Letter to the editor: Murders or war crimes

First published in the Brunswick Beacon, 12.11.25

In March, a 79-year-old man who was elected president in 2016 was extradited to the International Criminal Court for crimes against humanity. Not Trump (yet), but Rodrigo Duterte, the Philippines’ former president, known as the “Donald Trump of Asia.”

Duterte killed over 7,000 suspected drug users. Duterte said he would be “happy to slaughter” 3 million people, called dead children “collateral damage,” and encouraged police, soldiers and vigilantes to kill drug users. “I don’t care about human rights,” Duterte boasted.

Trump called Duterte his “friend” and congratulated him for his “unbelievable job on the drug problem.” Trump told Duterte, “What a great job you are doing!”

Trump even adopted Duterte’s tactics. On Trump’s orders, American forces have killed dozens of suspects in strikes on Venezuelan boats in international waters. The suspects have not been warned, stopped or arrested. After one strike, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said, “Instead of interdicting it, on the president’s orders, we blew it up.” Trump joked, “a lot of people are deciding to not even go fishing.”

Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) denounced Trump’s killings. “It isn’t our policy just to blow people up,” Paul said, “we arrest people.” NYU law professor and former Pentagon lawyer Ryan Goodman called it “the very definition of murder.”

Trump claims the suspects are “unlawful combatants” in an “armed conflict,” but ruled out seeking a declaration of war. “We’re just gonna kill people that are bringing drugs into our country. Okay? We’re gonna kill them, you know, they’re gonna be, like, dead,” Trump said.

In Trump’s first strike, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth ordered that “’everyone be killed’ and that came from President Donald Trump.” When survivors were seen clinging to the wreckage, two more missiles blew them apart.

The Geneva Convention outlaws orders to kill survivors. Trump can’t have it both ways. He either murdered civilians or committed war crimes. Duterte must be proud.

Nancy Briganti

Carolina Shores