Jasin wrote Yesterday at 3:57pm:


No, they do not.

Summary executions are illegal.

The government can't deprive any person of life, liberty, or property without due process of law.

Moreover, there is zero evidence to suggest that these people who were murdered had drugs or guns with them.

Under which country's flag were these boats sailing?  Er.... they were sailing unflagged.

greggerypeccary wrote Yesterday at 4:00pm:

Yes they can idiot. Just like a Russian armed with weapons aims to enter Ukraine.
Just being a drug smuggler with drugs forfeits any legality, just like a Somali pirates approaching a ship with intent of harm.

greggerypeccary wrote Yesterday at 4:30pm:

Frank wrote Yesterday at 4:30pm:


You have proof of this claim?

greggerypeccary wrote Yesterday at 4:30pm:

Under which country's flag were these boats sailing?  Er.... they were sailing unflagged.
Oh?! Meaning?



A ship in international waters is required, under the United Nations Conference of the Law of the Seas (“UNCLOS”) to sail under the flag of a specific nation. If a ship does not, it is legally considered a stateless vessel. A ship in international waters that is not flying a national flag is categorized in international law the same way a pirate is. These ships have absolutely no national or international protections, and no immunity from interference by other states. You cannot commit a war crime against them.

UNCLOS Articles 92, 94, 110, and customary maritime law spell out the consequences clearly:

A flagged ship is an extension of its flag-state’s sovereignty. A stateless vessel is not. This matters because “war crimes” presuppose protected persons or protected property. A stateless vessel is legally unprotected.

Any state may stop, board, search, seize, or disable, a stateless vessel. UNCLOS Article 110 explicitly authorizes boarding and seizure. The law does not require states to risk their own personnel or assets while doing so. Disabling a vessel that refuses inspection, including firing on it, is legally permitted under both UNCLOS and long-established state practice.

War crimes require an armed conflict. You cannot commit a “war crime” outside an armed conflict. War crimes occur only within the context of international humanitarian law. Enforcing maritime law against a stateless vessel is a law enforcement action, not an armed conflict.

Lethal force may be used when a vessel refuses lawful orders. The International Maritime Organization’s “Use of Force” guidance for maritime interdiction recognizes that disabling fire, even lethal force, is lawful when a vessel refuses lawful boarding, attempts to flee, poses a threat, or engages in illicit activities such as piracy or narcotics trafficking.

Sinking a stateless vessel is not prohibited by UNCLOS. UNCLOS permits seizure of a stateless vessel and leaves the means entirely to the enforcing state so long as necessity and proportionality are respected. If the vessel flees, attacks, or refuses lawful commands, sinking it is legally permissible. Many states routinely do this to drug-smuggling vessels (e.g., semi-submersibles) without it ever being treated as a war crime.

No flag: no jurisdictional shield. The entire reason international law requires ships to fly a flag is to prevent this exact situation. Flagless vessels are legally vulnerable by design.

Because a stateless vessel has no protected status, because UNCLOS authorizes interdiction of such vessels, because lethal force may be used in maritime law enforcement when necessary, and because war crimes require an armed conflict that is not present here, sinking an unflagged ship in international waters is not a war crime.

The death penalty applies in some circumstances.

‘‘§ 2401. War crimes

‘‘(a) OFFENSE.—Whoever, whether inside or outside the United States, commits a grave breach of the Geneva Conventions, in any of the circumstances described in subsection (b), shall be fined under this title or imprisoned for life or any term of years, or both, and if death results to the victim, shall also be subject to the penalty of death."

https://www.justice.gov/sites/default/files/jmd/legacy/2014/04/16/act-pl104-192....