US Attacked Boat with Plane That Looked Like Civilian Plane

Tuesday, January 13, 2026

Even accepting the Trump administration's claim that there is an armed conflict with suspected drug runners, the laws of war bar "perfidy."

Posted by qcp at 07:32 PM | 11 COMMENTS | permalink | Comment on This Entry |

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Perfidy. Of course.

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-- David Corn (@davidcorn.bsky.social) Jan 12, 2026 at 10:40 PM

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More: Retired Maj. Gen. Steven J. Lepper, a former deputy judge advocate general for the United States Air Force, said that if the aircraft had been painted in a way that disguised its military nature and got close enough for the people on the boat to see it " tricking them into failing to realize they should take evasive action or surrender to survive " that was a war crime under armed-conflict standards.

"Shielding your identity is an element of perfidy," he said. "If the aircraft flying above is not identifiable as a combatant aircraft, it should not be engaged in combatant activity."

The aircraft swooped in low enough for the people aboard the boat to see it, according to officials who have seen or been briefed on surveillance video from the attack. The boat had turned back toward Venezuela, apparently after seeing the plane, before the first strike.

#1 | Posted by qcp at 2026-01-13 09:15 AM | Reply

Trump is the president for whom SCOTUS established its brand new doctrine of sweeping presidential immunity. If they're nice to him, Trump can pardon his goons of federal crimes. Let me put it this way: these pigs don't give a rat's patoot about war crimes. It's just part of their daily grind.

#2 | Posted by Doc_Sarvis at 2026-01-13 09:54 AM | Reply

Rules of War is why we lost in Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan.
--Republicans

#3 | Posted by snoofy at 2026-01-13 10:19 AM | Reply

I'm glad I'm retired. The DoD is unrecognizable to me. This new wrinkle about disguised aircraft means our aircrew won't be entitled to the Geneva Conventions as POWs, but rather as spies who can be summarily executed. The USG did that to several German spies who came ashore to the US in 1942.

These Trumpf wars are designed to enrich himself and his cronies. Imminent attacks on Iran are to benefit Benjamin Netanyahu and Israel, not the hardworking American taxpayer.

The George 'Dubya' Bush lies to get us into Iraq and the enhanced interrogation program in the GWOT were awful enough to deal with, and I paid the price of speaking out against torture.

And I had to advise my colleagues that (Pashtun) Mullah Omar, Afghanistan supremo, was trying to negotiate with the US about surrendering (Arab) Usama Bin Laden to a third country or an international court for a fair trial for orchestrating the 9/11 attacks.

Our side didn't get that info on Faux News and worse, they didn't care.

White Christian Americans had one thing on their mind after 9/11, and it wasn't justice:

#4 | Posted by C0RI0LANUS at 2026-01-13 11:05 AM | Reply

"This new wrinkle about disguised aircraft means our aircrew won't be entitled to the Geneva Conventions as POWs, but rather as spies who can be summarily executed. The USG did that to several German spies who came ashore to the US in 1942."

This is the type of comment that used to get a response from the Republican Constitutional Scholars.

Now they're just Might Makes Right scholars.

#5 | Posted by snoofy at 2026-01-13 11:29 AM | Reply

The bloated, noxious orange chomo racks up another war crime

#6 | Posted by reinheitsgebot at 2026-01-13 12:34 PM | Reply

During World War Two this German soldier, most likely from Otto Skorzeny's commando unit, was caught out of uniform and dressed as an American GI: images-cdn.bridgemanimages.com

#7 | Posted by C0RI0LANUS at 2026-01-13 01:01 PM | Reply

#7
Part of a fascinating aspect of the Battle of the Bulge, a failed op that nevertheless set off serious jitters. (Pulling up in a jeep and asking for "petrol" at a US Army fuel dump proved fatal for at least one disguised German.)

#8 | Posted by Doc_Sarvis at 2026-01-13 01:39 PM | Reply

@8 Serious jitters is right. FDR was rattled by the late German counteroffensive and German espionage. He asked about the progress of the Manhattan Project in case we had to nuke Germany: time.com

The man that rattled FDR was, according to General Eisenhower, the "most dangerous man in Europe," Otto Skorzeny.

After reportedly serving as Eva Peron's bodyguard and some say lover in post WWII Argentina, SS-Standartenfuhrer Otto Skorzeny enjoyed country life in Ireland before moving to Spain. "Scarface" Skorzeny would pass a few months before Il Caudillo: media.gettyimages.com

#9 | Posted by C0RI0LANUS at 2026-01-13 02:05 PM | Reply

The article is positing the air strike was some kind of 737 or Turbo Caravan, with an internal weapons bay.

That's retarded.

#10 | Posted by sitzkrieg at 2026-01-13 08:10 PM | Reply

It has to be a P-8. That's a 737 airframe. That would look like a Civilian plane. It's not. It will kill you. That thing shoots Harpoons.

#11 | Posted by sitzkrieg at 2026-01-13 08:13 PM | Reply