The U.S. Is Leaving Boat Strike Survivors to Drown |
The United States left the survivors of a recent boat strike to die at sea, formally abandoning search efforts Friday.
Their presumed deaths are the result of attacks by U.S. forces on three boats in the Pacific Ocean on December 30. After striking one vessel and killing three civilians, crew members of the other boats, according to U.S. Southern Command, “abandoned the other two vessels, jumping overboard and distancing themselves before follow-on engagements sank their respective vessels.”
The unspecified number of survivors who leapt into the Pacific faced nine-foot seas and 40-knot winds, Kenneth Wiese, a spokesperson for the Coast Guard Southwest District, told The Intercept.
The Coast Guard called off the search for those people on Friday citing a “declining probability of survival.” A U.S. government official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the press, said the men are now presumed dead.
The United States has been attacking boats in the Caribbean and the Pacific since September, killing at least 117 civilians in 35 attacks — including at least five people on December 30. The total death toll is now unknown, with U.S. Southern Command’s latest tally of attacks and fatalities omitting known strikes and casualties.
Experts in the laws of war and members of Congress, from both parties, have said the strikes are illegal extrajudicial killings. At least five civilians are known to have survived previous attacks: two on September 2, two on October 16, and one on October 27. The Intercept was the first outlet to report that the U.S. military killed two survivors of the initial boat attack on September 2 in a follow-up strike.
William Baumgartner, a retired U.S. Coast........