The Trump administration has argued that the US is at war with drug traffickers and that such strikes are legal under the rules of war, but most legal experts reject that rationale.

I would like to shut that shit down. You are not at war.

Have the "drug runners" struck at any US targets (preferably targets of military significance)? If not, then what I see is one party ruthlessly attacking another party repeatedly. If these were individuals that would be called a serial killer. And for serial killers it's never been a good defense to say "no no, this is legal, look how many people I've liked, I'm clearly at war, and this is legal in war". That's idiotic.

Furthermore, WE ARE NOT AT WAR! If you want a war, get Congress to declare war, we have a fucking process for that!

And finally, if this isn't a war, then it should be more of a policing situation. In no scenario should police fire missiles first and ask questions never. An acceptable way to handle this might be to disable the boat with munitions, and then detain all ~~fisherman~~ narcos aboard. Bonus, this would allow you to seize all the ~~fish~~ narcotics in their hold, which would prove you had the moral high ground and aren't just crazy murders. I mean can you imagine that, if you were just murdering people because you could and making sure to send all evidence and survivers to the bottom of the sea... Man, that would be nuts! People would be all like "who put these psychopaths in charge?!"

Hang everyone who signed off on this.

Even articles condemning this attack refer to it as a "double-tap" strike, which is really misleading because that insinuates quick succession. An attack followed by a separate attack an hour later is not a double-tap

Murder.

So based on the news over the last few days, the folks in charge;

1. Ordered an illegal strike of a fishing boat (regardless of whether it had drugs on board, the strike itself is still illegal)
2. Watched two people struggle to stay alive for an hour while desperately reaching back to someone they know for SOS
3. They decided that SOS call constituted two people still in a fight they had no idea they were in and murdered them for it.

America is a rogue state and has been for decades.

EDIT: never mind, I’m actually wrong. The survivors didn’t have any ability to call back. They watched two men struggle for almost an hour desperately trying to flip their boat back over TO SURVIVE and decided to murder them. Fucking string them all up

Have they even presented any evidence whatsoever that there were drugs on these boats?

The media keeps saying "suspected drug boats", which makes it sound like they actually kind of care who they're murdering, but I'm not convinced that's the case. Maybe "imagined drug boats" would be more apt.

The attack began with an airburst munition exploding above the vessel and killing nine crew members. The two men who survived were then visible floating in the water.

So, there were eleven people on this small boat. Why the fuck would you have 11 people on a smuggling boat? No, this is just a random terrorist attack, perpetrated by the notorious terrorist organization know as "the US military".

Whether it takes three years or thirty the maga officials responsible for this stuff will be held accountable

Isn't leaving victims clinging to their life like this considered torture?

Who was sitting there videoing them as they tried not to drown for an hour?

A fraction of the atrocities we are supporting through the IDF, but good it's getting reported too.