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Can it be a war crime if you’re not actually at war? Seems like it’s just murder.
Don't need to be at war to commit "war crimes"
There has to be an armed conflict between two or more nations. Otherwise they’re “just” crimes.
A military court has murder charges it can bring. The recent letter from JAGS Working Group specifies the war crimes and murder separately.
Edit to add article: Legal Experts Accuse Hegseth of ‘War Crimes, Murder, or Both’ After New Reporting on Boat Strike Order
of course,the whole concept of war crimes is hilarious.
Blow up a boat with a missile killing people? OK
Kill them after you sunk the boat? NOT OK.
the first one is illegal since we're not at war, they weren't an immediate threat, etc
the second is super illegal cause it's considered a war crime
Exactly. The reason why there's so much heat on this particular incident is simply because there's zero grey area. Like, in general the blowing up "drug boats" stuff is almost certainly a war crime, but it at least falls within the "Lawyers can argue it in court" realms. Whereas killing survivors of a sunken ship is literally the textbook definition of a warcrime in the US military's own manual on this stuff. It is so cut and dried that they use it as an example of a de facto illegal act.
Just ask any president ever in the history of USA... It's never a crime to murder poor people.