But one of the sources familiar with the matter said the reasoning didn’t hold up given the intensive planning that supposedly went into the operation and the months-long buildup of US military assets in the region. The intentional disguising of a military aircraft as civilian in order to trick enemy combatants would be an act of perfidy, defined in the Defense Department’s Law of War Manual as an act that invites the confidence of the enemy to believe they are entitled to protection, with the intent to betray that confidence. If the US was in a legitimate armed conflict and the law of war applied, the issue would be perfidy “if the intent was to induce the boat crew’s reliance on a belief that the aircraft was non-threatening” in order to get them not to fight back or flee, Daniel Maurer, a retired Army lieutenant colonel and former judge advocate, told CNN.
Author: Haley Britzky, Natasha Bertrand, Zachary Cohen, Jennifer Hansler
Published at: 2026-01-13 22:01:12
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