The U.S. used an aircraft painted like a civilian plane in the attack on an alleged drug-smuggling boat from Venezuela that killed 11 people in September, multiple officials confirmed to CBS News.
According to the sources, Pentagon officials have defended the use of the aircraft by saying it was used because of how quickly the operation came together, not because the Pentagon was trying to mislead the targets.
The New York Times was the first to report on the aircraft looking like a civilian plane.
The strike on Sept. 2 was the first in a series of attacks the U.S. has taken against what officials have said are drug-trafficking boats. More than 100 people have been killed since the campaign began.
During the same Sept. 2 strike, the U.S. aircraft also killed two people who survived the initial attack. That development raised concerns among experts on the law of war and lawmakers, mostly Democrats.
The new details about the U.S. aircraft have sparked additional conversations on Capitol Hill about whether the attack violated the law of war.
“I have very, very severe doubts about the legality of our use of certain aircraft, and I think there has to be further investigative effort,” Sen. Richard Blumenthal, a Democrat from Connecticut on the Senate Armed Services Committee, told CBS News on Tuesday.
The question at issue is whether the attack constitutes a crime of perfidy, which is when a combatant uses a protected status under the law of war, like a civilian, as a disguise and betrays that confidence to attack an enemy.
Michael Meier, who previously served as an expert on the law of war for the U.S. Army Judge Advocate General’s Corps, told CBS News one reason perfidy is a crime is because it could put other civilians at risk. For example, if one aircraft that looks like a civilian plane launches a missile, the enemy might have a reason to believe other civilian aircraft are potentially hostile.
