Now you’re under control
The U.S. military has a long and ignoble tradition of illegal killings outside of wartime.
A very, very long and very, very ignoble tradition.
So last week’s destruction of a private boat in international waters by the U.S. Navy, under the command of Admiral Alvin Holsey, is neither a new direction nor particularly out of character.
They have, as the Supreme Court would put it, a history and tradition of going along with orders that clearly violate the plain language of the U.S. constitution.
That would be the “due process clause”.
What lawyers like to call the “due process clause” says:
No person shall … be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law
Although, in cases like this where the military engages in killing with no legal proceedings at all, it also violates the first clause of that Amendment:
No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury
These are quite clear.
The U.S. government is not empowered to just kill folks, regardless of what they’re accused of.
Now, the fact that the U.S. government has obviously and quite openly violated this restriction since the very earliest days of the country is one of the larger hypocrisies in American History.
But, regardless of the coup-enabling Supreme Court’s opinions on the matter, having a history and tradition of criming does not in fact excuse continuing to do crimes. Even in U.S. law.
Violating the Constitution as an official of the State is a crime. In fact, with the kudzu-like growth of modern U.S. law it can be lots of different crimes all at the same time.
Though being outside of a war, and also with the U.S. not actually signed onto most of the war crimes treaties, it may very well not be a war crime.
But it doesn’t matter whether it’s a war crime; it’s still a crime.
And every single person in the chain of command, from the President to whoever pushed the button that triggered the explosion, is responsible for it.
The people publicly known in that chain of command would be:
- President Trump
- Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth
- U.S. Southern Command commander Admiral Alvin Holsey
After that, it’s down to specific individuals that I haven’t seen reported anywhere. The U.S. military does so love both hierarchies and paperwork, though, so there’s definitely a line to trace for this order and plenty of documentation of it somewhere.
And each person on that line is responsible for it too.
And in a functional State, every one of them would already have been arrested and would be facing 11 counts of first-degree murder.
Though this is unlikely to actually happen, of course.
But it damn well should.
