Two men who survived a US airstrike on a suspected drug smuggling boat in the Caribbean clung to the wreckage for an hour before they were killed in a second attack, according to a video of the episode shown to senators in Washington.

The men were shirtless, unarmed and carried no visible radio or other communications equipment. They also appeared to have no idea what had just hit them, or that the US military was weighing whether to finish them off, two sources familiar with the recording told Reuters.

The pair desperately tried to turn a severed section of the hull upright before they died. “The video follows them for about an hour as they tried to flip the boat back over. They couldn’t do it,” one source said.

  • jacksilver@lemmy.world
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    22 hours ago

    Damn, an hour is a long time to wait. I had been assuming that it was a quick one two, but waiting an hour means they had time to see what happened and still decided to murder these people.

    The only thing I can think of is they were afraid they might actually survive and speak out against them.

    • HiddenLayer555@lemmy.ml
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      1 day ago

      The people who authorized and committed this war crime deserve the Jesus Christ treatment by the Romans

      • Maeve@kbin.earth
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        1 day ago

        I’m not generally in favor of the death penalty but I can certainly understand how you arrived at that assessment, both legally and rationally.

        • Gaja0@lemmy.zip
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          5 hours ago

          I’m not against death penalty for morality, I’m against it conceptually that the state has the right to strip someone of life. These people were served the death penalty for a crime that never happened. I’m not about to argue against someone praying for karmic justice. It’s the golden rule.

    • smeenz@lemmy.nz
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      23 hours ago

      Even if they were, nothing makes it acceptable to just be summarily executed by a foreign military.

    • Tinidril@midwest.social
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      21 hours ago

      From a legal perspective, there was no trial and therefore no conviction so we must presume innocence.

      From a rational perspective, none of these boats are remotely capable of reaching America across open ocean. They would have to refuel multiple times to do so, and still probably couldn’t make it. That’s just one of many reasons why the accusation is ridiculous.

    • tonyn@lemmy.ml
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      21 hours ago

      That’s the neat part of sending all the evidence to the bottom of the ocean.