Illegal Orders for Dummies
Spelled out so simply even MAGA can understand.
Let’s take a second to talk about this—because every single part of it is made of stupid.
We’re talking about an alleged U.S. military strike on so-called narco-terrorists off the coast of Venezuela—2,000 miles from American shores. The problem? After the first strike, reports say there were survivors clinging to the wreckage. Then came a second strike— specifically to finish them off.
That’s not “collateral damage.” That’s murder.
The Law of the Sea (and Humanity)
A boat 2,000 miles from the United States is not a threat to anyone in Kansas or California.
We are not at war with Venezuela. Congress never declared one. So, firing on a boat full of alleged smugglers is already a legal and moral red flag.
But even if we grant the Trump administration its argument—that these individuals were “combatants” because they were allegedly trafficking drugs into the U.S.—the legality evaporates the moment the first missile hit. Once that boat was destroyed, their mission, their so-called “threat,” was over.
Those survivors clinging to the debris? They weren’t combatants. They were shipwrecked sailors.
And firing on shipwrecked sailors is explicitly illegal. The Navy literally uses that exact scenario in its training materials to teach sailors how to recognize and refuse illegal orders. It’s textbook war crime stuff.
Who Ordered the Code Red?
Initially, Major Pete Kegsbreth was all in. He went on Fox News bragging that he’d watched the whole strike unfold on a live drone feed. He was proud—until the story broke about the second strike.
Then his tune changed.
At first, he confirmed it was a “lethal kinetic strike intended to kill everyone involved.” But when the public began asking hard questions, Kegsbreth suddenly wasn’t watching anymore. Now, he claimed he’d “left after the first strike,” delegating responsibility to the admiral in charge.
That’s not leadership—it’s self-preservation.
That’s the sound of someone laying down plausible deniability before the subpoenas start flying.
And why? Because Trump, when asked about the second strike, said, “Oh, I wouldn’t have ordered that.”
Once the boss distanced himself, Kegsbreth followed suit, setting the stage to pin it all on the admiral.
This is exactly why you don’t follow illegal orders. Because when accountability comes knocking, the ruling class will always choose self-preservation over you. Every time.
Hypocrisy, Signed in Pardon Ink
Here’s the part that really seals it in absurdity:
This operation—killing alleged narco-terrorists—was supposedly about “protecting America from drug traffickers.”
At the same time, Trump pardoned a convicted drug trafficker who’d served 45 years for bringing narcotics into the U.S.
Why? No one knows for sure. But it’s worth noting that the man happened to hold a large amount of Trump-branded cryptocurrency. Draw your own conclusions.
So while the government justified killing alleged “mules” with no confirmed ties to terrorism, it was simultaneously letting an actual narco-boss walk free.
That’s not justice. That’s theater.
The Survivors, the Silence, and the Widow’s Case
The survivors of those attacks? They weren’t kept in U.S. custody. They were sent back to their home countries—where they were quietly released.
That tells us two things:
The U.S. didn’t have enough evidence to charge them with anything.
Their own countries didn’t either.
If there was solid proof, those men would’ve been paraded through a courtroom before the week was out. Instead, they vanished.
But not everyone disappeared.
The widow of one victim—Alejandro Carranza, a poor Colombian fisherman—has filed a formal complaint with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. Her husband was killed on September 15th, during one of those “kinetic” strikes.
And she’s got a case. A strong one.
So What Illegal Orders?
Those illegal orders. The ones that tell soldiers to kill survivors.
The ones that everyone tries to pretend didn’t happen.
The ones the Navy itself teaches recruits to refuse.
It’s a stark reminder: it’s still illegal even if somebody told you to do it.