Ex-Pentagon Chief On CNN Slams Trump Admin Disguising Military Plane as Civilian Aircraft In Attack

CNN anchor Wolf Blitzer spoke to former Defense Secretary William Cohen on Tuesday and asked him about the recent revelation that the U.S. bombed alleged drug boats using a military aircraft disguised as a civilian aircraft.

“This morning, disturbing new questions about the Trump administration’s first deadly strike on an alleged drug boat. It happened back in September in the Caribbean near Venezuela. Citing multiple officials, the Washington Post now reporting the boat was struck by a secret military aircraft that was painted to look like a civilian plane,” Blitzer began, adding:

The Post says this led to a legal debate over whether this violated international law. Eleven people were killed, including two in a controversial second strike. Joining us now, William Cohen. He’s the former Secretary of Defense under President Bill Clinton and is now the CEO of the Cohen Group here in Washington. Secretary, thanks so much for joining us. Does this account from the Washington Post of a U.S. military plane being disguised as a civilian plane—does that concern you?

“It does concern me. Generally, there’s a rule against using military assets camouflaged as civilian aircraft or civilian weapon systems and then using them to carry out a military operation,” Cohen replied, adding:

So I think it will be challenged legally, but nonetheless it’s already been carried out and will have to end up in the courts and such. But I think President Trump has said boldly that we’re going to use power without regard to whether it complies with or contradicts international law.

The New York Times confirmed the Post’s reporting this week, adding, “The Pentagon used a secret aircraft painted to look like a civilian plane in its first attack on a boat that the Trump administration said was smuggling drugs, killing 11 people last September, according to officials briefed on the matter. The aircraft also carried its munitions inside the fuselage, rather than visibly under its wings, they said.”

The Times explained the significance of disguising the plane and the legal implications such an action carries, noting, “the laws of armed conflict prohibit combatants from feigning civilian status to fool adversaries into dropping their guard, then attacking and killing them. That is a war crime called ‘perfidy.’”

Watch the clip above via CNN.