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U.S. troops dont understand what we're waging war against as military conflicts take their toll · INSIGHT TODAY

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  Speaker 1: For nearly a year, the United States has conducted dozens
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  Speaker 1: of deadly aerial attacks on small boats in international waters
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  Speaker 1: in the Caribbean Sea and the Eastern Pacific Ocean.
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  Speaker 2: And believe it or not, these strikes are still happening.
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  Speaker 2: According to the U.S. Southern Command, the U.S.
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  Speaker 1: Killed four unnamed people in a strike on a boat
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  Speaker 1: in the Caribbean Sea yesterday and another two in a
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  Speaker 1: strike on Sunday in the Eastern Pacific. By MSNOW's ongoing count,
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  Speaker 1: the United States has killed at least 227 unnamed people
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  Speaker 1: in 68 strikes. The administration claims that the boats are
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  Speaker 1: carrying illicit drugs from Venezuela to American shores and says
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  Speaker 1: the people on board are members of a narco-terrorist drug cartel.
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  Speaker 3: U.S.
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  Speaker 1: Government has put forth absolutely no evidence, not once, to
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  Speaker 1: prove that these boats are carrying drugs, are heading to
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  Speaker 1: the United States, or are manned by people involved in
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  Speaker 1: the drug trade. Besides which, drug trafficking is not a
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  Speaker 1: crime that is punishable by death in the United States.
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  Speaker 1: And killing people as if they are wartime combatants instead
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  Speaker 1: of arresting them is illegal under international law.
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  Speaker 2: And while the administration calls the people killed in U.S.
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  Speaker 1: Strikes, quote, unlawful combatants, meaning participants in a war, and
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  Speaker 1: while the administration has publicly stated that America is, quote,
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  Speaker 1: waging war, end quote, there's been no declaration of war
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  Speaker 1: from Congress or authorization for the use of non-war military
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  Speaker 1: force as mandated by law.
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  Speaker 2: The administration hasn't even asked for that.
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  Speaker 1: So either these strikes violate international law and essentially amount
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  Speaker 1: to extrajudicial killings, or the U.S. is in an illegal
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  Speaker 1: and undeclared war. No matter how these strikes are viewed, rationalized,
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  Speaker 1: or justified, they are illegal. And you'll recall that these
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  Speaker 1: strikes are what led six lawmakers, all with military and
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  Speaker 1: intelligence backgrounds, to release a video reminding U.S. service members
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  Speaker 1: that they swore an oath to the Constitution and the law,
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  Speaker 1: and that they have a duty to refuse illegal and
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  Speaker 1: unlawful orders. Well, Trump called that reminder, quote, seditious behavior
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  Speaker 1: punishable by death, end quote. At the same time, these
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  Speaker 1: illegal boat strikes are happening. We're nearing the six month
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  Speaker 1: mark since the start of another illegal military conflict initiated by.
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  Speaker 2: President Trump, the war with Iran.
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  Speaker 1: Today, Trump told Al Jazeera that he's, quote, not in
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  Speaker 1: a hurry and has no time schedule at all to
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  Speaker 1: return to talks to end the war because, quote, we're
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  Speaker 1: winning very big, end quote. New MSNOW reporting reveals what
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  Speaker 1: a tangible and profound effect these illegal strikes, orders and
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  Speaker 1: wars are having on American service members. MSNOW's Priya Sridhar
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  Speaker 1: and Peggy Hellman spoke to five troops who want out
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  Speaker 1: of the military because what they saw in recent months
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  Speaker 1: challenged their moral beliefs. Quote, the reason they cited included
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  Speaker 1: being ordered to violate international law, seeing the civilian death
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  Speaker 1: toll as a result of American military intervention surge and
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  Speaker 1: their concerns over extended deployments with no clear mission or strategy.
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  Speaker 2: End quote.
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  Speaker 1: MSNOW has also learned that the number of service members
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  Speaker 1: seeking a formal discharge from the military as conscientious objectors
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  Speaker 1: has skyrocketed. That's according to two groups that helped them
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  Speaker 1: file their applications. One group has even seen applications increase
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  Speaker 1: by six times their normal rate since the start of
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  Speaker 1: the war with Iran, adding that the rate right now
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  Speaker 1: is higher than at any point in the past 25 years.
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  Speaker 1: That means it's higher than at any point during the
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  Speaker 1: wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Joining me now is the
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  Speaker 1: MSNOW reporter behind that important reporting, MSNOW's Pentagon reporter Priya Sridhar.
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  Speaker 1: Priya is also an officer in the United States Navy Reserve. Priya,
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  Speaker 1: thanks for being with us. We appreciate your time. You
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  Speaker 1: have a couple of huge stories out just today. But
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  Speaker 1: this this issue of soldier morale, of conscientious objecting in
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  Speaker 1: an environment where we're not in a draft. These are
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  Speaker 1: people who signed up to be in the military. They
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  Speaker 1: they they they knew what they were getting into. And
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  Speaker 1: they're what is it? Is this morale? Is this what's
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  Speaker 1: going on?
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  Speaker 4: Yeah, I think it's a little bit of everything.
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  Speaker 3: And I think it's even more fascinating given the fact
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  Speaker 3: that we consistently hear from Secretary of Defense Pete Hegsett
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  Speaker 3: that we're seeing record numbers of recruits joining the military.
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  Speaker 4: And I think one of the things that's unique about.
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  Speaker 3: These conscientious objectors in comparison to years past is that
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  Speaker 3: some of them have been in the military for more
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  Speaker 3: than 10 years.
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  Speaker 4: A lot of the activists that.
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  Speaker 3: I spoke to who helped these applicants try to exit
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  Speaker 3: the military, we're saying that they represent all enlisted and
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  Speaker 3: officer ranks up to major.
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  Speaker 4: Many of them have attended service.
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  Speaker 3: Academies like West Point and the Naval Academy.
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  Speaker 4: So these aren't people simply.
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  Speaker 3: Who stumbled into the military or who only have been
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  Speaker 3: there for a year or two. These are people who
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  Speaker 3: were incredibly patriotic and chose the military as a career
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  Speaker 3: because they believed that they were serving our country.
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  Speaker 4: And I spoke to one service.
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  Speaker 3: Member who was deployed in support of Operation Epic Fury, which,
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  Speaker 3: of course, is the military campaign, the war in Iran.
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  Speaker 3: And this service member told me that they were being
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  Speaker 3: ordered to target and bomb civilian infrastructure, which, as we
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  Speaker 3: both know, is a violation of international humanitarian law, according
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  Speaker 3: to the Geneva Conventions. And when the service member tried
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  Speaker 3: to bring up those concerns with their chain of command,
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  Speaker 3: they were told repeatedly, no, these people, Bridges and other
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  Speaker 3: pieces of civilian infrastructure are actually dual use. So they're
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  Speaker 3: used both for civilian purposes and and for military purposes.
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  Speaker 3: But of course, that justification wasn't good enough for this
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  Speaker 3: service member. I also spoke to two service members who
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  Speaker 3: were deployed in support of Operation Southern Spear, which you
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  Speaker 3: spoke about, these boat strikes that have been conducted over
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  Speaker 3: the last year. And they told me, just as you outlined,
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  Speaker 3: that they didn't believe as though there was sufficient evidence
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  Speaker 3: or justification that the people that they were bombing and
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  Speaker 3: killing in these strikes on these small vessels were in fact,
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  Speaker 3: quote unquote, narco-terrorists, they were concerned that they were perhaps
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  Speaker 3: killing innocent fishermen. So it's a combination of being concerned
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  Speaker 3: that they're violating international law. Another common theme I heard
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  Speaker 3: from all of them was the surge in civilian deaths,
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  Speaker 3: many of them citing that Manab school bombing, which killed,
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  Speaker 3: of course, 150 schoolgirls and teachers. Of course, the United
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  Speaker 3: States hasn't taken any responsibility for that, but it's still
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  Speaker 3: under investigation right now. And then that last piece, Ali,
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  Speaker 3: which circles back to a lot of my reporting that
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  Speaker 3: I've been doing on the USS Abraham Lincoln, what I've
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  Speaker 3: heard from the service members and their families, which is
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  Speaker 3: just that these folks don't understand.
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  Speaker 4: What it is that we're waging war against. They thought
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  Speaker 4: that the.
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  Speaker 3: In the name of national defense, not to just go
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  Speaker 3: around the world. In one case, one of the service
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  Speaker 3: members said this to me, just bombing people randomly. And
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  Speaker 3: that's basically how they feel right now.
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  Speaker 1: You were this other reporting you have tonight on the
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  Speaker 1: 19 year old sailor who jumped off the USS Lincoln
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  Speaker 1: earlier this month and what his wife has described as
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  Speaker 1: an attempt to take his own life. He now faces
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  Speaker 1: disciplinary action from the Navy, again, according to his wife
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  Speaker 1: and charging documents that you've reviewed. Family members of those
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  Speaker 1: serving on board that ship have told MS now their
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  Speaker 1: loved ones have described emotional strain, mental health problems over
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  Speaker 1: the course of an unusually long deployment. And again, long
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  Speaker 1: deployments are one thing. understanding what the purpose of the
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  Speaker 1: deployment is, is yet another in order to maintain morale
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  Speaker 1: of the soldiers and sailors out there.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, there are so many contributing factors, I think, that are,
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  Speaker 3: you know, making morale on.
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  Speaker 4: That ship low.
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  Speaker 3: And just in general, one is the continuous extension of
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  Speaker 3: the deployment and not knowing when exactly they're going to
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  Speaker 3: return home, not having a port call, the conditions that
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  Speaker 3: we've discussed so much, not having food supply shortages and
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  Speaker 3: And then also the simple exhaustion of working these 12
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  Speaker 3: to 14 hour days. So now we've learned that this
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  Speaker 3: 19 year old sailor who did, in fact, jump off
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  Speaker 3: the ship on August 3rd and was medically evacuated back
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  Speaker 3: to San Diego is now facing disciplinary charges from the Navy.
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  Speaker 3: They're alleging that he violated two different articles of the
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  Speaker 3: Uniform Code of Military Justice. One of them is that
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  Speaker 3: he basically faked his illness or injury to avoid arrest.
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  Speaker 3: And the other one is that he left his post
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  Speaker 3: without authorization.
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  Speaker 4: Oh, my God. A therapy appointment was today.
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  Speaker 3: He went to the hospital for five days, but she
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  Speaker 3: said in the course of those five days, they were
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  Speaker 3: mainly doing physical checkups and, you know, checking his vitals.
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  Speaker 3: And instead, it looks like they're spending most of their
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  Speaker 3: time trying to figure out how to punish the sailor.
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  Speaker 4: And ultimately, Ali, his pay could be docked by half.
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  Speaker 3: And he's 19 years old. He has a five month
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  Speaker 3: old and a three and a half year old. He
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  Speaker 3: joined the Navy to give a better life for his
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  Speaker 3: family and provide financial stability to them.