Letter to the editor: Trump's boat killings wreck alliances

First published in the Brunswick Beacon, 01.01.26

The U.S. is losing its ability to gather intelligence from allies because Trump is killing civilians in international waters, including survivors of missile strikes clinging helplessly to boat wreckage.

Adm. Frank Bradley told lawmakers he ordered a strike against survivors to comply with Secretary of War Pete Hegseth’s command to destroy a boat and its cargo. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Bradley acted “well within his authority” in launching the second strike. Hegseth said, “I watched that first strike live,” but had “a lot of things to do, so I didn’t stick around” to see if there were survivors. Hegseth said the second strike “was the right call.”

When he realized that his extrajudicial killings alienated America’s most important allies, a defensive Trump said, “I wouldn’t have wanted that — not a second strike. The first strike was very lethal.”

Too late. France’s foreign minister, Jean-Noël Barrot, said, “We have followed with concern the strikes by the U.S. in international waters, in disregard of international law.” U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk called them “unacceptable extrajudicial killings.” Citing “human rights violations,” the Netherlands restricted information-sharing with the U.S.

For 30 years, Colombia shared counter-narcotics intelligence with the U.S. Not anymore. Colombian President Gustavo Petro called the strikes “murder.” Petro told the U.N. General Assembly, “Criminal proceedings must be opened” against U.S. officials, “even if it includes the highest-ranking official who gave the order: President Trump.”

The U.S., U.K., Canada, Australia and New Zealand make up the “Five Eyes,” the world’s preeminent intelligence-sharing alliance. Because of Trump’s extrajudicial killings, Canada limited the intelligence it shares with the U.S. Britain no longer shares intelligence it gathers from its five Caribbean territories because it believes Trump’s killings are murders and refuses to be complicit.

Trump’s summary execution of civilian suspects without due process cast alliances overboard, set America’s moral compass adrift, and turned Five Eyes into Three Blind Mice.

Michael Rush

Leland