MSNBC - The eight strikes by the Trump administration on boats in the Pacific and Caribbean have raised questions about the legality of such attacks. The administration claims that the alleged drug traffickers being targeted are “unlawful combatants” participating in a war instead of criminals illegally carrying out drug operations.
The location of the most recent attack could further anger Colombian President Gustavo Petro, who accused the United States of “murder” after a strike last month in the Caribbean killed a Colombian national Petro described as a fisherman. On Monday, Colombia recalled its ambassador to the U.S.
A former U.S. intelligence official who spoke on condition of anonymity warned that Colombia has been an important ally in the American effort to stem the flow of drugs from Latin America. If Wednesday’s drone strike killed Colombian nationals, Petro could come under intense public pressure to stand up to Trump.
“The U.S. risks alienating countries like Colombia,” said the former intelligence official. “There is always an inherent risk of alienating partners with actions perceived as overly aggressive.”
The strikes are raising concerns in a variety of quarters, including from former officials in Republican and Democratic administrations.
Harold Hongju Koh, a professor at Yale Law School and former State Department official who reviewed the legality of U.S. drone strikes against terrorists during the Obama administration, said Trump’s attacks are unprecedented and illegal.
Koh said that the individuals on the targeted ships “were summarily executed for non-capital offenses with no rights to due process or even to claim mistaken identity or to prove innocence,” he added. “They were declared guilty and executable without anyone ever being told their names.”
John Yoo, a former Justice Department official during the presidency of George W. Bush, has emerged as an unlikely critic of Trump’s strikes. Yoo was one of the authors of what became known as the “torture memos” which created legal justification for interrogation techniques widely viewed as torture.
In an essay published earlier this month, Yoo, who did not respond to a request for comment, warned that President Trump was using powers created for times of war to address a law-enforcement problem.
“The White House has yet to provide compelling evidence in court or to Congress that drug cartels have become arms of the Venezuelan government,” Yoo wrote in the journal Civitas Outlook. “To confuse them with wartime enemies is to misuse the tools of war, erode constitutional limits, and endanger liberty at home.”
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