That’s not even the argument the administration is making. Their argument is that the drugs themselves are the weapon/combatant. So they argue it’s perfectly legal to destroy the drugs and hand wave away the collateral damage of the humans operating the boat. But if the drugs were already destroyed then their entire argument goes out the window for a need for a second strike.
It’s just always cut and dry, firing on the ship wrecked is always illegal they are considered non-combatants at that point.
This is actually the example they use of an illegal order in the DOD manual.
Page 1117 18.3.2.1 https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/23892053-dod-law-of-war-manual-june-2015-updated-july-2023/
Ok, so it really is defined very precisely and everyone should have known.
They were non-combatants the entire time.
That’s not even the argument the administration is making. Their argument is that the drugs themselves are the weapon/combatant. So they argue it’s perfectly legal to destroy the drugs and hand wave away the collateral damage of the humans operating the boat. But if the drugs were already destroyed then their entire argument goes out the window for a need for a second strike.
Its stupid, I know.
Oh cool, so the same twisted logic as charging someone’s money for a crime in asset forfeiture.