Washington defends September attack on alleged drug vessel as lawful
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is facing growing pressure over a Washington Post report that he ordered the military to “kill everybody” in a boat strike in the Caribbean.
Washington (dpa) - White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt on Monday said that a September attack on an alleged drug boat from Venezuela was lawful, after media reports that the US killed survivors of the initial attack with a follow-up strike that may amount to war crimes.
"On September 2, Secretary [of Defense Pete] Hegseth authorized Admiral [Frank] Bradley to conduct these kinetic strikes," Leavitt told reporters at the White House.
"Admiral Bradley worked well within his authority and the law, directing the engagement to ensure the boat was destroyed and the threat to the United States of America was eliminated," Leavitt continued.
"President [Donald] Trump and Secretary Hegseth have made it clear that presidentially designated narco-terrorist groups are subject to lethal targeting in accordance with the laws of war," Leavitt stressed.
"Kill everybody"
Last week, the Washington Post reported, citing sources, that Hegseth gave a spoken directive. "The order was to kill everybody," one of the sources reportedly said.
Broadcaster CNN reported that, after the military assessed there were survivors following a first strike, it killed the remaining crew, bringing the death toll to 11.
"Our current operations in the Caribbean are lawful under both U.S. and international law, with all actions in compliance with the law of armed conflict—and approved by the best military and civilian lawyers, up and down the chain of command," Hegseth said in a post on X last week, speaking of "fabricated, inflammatory, and derogatory reporting."
The operation in question was the first in what has since become a regular occurrence. The US military has repeatedly fired on boats of suspected drug smugglers in the Caribbean, killing more than 80 people, according to US figures.
The actions have drawn widespread criticism, partly because Washington initially failed to provide a legal justification for the strikes.
The Trump administration has declared the drug cartels to be terrorist organizations.
Venezuela accuses Washington of wanting to bring about regime change there.
Trump: 'I wouldn't have wanted' a second strike
On Sunday, Trump said that Hegseth denied ordering to kill everyone.
"I don't know anything about it... He said he did not say that and I believe him," Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One.
Asked about whether he would have wanted a second strike to kill survivors, Trump said: "No, I wouldn't have wanted that. Not a second strike. The first strike was very lethal. It was fine. And if there were two people around, but Pete said that didn't happen."
Bipartisan concern
US lawmakers have expressed concern about the reports of a follow-up strike.
A joint statement from Republican Senator Roger Wicker and Democratic Senator Jack Reed said the Senate Armed Services Committee "is aware of recent news reports — and the Department of Defense's initial response — regarding alleged follow-on strikes on suspected narcotics vessels in the SOUTHCOM area of responsibility.
"The Committee has directed inquiries to the Department, and we will be conducting vigorous oversight to determine the facts related to these circumstances," the statement continued.
Similarly, the House Armed Services Committee said it was "taking bipartisan action to gather a full accounting of the operation in question."
War crime suspicion
Democratic senators Chris Van Hollen and Tim Kaine, who sit on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, on Sunday said that a second strike to take out survivors would be a war crime.
"If that reporting is true, it's a clear violation of the [Department of Defense's] own laws of war, as well as international laws about the way you treat people who are in that circumstance. And so this rises to the level of a war crime if it's true," Kaine told CBS News.
Van Hollen told ABC News that he thought "it's very possible there was a war crime committed. Of course, for there to be a war crime you have to accept the Trump administration's whole construct here, which is that we are in armed conflict... with drug gangs."
Van Hollen continued that "it's either murder from the first strike, if their whole theory is wrong... but even if you accept their legal theory, then it is a war crime."