Secretary of War Pete Hegseth said he is still considering whether he will allow members of Congress to view the footage of the strikes on an alleged drug boat in early September. Congressional leaders are investigating the strikes after the Washington Post reported that a follow-on strike was conducted on the survivors of the first bomb.
In a classified session, Hegseth was asked by a member of Congress if the full body would be able to view the full footage of the September 2 strikes. The Secretary of War replied, “We have to study it.”
Starting in September, the US has conducted attacks on about two dozen vessels in the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific, killing nearly 90 people. The bombing of alleged narco-terrorists has been met with criticism, including Senator Rand Paul, who labeled the strikes as extrajudicial killings.
Congress has not declared war on the narco-terrorists, and the White House has not explained what legal authority it is using to conduct the strikes.
The Post’s reporting on the September 2 strikes has sparked a firestorm of criticism from experts who have labeled the strike as murder and war crimes. According to the sources speaking with the outlet, the initial strikes on the vessel killed nine of the eleven people on board.
After the military noticed two people survived the attack, a second strike was ordered that killed the survivors. The follow-on attack was conducted on Hegseth’s orders to “kill everybody.”
The bipartisan leadership in the House and Senate has launched a probe into the attack, and is calling on the Pentagon to show all members of Congress to view the full footage.
