A US military aircraft, reportedly painted to resemble a civilian plane, was used to strike a suspected drug-smuggling vessel off the Venezuelan coast last autumn. This tactic appears to contravene the Pentagon's own manual on the laws of war.
The plane, part of a clandestine US surveillance fleet, also carried its munitions within the fuselage rather than externally, further raising questions about the operation's adherence to military protocol. Such a disguise, and the method of carrying ordnance, suggests a deliberate attempt to conceal its military nature in ways that may breach established guidelines.
