Ryan Goodman says a U.N. expert's crimes-against-humanity finding on the boat strikes "is not wrong"
Ryan GoodmanLaw professor and co-editor-in-chief of Just Security, posting on Bluesky
In a Bluesky post on the evening of September 20, Goodman wrote "He is not wrong" above a passage from U.N. Special Rapporteur Ben Saul's briefing note saying there are reasonable grounds to believe the 68 attacks it counts "constituted crimes against humanity of murder under customary international law".
“He is not wrong. "There are reasonable grounds to believe that the reported 68 attacks that killed 223 people constituted crimes against humanity of murder under customary international law"”
Original post
Original text
Where this statement fits
Was the U.S. military's September 19 Caribbean boat strike justified by evidence of narcotics trafficking?
On September 19, 2026, U.S. Southern Command announced that Joint Task Force Western Hemisphere had struck a go-fast vessel in the Caribbean Sea and killed four people it called "narco-terrorists". The command said "Confirmed intelligence revealed the vessel's active involvement in narco-trafficking". According to The Associated Press, the military did not provide evidence that the vessel was carrying drugs. On September 20, U.N. Special Rapporteur Ben Saul posted a briefing note concluding that U.S. strikes on alleged drug boats since September 2025 amount to "serial extrajudicial killings" and that there are "reasonable grounds to believe" the 68 attacks he counted through August 2026 "constituted crimes against humanity of murder". White House spokesperson Anna Kelly said on September 22 that the strikes have been "against designated narcoterrorists". The dispute is whether the intelligence Southern Command cites, which it did not release with its announcement, justified the September 19 strike.
Source and context
Original post
About this source
Bluesky thread by Ryan Goodman quoting passages from the U.N. Special Rapporteur's briefing note on U.S. strikes on alleged drug boats. The first post quotes the note's conclusion that there are reasonable grounds to believe 68 attacks constituted crimes against humanity of murder.
Archived copy (opens in a new tab)Original text
About this source
Briefing note by the U.N. Special Rapporteur assessing the U.S. strikes on alleged drug boats from September 2025 to August 2026 under international law. The OHCHR web page for the note lists it as published on September 15, 2026, and Saul posted it on X on September 20.
Archived copy (opens in a new tab)Before the quotation
Goodman posted the comment at 8:36 p.m. Eastern time on September 20, 2026, as the first of four posts quoting passages from Saul's briefing note on U.S. strikes on alleged drug boats.
After the quotation
The next posts in the thread quote the note's statements that there is growing evidence the approach has not been effective in reducing drug trafficking to the United States and that the military operations had cost an estimated US$4.7 billion by mid-2026.
How this statement is classified
The label describes this statement's response within the context above.
Why this label?
Relative to the strike campaign that includes the September 19 strike and its legal basis, Goodman endorses Saul's conclusion that the attacks constituted crimes against humanity of murder, which is an express condemnation of the conduct.
- Recorded on
- Published here
More from this case
Read the full caseRachel VanLandingham says international condemnation makes it clearer the boat strikes are unlawful
“For the vast majority of service members, except perhaps the senior-most commanders, there is both no safe recourse for them to disobey orders related to the illegal boat strikes and at the same time, there is no exposure to criminal liability for them either … Yes, the growing international condemnation makes it clearer that these strikes are unlawful, but doesn’t overcome the White House’s own legal sanitization process and doesn’t create a legal duty for any service member to disobey their boat strike-related orders”Read statement
Southern Command tells Task & Purpose its operations have been conducted lawfully
U.S. Southern Command
“have been conducted lawfully, fully complying with the law of armed conflict”Read statement
Chuy Garcia calls the Caribbean and Pacific boat strikes illegal extrajudicial killings
“Donald Trump is dropping bombs across the Caribbean and Pacific in blatant violation of the law and of fundamental human rights … This has done nothing to stop the flow of drugs or to make Americans safer. Instead, it has left hundreds dead, families devastated, and communities in fear. Let us call these attacks what they are: illegal extrajudicial killings.”Read statement
Cite this record
- Publisher
- The Dispute Index
- Title
- Ryan Goodman says a U.N. expert's crimes-against-humanity finding on the boat strikes "is not wrong"
- First published
- Last updated
- Permalink
- https://disputeindex.com/events/2743-in-a-bluesky-post-on-the-evening-of
Last updated marks the most recent saved version of this published statement.
The Dispute Index. "Ryan Goodman says a U.N. expert's crimes-against-humanity finding on the boat strikes "is not wrong"". First published: 2026-09-26. Last updated: 2026-09-26. https://disputeindex.com/events/2743-in-a-bluesky-post-on-the-evening-of