“Entire Operation Illegal”: David Cole Slams US Killings Policy as War Crime

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David Cole warns that targeting suspected criminals and even strike survivors violates US law and international humanitarian law.

By TRH foreign Affairs Desk

New Delhi, December 2, 2025 — Renowned constitutional scholar David Cole has launched a scathing legal attack on a controversial US military operation in the Caribbean, calling it “illegal from the outset” and warning that it may amount to war crimes. Speaking to Democracy Now, Cole said the operation against unarmed Venezuelan boats violates fundamental principles of US criminal law and international humanitarian law by allowing premeditated targeting of individuals merely suspected of criminal activity.

“It is not legal to engage in premeditated targeting of people because you believe they’re engaged in criminal activity,” said Cole, who teaches at Georgetown Law. “We have a system in this country for trying people, convicting them and sentencing them. Even if someone is guilty of smuggling massive amounts of drugs, they cannot be executed.”

Cole directly challenged the administration’s claim that the operation is justified under a “state of war.” According to him, the president is “mixing metaphor with reality.” He compared the so-called war on drugs to metaphors like the war on cancer, stressing that such language does not create legal authority to kill suspects. “Just as the war on crime doesn’t allow us to kill criminals, the war on drugs doesn’t allow us to kill people carrying drugs,” he said.

In his most serious allegation, Cole claimed that the operation has now gone even further by targeting survivors of previous strikes—individuals who, he said, pose “no threat whatsoever to the United States.” “The military is now targeting them and killing them in cold blood,” he alleged.

Cole also criticized the political response in Washington. He said that when members of the US Congress remind the military that they are not obligated to follow illegal orders, the president has refused to reconsider the policy. Instead, he accused the administration of attacking critics such as Mark Kelly, a former combat veteran and astronaut, “for merely telling the truth.”

“Following orders is no defence to a war crime,” Cole said, adding that killing civilians who are not engaged in armed conflict with the United States constitutes a war crime under international law. He described the current campaign as “criminal from the get-go”, and said that the decision to target survivors makes it “doubly criminal.”

Cole urged the administration to immediately rethink the policy, warning that branding critics as seditious only deepens the constitutional crisis. “They should listen to the lawyers who warned them before these orders were issued, instead of silencing dissent,” he said.