Trump’s ‘Stupid’ Drug War Killings Put Military In Untenable Position

*“Trump’s repeated killings in the Caribbean are more performance art than
military necessity.”*

*By Jim Jones, former Idaho Attorney General via Idaho Capital Sun*

President Donald Trump has made a dramatic show of making America’s
military blow up purported drug boats off the coast of Venezuela, hundreds
of miles from American soil.

So far, Trump has amassed a body count of 32, who he claims, without
evidence, are “narco-terrorists.” He has failed to reveal the identity of
the boat crews, what their destination was or why the Coast Guard couldn’t
simply have performed its regular task of interdicting and searching the
boats to confirm they were carrying illicit drugs.

Trump has publicly claimed the boats were carrying fentanyl, when almost
all of that drug is widely known to be transported across the U.S.
border with Mexico. Over 90 percent of fentanyl seizures in the last five
years have come from Mexico.

Obliterating the boats is a stupid tactic because it destroys the evidence
and does not allow for interrogation of the suspects. Dead suspects cannot
disclose valuable intelligence to use in going after the drug kingpins. The
tactic violates U.S. law because Trump has not gotten congressional
approval to use lethal force against the suspects, having failed to show
they pose an imminent threat to the U.S.

The boat attacks also violate rules of international law that top U.S.
military lawyers have urged the services to observe. With its scofflaw
attitude, the Trump regime has tarnished the reputation of the United
States as a beacon for the rule of law. We became the most powerful nation
on Earth because of our dedication to lawful conduct. When we repeatedly
demonstrate that the U.S. will not follow U.S. and international law, our
reputation, trading relations and economy will suffer.

Soon after taking office as Defense Secretary, Pete Hegseth fired the top
Judge Advocate Generals (JAGs) of the military services. He called
them “roadblocks to orders that are given by a commander in chief.” He
likely understood that Trump had no intention of complying with established
laws governing the use of the nation’s military.

He was obviously correct, but unaware of our first commander in chief’s
view of the role of a JAG officer. George Washington appointed the first
JAG shortly after taking command of the Continental Army. He wrote that “an
Army without Order, Regularity & Discipline, is no better than a
Commission’d Mob.”

Trump’s killing of purported drug traffickers would not pass muster with a
reputable JAG officer. However, Trump has plenty of loyal sycophants who
will risk their legal reputations to justify his unlawful actions.

Our own U.S. Sen. Jim Risch (R-ID) is just such a Trump puppet. Risch took
to the Senate floor to prostrate himself at Trump’s feet, claiming that the
boats were conducting “an actual attack” on the U.S., even though they were
about 1,000 miles from Miami. Without offering a hint of proof, he branded
them as “terrorists.”

Neither Trump nor Risch realizes that they are placing military officers
charged with carrying out the killings in an untenable position. Strikes
like these should be reviewed and approved by a competent and independent
JAG officer. If these strikes are unlawful, as they certainly appear to be,
service personnel pulling the trigger could later face court martial
charges for obeying an unlawful order.

Of great interest in this regard is the surprising and sudden decision of
Adm. Alvin Holsey, the commander in charge of the boat destructions, to
announce his retirement after less than a year as the commander of U.S.
Southern Command. More retirements may be in the offing. Another top
officer, Col. Doug Krugman, resigned this month because of Trump’s obvious
contempt for the Constitution.

Neither Risch nor Trump served in the military–Trump because of phantom
bone spurs and Risch because of “an ulcer”—so they are likely unaware that
soldiers are legally and honorably prohibited from giving or following an
unlawful order. As an artillery spotter in Vietnam, I was fully aware of
the real possibility of a court martial for killing non-threatening
civilians, even in an actual wartime setting. Common human decency says you
don’t gleefully announce the killing of suspects who could easily be
arrested.

In the final analysis, Trump’s repeated killings in the Caribbean are more
performance art than military necessity.

If he was really interested in pursuing drug kingpins, he would not have
diverted hundreds of prosecutors and drug enforcement agents from going
after the drug networks. Trump has them wasting their talents on
immigration cases. An exhaustive report from Reuters found that drug
prosecutions have fallen to the “lowest level in decades” under Trump.
Furthermore, Trump has been uncommonly generous in handing out pardons
and clemency to drug kingpins.

Perhaps it’s time for him to stop breaking the law and start enforcing it.

*Jim Jones (R) served as Idaho attorney general for eight years (1983-1991)
and as a justice of the Idaho Supreme Court for 12 years (2005-2017).*

*This piece was first published by Idaho Capital Sun.*

*Photo courtesy of Gage Skidmore.*

The post Trump’s ‘Stupid’ Drug War Killings Put Military In Untenable
Position, Former GOP Attorney General Of Idaho Says (Op-Ed) appeared first
on Marijuana Moment.