"Not What You Signed Up For:" Billboards Posted Outside US Bases Provide Troops Legal Advice: 'Don't Participate in Trump's Boat Strikes' [It is Murder Under International Law]

From [HERE] “Don’t let them make you break the law,” read new digital billboards on expressways near U.S. Southern Command headquarters in Doral, Florida, where the U.S. military’s ongoing operations in the Caribbean Sea are being overseen.

The billboards were put up in response to the ongoing military strikes ordered by President Donald Trump’s administration, in what the White House and Pentagon have described as a concerted campaign against “narcoterrorists.”

New billboards have been put up near Miami, Chicago, and Memphis, Tennessee.

The veterans behind the billboards at Win Without War and About Face: Veterans Against The War, describe it differently, calling them “ongoing lawless strikes on boats near the South American coasts.” 

The billboards are part of a very public pressure campaign run by veterans at the two organizations in response to the Trump administration’s unprecedented use of the military — the increasing use of the National Guard for domestic policing and an active duty force build-up in the Caribbean of nearly 10,000 troops, warships, guided missile destroyers, surveillance aircraft, and drones.

Over the last few months, the Pentagon has also carried out at least 11 deadly strikes against fishing boats in the Caribbean for reasons that defense officials have said are to “dismantle transnational criminal organizations” and to “counter narcoterrorism.” [MORE]

THERE IS NO ARMED CONFLICT, SO “THE LAW OF ARMED CONFLICT” DOES NOT APPLY. THESE ARE JUST MURDERS. Based on the fact that the US military killed persons from another country while they were outside of the US, international law applies.

The analysis is straightforward: Is there an armed conflict between the United States and Columbia or Venezuala? The answer is no. So it means that the international human rights law standard is applicable. According to said standard the use of lethal force against an individual must be “absolutely necessary.” JAN RÖMER, KILLING IN A GRAY AREA BETWEEN HUMANITARIAN LAW AND HUMAN RIGHTS 102 (2010). An international court would determine whether the individual(s) in the boat(s) posed a “concrete, specific, and imminent threat to life and physical safety,” and whether the United States could have reasonably used nonlethal force to address that threat. 

In other words, due to the fact that the boat strikes have occurred outside of an armed conflict, the Blight House’s actions are legal murder unless the individuals posed such a threat and such force was necessary. [MORE] and [MORE]