Sen. Tim Kaine says reported second strike on alleged drug boat "rises to the level of a war crime if it's true"

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: CBS News

November 30, 2025 / 11:44 AM EST / CBS News


Washington — Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia said Sunday that a reported U.S. follow-on strike on an alleged drug boat earlier this year "rises to the level of a war crime if it's true." "If that reporting is true, it's a clear violation of the DoD's own laws of war, as well as international laws about the way you treat people who are in that circumstance," Kaine said on "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan."

The Washington Post reported Friday that in the U.S.' first strike on a suspected drug smuggling boat in the Caribbean in September, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth gave a verbal order to leave no survivors. A follow-on strike was ordered to comply with the instructions, killing two survivors in the water, the Post reported. Hegseth called the reporting "fabricated, inflammatory and derogatory," claiming the operations in the Caribbean are "lawful under both U.S. and international law."

CBS News has not independently confirmed the Washington Post's reporting.

Targeting civilians or members of the armed forces who are wounded is prohibited under the Geneva Conventions, which also require the wounded to be "collected and cared for." A group of former military lawyers outlined in an assessment Saturday that the reported second strike would be a violation of international or domestic law. And the leaders of the House and Senate Armed Services committees pledged to investigate the reported follow-on strike.

Read more: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/venezuela-strike-alleged-drug-boat-hegseth-tim-kaine-face-the-nation/

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If that reporting is true, it's a clear violation of the DoD's own laws of war, as well as international laws about the way you treat people who are in that circumstance

But remember - there is no "DOD" anymore. It was "abolished" by Executive Order and replaced with DOW.

[617Blue]

1. All of these strikes are criminal and shameful.

[thought crime]

2. The Military Code of Justice should apply.

If the report is anywhere close to being true, court-martials should be held against those responsible. This is exactly what Sen. Mark Kelley and others warned about.

[UpInArms]

3. Making the "do not follow illegal orders" that much more prescient

eom

[AloeVera]

4. They're all war crimes, every strike. Why help to normalize them...

By claiming only THIS one rises to the level of a war- crime?

We'd have no trouble labelling them as such if these were our own citizens, right?

[Sneederbunk]

5. Rapist, pedo, fraudster, felon says "So what?"

[twodogsbarking]

6. I am guessing there will soon be an announcement that Tim Kaine will be under investigation.

[House of Roberts]

7. Which is why he should have had the courage to say 'All strikes are war crimes'.

The idea that he was differentiating them sickens me.

[KPN]

8. WTF? Tim Kaine, what are you saying, that the first missile was legal, acceptyable, okay? JFC!

No wonder I wasn't enthralled with this guy when Hillary picked him. We need fighters not Boy Scouts. (no offense to Boy Scouts -- I was one myself and thoroughly enjoyed and certainly gained from it -- but then I grew up).

[AloeVera]

25. I know, right?? Completely the wrong message.

Jaw-dropping.

I wouldn't use the Boy Scout analogy though. To me it shows something far less innocent and I REALLY don't like it.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

9. Hegseth is a war criminal

Link to tweet

[malthaussen]

10. Wrong. It was a "war crime" already.

Except since there is no "war," one would be justified in simply calling it a "crime."

-- Mal

[Cirsium]

11. The very first strike

The first strike on an alleged drug boat was a crime.

Ernst Janning:
"Judge Haywood... the reason I asked you to come. Those people, those millions of people... I never knew it would come to that. YOU must believe it, YOU MUST believe it."

Judge Dan Haywood:
"Herr Janning, it 'came to that' the first time you sentenced a man to death you knew to be innocent."

From the film Judgment at Nuremberg

[BaronChocula]

14. Oh. My. God!

I've been thinking about that movie just about every day lately.

[Cirsium]

15. Thanks

Thanks for that. Powerful scene.

[BaronChocula]

16. Thank YOU!

[MuirHero]

22. Nuremberg (2025) currently playing in the theaters is also a must see movie.

Viewed this film two weeks ago. Russel Crowe's command performance as Hermann Goring should garner an Academy Award nomination. The parallels between what is shown in this film and what is currently happening in this country are chilling.

[BaronChocula]

24. Very interested in this too!

Haven't heard anything about it yet so I'm glad to see a good review.

[Irish_Dem]

12. We are not at war. And these are civilian victims.

It is not a war crime. It is first degree murder.

[TomSlick]

18. Exactly.

See my post below.

[ToxMarz]

13. There is no staute of limitations for war crimes or International humanitarian crimes

And international law doesn't care what "cute" nicknames the offenders use.

[Bluetus]

27. No American has ever been tried at The Hague. We never signed the treaty.

In fact, we passed a law that says if any American ends up before the Hague, via arrest in a 3rd country, for example, America is authorized to invade that country, to make sure no American is help to account for anything.

This is what we call American Exceptionalism.

[TomSlick]

17. It's a point only a military lawyer would but it cannot be a violation of the law of war, because there is no war.

The better term is the law of international armed conflict. To have an international armed conflict, there must be two nations fighting each other. In this case, we just have one nation destroying civilian boats from another.

What we are experiencing is simple murder.

[Irish_Dem]

19. Yes it is simple and straightforward.

I am not a military attorney but even I can see:

THERE IS NO WAR.
THESE ARE CIVILIANS.

It is murder.

It is disturbing that even sitting US senators have their heads up their asses
and calling it a damn war crime. Which gives it legitimacy somehow.

[MuirHero]

20. And premeditated 1st degree murder at that.

Punishable by death.

[paleotn]

21. War criminals.

I'd say ship them off to Brussels, but the penalties imposed would be far too lenient for this pack off scum. No, they deserve good, old fashioned American retribution. After all, they long to return to those days of yesteryear. OK. Fine with me.

[MuirHero]

23. Death by hanging would be an appropriate punishment for premeditated first degree murder.

Anything less than the death penalty or life in prison would be a gross miscarriage of justice if these bastards are found guilty of this alleged crime.

[RockRaven]

26. I would like someone in the Democratic Party to point out that if Tr*mp attempts to

pardon anyone for war crimes, the next administration may have no choice but to turn those pardoned over to foreign governments/international courts to face justice there instead.

Not only will the war crimes be his fault for ordering them, but so too will be the decision to allow foreign/international entities to arrest and prosecute -- something the US usually throws its weight around to circumvent.

[Norrrm]

28. We have plenty of military muscle to capture most of these boats without killing all on board and destroying all evidenc

We have plenty of military muscle to capture most of these boats without killing all on board and destroying all evidence.... If evidence of the drugs exists.

[John Coktosten]

29. Wow Tim, you think?

Now what are you going to do about it? You spineless, pushover, coward. You'll just cave in and give up again, you wuss. Screw you Tim.