Yeah, surprise, surprise…
According to a report from the Washington Post’s Ellen Nakashima, Warren P. Strobel and Alex Horton, Donald Trump’s CIA director John Ratcliffe busily began planning the attacks via a variety of methods but then butted heads with lawyers in his department who questioned the legality of the unprovoked killing of foreign citizens.
The Post is reporting, “... early on, according to two people familiar with the matter, the administration proposed having the CIA use its unique covert authorities to conduct the lethal strikes on drug traffickers that Trump and Stephen Miller, his powerful homeland security adviser, wanted,” however, “Lawyers at the spy agency and elsewhere in the government were skeptical. Was killing civilian drug traffickers defensible under domestic law, they asked, if the cartels do not actually seek to attack Americans, even if the product they smuggle might lead to deaths in the United States?”
According to one official who wished to remain anonymous, “There is no actual threat justifying self defense — there are not organized armed groups seeking to kill Americans.”
The report notes that Trump and Miller faced “pushback” from CIA attorneys forcing them to revisit a back-up plan using the Pentagon, headed by former Fox News personality Pete Hegseth, with Post adding the caveat, “And it came up with a legal justification that national security law experts inside and out of government have said does not stand up to facts: that the country was in a ‘non-international’ armed conflict with ‘designated terrorist organizations.’.”
So, the regimes attack against Venezuela boats was determined to be ILLEGAL from the start, and instead of paying attention to that legal advice, they ignored it and charged ahead any way.
Shocker.
Continued…
“In the ongoing mission the Pentagon recently dubbed Operation Southern Spear, U.S. military forces have killed more than 80 people in 21 strikes on boats in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific,” after Trump gave the go-ahead with the Post reporting, “The details of the finding that Trump signed in October are classified. But several people familiar with it have said it is broadly scoped, aggressive and aimed at countering transnational criminal organizations, including through lethal force.”
“Many of the lawyers and other career officials at the White House National Security Council, Pentagon and Justice Department who had over the preceding months raised concerns about using lethal force against narcotraffickers had either left government or were reassigned or removed,” the Post is reporting.
The experienced people told them the truth which led to them being removed. It led to that good advice being ignored. The goal was to knowingly commit illegal war crimes against Venezuela, they knew that going in. They still know that.
This is also known internationally,
The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, and a group of independent UN human rights experts have determined that the U.S. military strikes on alleged drug vessels near Venezuela, including those involving drones, violate international human rights law
- UN Human Rights Office: Volker Türk called for the U.S. to "halt" the strikes, stating they violate international human rights law and could constitute "extrajudicial killing".
- Independent UN Experts: A group of UN human rights experts formally stated that the use of lethal force in international waters without a proper legal basis constitutes "extrajudicial executions". They also noted that military action against a sovereign state would be a "graver breach of the UN Charter".
- Venezuelan Government: The Venezuelan government has repeatedly accused the U.S. of "extrajudicial murder" and has asked the UN Security Council to investigate the "illegal nature" of the strikes.
- Human Rights and Legal Groups: Numerous international human rights organizations, such as Amnesty International, and many legal experts worldwide, have universally condemned the strikes as unlawful under both international and in some cases, U.S. domestic law.
- Former ICC Prosecutor: Luis Moreno Ocampo, a former chief prosecutor for the International Criminal Court (ICC), stated the strikes could be considered crimes against humanity under international law.
It’ not exactly a fringe position that these strikes violate US and International law.
Consequently, some of Troops have been lawyering up.
“Following Orders” is not a legal defense for carrying out an illegal order. Veteran Democrats have done a video saying exactly this. In response, Trump has accused them of sedition.
In defense of that, Karoline Leavitt has proclaimed:
Leavitt: Why aren’t you talking about what these members of Congress are doing to encourage and incite violence? They are literally saying to 1.3 million active duty service members not to, to defy the chain of command, not to follow lawful orders.
Press: It was “Illegal” orders.
Leavitt: They’re suggesting, Nancy, that the President has given illegal orders which he has not. Every single order that is given to this United States military by this commander in chief, through this chain of command, and this Secretary of War is lawful. The courts have proven that.
That would be called, “A Lie.”
MAGAs love to deny this, but it’s not the case.
And as much as MAGAs like to complain that what these veteran Dems has said is some kind of “threat” — the person actually receiving a bomb threat was Sen, Elissa Slotkin.
Michigan State Police responded to a bomb threat at the Holly residence of U.S. Sen. Elissa Slotkin late Friday night, just one day after President Donald Trump publicly labeled the first-term Democrat a “traitor” and suggested she should be arrested or even put to death.
Slotkin, a former intelligence analyst who previously served three terms in the House, was not home at the time, according to a spokesperson for her office. Troopers searched the property and confirmed that no one was in danger, ABC News 12 in Michigan reported.
“Senator Slotkin is deeply grateful for the swift and professional response by Oakland County and Michigan State Police,” the spokesperson added Friday. “U.S. Capitol Police will continue to investigate and hopefully hold accountable those responsible.”
Right, because it’s the rhetoric of Democrats that has been “inciting violence.”
It’s also not legal for members of ICE and CBP to assault and detain US Citizens without probable cause or a warrant.
This regime is a disgrace. They know what they’re doing isn’t legal. Just like their leader, who is a convicted felon that was found liable for fraud and sexual assault, they are a pack of criminals. They ignore the Constitution, they ignore the law, they do what they want — no matter who is hurts.
Then, they lie about it. Again and again and again.
