WASHINGTON, D.C. – Thursday morning, top military officials briefed a handful of members of congress regarding a September military strike on an alleged drug boat. Recent news reports claim there was a second follow-up strike on that boat that could be considered a war crime. Now, there are more questions than answers regarding these strikes.
At the center of controversy follows this video shared by the Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth on X about an early September military attack on a boat allegedly carrying drugs. In the video you see the boat in flames following the strike but recent reporting claims what is not shown in the video is a second strike on the boat. According to news reports, they claim the second strike killed survivors of the initial attack. Some lawmakers are questioning if that alleged second strike could be a war crime.
In a closed-door briefing with top military officials, some members of the Armed Services Committees and Intelligence Committees were shown video of the second strike.
“I want to thank Admiral Bradley and General Caine for coming to brief about the strikes on September 2nd, which were righteous strikes,” said Sen. Tom Cotton (R- AR), chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee. “These are narco-terrorists who are trafficking drugs that are destined for the United States to kill thousands of Arkansans and millions of Americans. The first strike, the second strike, and the third and the fourth strike on September 2nd were entirely lawful and needful and they were exactly what we’d expect our military commanders to do.”
“What I saw in that room was one of the most troubling things I’ve seen in my time in public service,” said Rep. Jim Himes (D- CT, House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence). “You have two individuals in clear distress without any means of locomotion with a destroyed vessel who were killed by the United States.”
The meeting left more questions than answers.
“I want to see the facts on that, I’d love to see the tape, the video of what the commanders saw at the time,” said Sen. Dave McCormick (R- PA) Senate Foreign Relations Committee. “If there’s an imminent threat then it’s completely within the rules of the uniformed military justice to continue to fire. If you have a combatant that is no longer armed and is no longer a threat, then the uniform code of justice says you can’t fire upon that person. You treat them as a prisoner of war or whatever it is, so I’ve heard a lot of different versions of what occurred, so I don’t know. I’m happy my colleagues in the Senate Armed Services are exploring it this morning I believe with the Admiral involved and I’m going to suspend any judgement except the facts.”
Last week a Washington Post news report claimed the Defense Secretary ordered the military to ensure everyone on the boat was killed but members said the commander who oversaw the operation told members he was not ordered by the Defense Secretary to kill everybody.
