By BEN FINLEY and KONSTANTIN TOROPIN Associated Press
\nAP<\/p>\n
WASHINGTON \u2014<\/strong><\/p>\n The U.S. military would have committed a crime if it killed the survivors of an attack on an alleged drug boat, legal experts say.<\/p>\n It doesn\u2019t matter whether the U.S. is in “armed conflict” with drug cartels as the Trump administration asserts. Such a fatal second strike would have violated peacetime laws and those governing armed conflict, the experts say.<\/p>\n \u201cI can\u2019t imagine anyone, no matter what the circumstance, believing it is appropriate to kill people who are clinging to a boat in the water,\u201d said Michael Schmitt, a former Air Force lawyer and professor emeritus at the U.S. Naval War College. \u201cThat is clearly unlawful.\u201d<\/p>\n The White House confirmed Monday that a second strike was conducted in September against a vessel accused of trafficking drugs off the coast of Venezuela and insisted it was done \u201cin self-defense” and in accordance with the laws of armed conflict.<\/p>\n A news report about that attack spawned a new level of scrutiny from lawmakers and added to a growing debate about whether service members can refuse to follow illegal orders, which some Democratic lawmakers recently encouraged.<\/p>\n Here\u2019s what to know about the strikes and laws of armed conflict:<\/p>\n The Washington Post reported last week that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth issued a spoken directive to \u201ckill everybody\u201d on a boat targeted on Sept. 2, the first vessel hit in what the Trump administration calls a counterdrug campaign that has grown to over 20 known strikes and more than 80 dead.<\/p>\n Two men survived that first attack, which killed nine others, and were clinging to the wreckage, the newspaper reported. The commander in charge, Adm. Frank Bradley, ordered a second strike to comply with Hegseth\u2019s instructions, killing the two men, the Post reported.<\/p>\n Hegseth called it \u201cfake news\u201d on social media, saying the boat strikes are \u201cin compliance with the law of armed conflict \u2014 and approved by the best military and civilian lawyers, up and down the chain of command.\u201d<\/p>\n President Donald Trump said Sunday that the administration \u201cwill look into\u201d it but added that \u201cI wouldn\u2019t have wanted that \u2014 not a second strike.\u201d He noted that Hegseth told him \u201che did not order the death of those two men.\u201d<\/p>\nWhat set off the debate<\/h3>\n