{"id":45452,"date":"2025-12-06T12:28:31","date_gmt":"2025-12-06T20:28:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=45452"},"modified":"2025-12-06T12:28:31","modified_gmt":"2025-12-06T20:28:31","slug":"all-of-them-constitute-murder-amnesty-says-of-trump-boat-bombings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2025\/12\/06\/all-of-them-constitute-murder-amnesty-says-of-trump-boat-bombings\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018All of Them Constitute Murder,\u2019 Amnesty Says of Trump Boat Bombings"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.commondreams.org\/media-library\/bombed-boat.png?id=61707289&amp;width=1200&amp;height=400&amp;quality=80&amp;coordinates=0%2C450%2C0%2C451\" alt=\"Bombed boat\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>US President Donald Trump and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth announced that they bombed another boat in the Caribbean on October 3, 2025.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>(Photo: Screenshot\/Donald Trump\/Truth Social)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">\u201cCongress must take action now to stop the US military from murdering more people in the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific.\u201d<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.commondreams.org\/author\/brad-reed\">Brad Reed<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Dec 05, 2025 (CommonDreams.org)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.commondreams.org\/tag\/human-rights\">Human rights<\/a>&nbsp;organization&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.commondreams.org\/tag\/amnesty-international\">Amnesty International<\/a>&nbsp;is cautioning critics of the Trump administration\u2019s boat-bombing spree against getting bogged down in the precise details of each individual strike if it means losing sight of the bigger picture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Daphne Eviatar, director for security and human rights for Amnesty International USA,&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.amnestyusa.org\/press-releases\/shipwrecked-or-not-all-these-bombings-are-murder\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">said<\/a>&nbsp;on Friday that it would be a mistake to merely condemn the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.commondreams.org\/tag\/trump-administration\">Trump administration<\/a>&nbsp;for launching a double-tap strike aimed at killing shipwrecked survivors of an initial attack, because the entire campaign of bombing vessels based on the suspicion that they are carrying illegal narcotics is unlawful.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>RECOMMENDED&#8230;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.commondreams.org\/news\/6-killed-in-new-boat-strikes\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.commondreams.org\/media-library\/qatari-defense-minister-sheikh-saoud-al-thani-visits-the-pentagon.jpg?id=61748235&amp;width=1200&amp;height=1200&amp;quality=80&amp;coordinates=170%2C0%2C171%2C0\" alt=\"Qatari Defense Minister Sheikh Saoud Al Thani Visits The Pentagon\"\/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.commondreams.org\/news\/6-killed-in-new-boat-strikes\">Hegseth Says 6 More Men Killed in Latest Boat Bombings<\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.commondreams.org\/news\/caribbean-boat-strike\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.commondreams.org\/media-library\/us-navy-destroyer-uss-sampson-docked-in-panama-amid-regional-tensions-with-venezuela.jpg?id=62282235&amp;width=1200&amp;height=1200&amp;quality=80&amp;coordinates=833%2C0%2C834%2C0\" alt=\"US Navy Destroyer USS Sampson docked in Panama amid regional tensions with Venezuela\"\/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.commondreams.org\/news\/caribbean-boat-strike\">UN Experts Say Those Ordering and Carrying Out US Boat Strikes Should Be \u2018Prosecuted for Homicide\u2019<\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cAll the strikes so far have been illegal under both domestic and&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.commondreams.org\/tag\/international-law\">international law<\/a>,\u201d she said. \u201cAll of them constitute murder because none of the victims, whether or not they were smuggling illegal narcotics, posed an imminent threat to life.&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.commondreams.org\/tag\/congress\">Congress<\/a>&nbsp;must take action now to stop the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.commondreams.org\/tag\/us-military\">US military<\/a>&nbsp;from murdering more people in the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Eviatar said that law enforcement organizations for decades have had the power to intercept suspected drug boats at sea without having to resort to mass killing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIntercepting purported drug boats is a law enforcement operation, subject to policing standards derived from international human rights law, which holds that all people have the rights to life and a fair trial, and only allows states to use lethal force when an imminent threat to life exists,\u201d she said. \u201cA state intentionally killing someone outside those circumstances is committing an extrajudicial execution, a form of murder, no matter what crime the person is alleged to have committed.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Trump administration\u2019s boat strikes have come under fresh legal scrutiny after the&nbsp;<em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.commondreams.org\/tag\/washington-post\">Washington Post<\/a><\/em>&nbsp;revealed last week that the US military had launched a second strike during an operation on September 2 to kill two men who had survived an initial strike on their vessel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Rep. Jim Himes (D-Conn.), the ranking member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, watched video of the September 2 double-tap attack during a classified briefing on Thursday, and he described the footage as \u201cone of the most troubling things I\u2019ve seen in my time in public service.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Himes told reporters that the video showed the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.commondreams.org\/tag\/us-military\">US military<\/a>&nbsp;firing missiles at two men who had survived an initial attack on their vessel and who were floating in the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.commondreams.org\/tag\/water\">water<\/a>&nbsp;while clinging to debris.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cYou have two individuals in clear distress, without any means of locomotion, with a destroyed vessel, [who] were killed by the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.commondreams.org\/tag\/united-states\">United States<\/a>,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The US so far has carried out 22 known strikes on purported drug boats, killing at least 87 people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.commondreams.org\/author\/brad-reed\">Brad Reed<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Brad Reed is a staff writer for Common Dreams.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.commondreams.org\/author\/brad-reed\">Full Bio &gt;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>US President Donald Trump and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth announced that they bombed another boat in the Caribbean on October 3, 2025.&nbsp; (Photo: Screenshot\/Donald Trump\/Truth Social) \u201cCongress must take action now to stop the US military from murdering more people in the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific.\u201d Brad Reed Dec&#8230; <a class=\"continue-reading-link\" href=\"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2025\/12\/06\/all-of-them-constitute-murder-amnesty-says-of-trump-boat-bombings\/\"> Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr; <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45452"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45452"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45452\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":45453,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45452\/revisions\/45453"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45452"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45452"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45452"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}