. Or...
kevinore (83 posts)
22. Probably
They probably will not answer to the US, but the ICC can, and should investigate the US military and government for atrocities. Any future president should allow the ICC to try and, if guilty, punish the criminals.
How about investigating the Maduro regime for poisoning the US civilian population.
Aussie105 (7,398 posts)
32. America has an unfortunate track record on extra judicial killings.
Send in the helicopters (Bin Laden), drop a big bomb on Afghani mountain regions where you suspect combatants are hiding in underground caves, zap a few speedboats that may be drug runners, yep, a long sordid history.
'Just following orders' didn't go down well in the Nuremberg trials but I can't see a future where America will be held accountable in the same way.
'Might makes right'?
Oh. So, we're not even allowed to avenge 9/11. Everybody from "Maryland fathers" to bin Laden gets a trial...except J6ers, Charlie Kirk, etc.
moonshinegnomie (3,743 posts)
33. i can forsee i latin american government kidnapping top us officials and putting them on trial
especially after the moron is out of office. venuzuela for example could charge kegbreath with murder and once hes no longer protected us marshals after hes no longer sec def simply spiriting him to venezuela to stand trial..
So, what you're saying is, Israel could seize Mamdani for supporting Hamas.
https://www.democraticunderground.com/10143564113
