Last week, The Washington Post revealed that the U.S. military had cold-bloodedly finished off survivors of a drone attack on an alleged drug trafficker boat. Unlike previous attacks, military officials ordered a second projectile to be launched to eliminate those who remained alive in international waters, violating all conventions and combat practices of U.S. troops. According to the newspaper, the order came directly from the Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth, who requested that "they kill them all."
Since then, the issue continues to impact the Government and President Donald Trump. In recent days, Trump, who went to Florida for Thanksgiving and did not return until Sunday, said that he knew nothing about the matter, had not given any orders in that regard, and was not aware that Hegseth, probably the most controversial member of his Administration (both during his confirmation process and now, due to dozens of successive scandals), had done something like that.
This Monday, White House spokesperson, Karoline Leavitt, struggled to justify what happened while simultaneously exonerating the President and the Secretary of War. In a briefing, Leavitt confirmed that Hegseth authorized the attack, but without expressly giving the order to finish off the survivors, something that Admiral Frank Bradley did. "President Trump and Secretary Hegseth have made it clear that designated narcoterrorist groups are subject to lethal attacks in accordance with the laws of war. Regarding the attacks on September 2, Secretary Hegseth authorized Admiral Bradley to carry out these kinetic attacks," Leavitt stated. "The admiral acted effectively, within the framework of his authority and the law, to ensure the destruction of the ship and the elimination of the threat to the United States of America," she added.
The White House asserts that what happened, a second attack on survivors who for obvious reasons did not pose a direct threat in the water to the U.S. or the military, was completely legal and in legitimate self-defense. "The President has the right to eliminate them if they threaten the United States, if they bring illegal narcotics that are killing our citizens at a record pace, which is what they are doing," she concluded, reiterating that the means are appropriate to protect Americans and that everything happened "in international waters and in accordance with the law of armed conflict."
Over the weekend, numerous congressmen and senators have expressed concern about the Post report, the Executive's messages, and the seriousness of the orders, especially because there is a very strong national controversy after six Democrats, all with military experience, made a video urging soldiers not to follow illegal orders, citing the military Justice code. This led Trump to threaten to accuse them of sedition, to talk about death penalties for treason, and Hegseth himself to threaten one of them, Senator Mark Kelly, with reinstating him to active duty to be tried by a court-martial.
"This rises to the level of a war crime if true," warned Senator Tim Kaine of Virginia. "Obviously, if that happened, it would be very serious, and I agree that it would be an illegal act," acknowledged Congressman Mike Turner, Republican from Ohio. The heads of the House and Senate Armed Services Committees, both Republicans, have promised to investigate what happened. "We take reports of consecutive attacks on vessels allegedly transporting drugs in the Southern Command region very seriously and will take steps to obtain a full report on the operation," Congressman Mike Rogers promised in a statement. "We will conduct rigorous oversight," added Roger Wicker, Senate Committee Chairman.
The opposition plans to reintroduce a resolution demanding the prohibition of war against Venezuela without Congressional approval, after a similar text did not pass in early November. "The idea failed, but that was before all this data accumulated around Venezuela and before President Trump said that the airspace should be closed," Senator Kaine pointed out on Sunday on CBS's Face the Nation program.