Rights Experts Tell Inter-American Panel Pentagon Boat Bombings Illegal

International law experts told the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights on Friday that the Pentagon’s campaign of bombing small boats in the Pacific and Caribbean, allegedly used for drug smuggling, is unlawful under both international and U.S. law. They testified that in six months since September, U.S. forces have destroyed 45 vessels and killed at least 157 people based on secret intelligence about suspected narcotics routes, with the Pentagon publicly labeling the dead as “narco‑terrorists” and releasing strike videos. U.N. special rapporteur Ben Saul said Washington is waging a “phony war on so‑called narco‑terrorism,” arguing drug trafficking is a crime, not an armed conflict, and that citing speculative drug overdoses does not justify lethal force as self‑defense. The American Civil Liberties Union asked the Organization of American States–affiliated body to investigate and formally condemn the strikes, saying they lack congressional authorization and violate international rules on the use of force, raising the prospect of a major test of U.S. accountability for extraterritorial killings carried out under a murky legal theory. Legal and human‑rights circles are already highlighting how this boat‑bombing campaign resembles prior U.S. drone wars in its secrecy and expansive targeting logic, but with even thinner public evidence that those killed posed any imminent threat.