More: Some have wagered that this shows these two men might have been innocent; the administration, after all, has not provided public evidence for its claims that its targets are "narco-terrorists." And some people in the relevant Latin American countries, including the victims' families and Colombian President Gustavo Petro, have called the Trump administration's general claims about targets into question. Petro, for example, has said a Colombian killed in an earlier strike was a "fisherman" with "no ties to the drug trade."

But even if these survivors did what the administration claims, the administration's move to release them undercuts its claims about the conflict in the Caribbean. Releasing them is very difficult to square with the argument that the US government is engaged in a war with people who would do imminent harm to Americans.

Put plainly: If these people are so dangerous and engaged in what is allegedly warfare against the United States, how could they be released?