Their Whole System is a War Crime on the People of the World

In the last several months, the U.S. military has repeatedly conducted air strikes on small fishing boats in the Caribbean and the eastern Pacific Ocean. Almost every few days, the Trump administration has bragged about ruthlessly bombing boats and killing everyone on board nearly every single time. Trump and the head of the newly named Department of War, Pete Hegseth, who used to be a Fox News host, claim these strikes are being done to prevent so-called “narco-terrorists” from Venezuela bringing drugs into the United States.

One of these targeted assassinations, which all occurred without any evidence ever being presented, was recently criticized as a potential war crime because after the boat was first bombed, there were survivors still hanging onto the wreckage for dear life, who were then bombed again and killed.

Regardless of whether this second strike is a war crime, their whole policy is criminal. They have provided no evidence that these fishing boats are smuggling drugs. Even if they were, does it warrant a death sentence? Does this policy justify the killing of anyone who transports drugs?

The pretense for these attacks are total lies. The Trump administration is not interested in stopping the flow of drugs into the U.S. There is a real problem with drugs like fentanyl in the U.S., which has ravaged many working-class communities. But virtually no fentanyl enters the U.S. from Venezuela. The opioid crisis has been driven primarily by the pharmaceutical and medical industry, both industries which have become fabulously wealthy in part by intentionally getting Americans hooked on addictive opioids, which has ruined many people’s lives.

Trump and the government’s fake concern about drugs is also complete hypocrisy. Trump just pardoned the right-wing former president of Honduras who was convicted and sentenced to 45 years in prison on drug trafficking charges. He pardoned him to try to help sway a close election race with a Trump-backed candidate in Honduras.

Whether this one attack violates the rules of war isn’t a serious question. Since when does the U.S. care about the rules of war? They are actively supporting a genocide in Gaza carried out by Israel, which commits war crimes every day. The U.S. military committed war crimes in Vietnam, in Iraq, in Afghanistan. The U.S. is the greatest arms dealer in the world. It can’t function without war crimes.

And this is certainly not the first time the U.S. has assassinated individuals accused of crimes without providing any evidence. When he was president, Obama directed the U.S. military to conduct 542 drone strikes, killing 3,797 people, 324 of which were classified as innocent civilians. This was the most people killed by drone strikes of any president up to that point, often striking individuals in crowded cities, at funerals, or weddings. No evidence was ever provided for their guilt. And many innocent people were killed. Obama’s excuse was the so-called “war on terror,” while Trump is simply following suit, calling this a war on narco-terror.

In reality, the Trump administration is trying to assert U.S. dominance of Central and South America. The U.S. sees this region as U.S. territory and wants to remove or pressure any regimes that don’t comply with U.S. interests.  And Venezuela under President Maduro is at the top of their list. The reality is no one stands to benefit from any of these policies, and they only bring the region closer to war, putting many lives at risk.

And as the administration tries to distract us with their murder campaign in the Caribbean and Pacific Ocean, the situation for working people in this country continues to get worse. The cost of living keeps going up. Wages keep falling farther behind rising prices. Housing and utility costs are at record levels. Health care costs keep increasing, even with the Affordable Care Act in place for now. And meanwhile, the government continues to enact cuts to food stamps benefits, along with many more cuts to social services. And there have been tens of thousands of layoffs across the country, including 300,000 federal workers, and tens of thousands of workers at UPS, Amazon, Ford, and many more companies in their pursuit of more profits.

While the Trump administration is supporting genocide, murdering people on fishing boats, terrorizing immigrant communities, spewing racist attacks on Somali Americans, and handing out tax breaks to billionaires, the whole capitalist system they defend is robbing the working class and making our lives more difficult. These are all war crimes — crimes against the working class committed by  the ruling class in their war on our lives. Their entire system is a war crime committed against working people of the whole world!

>> The article above is re-posted from Speak Out Now!