🔥 Read this awesome post from PBS NewsHour – Politics 📖
📂 Category: Boat Strikes,military strikes,pentagon,tom cotton
💡 Here’s what you’ll learn:
A new bipartisan divide opened up after senior U.S. military officers showed Congress video of multiple strikes on a boat in the Caribbean in early September. Republicans supported the Special Operations Commander’s decision to target survivors of the first strike, while Democrats accused the Commander of targeting shipwreck. Nick Schifrin reports.
Amna Nawaz:
Welcome to the News Hour.
A new bipartisan divide opened up after senior U.S. military officers showed Congress video of multiple strikes on a boat in the Caribbean in early September. Republicans supported the Special Operations Forces commander’s decision to target survivors of the first strike in the administration’s campaign against alleged drug boats.
Jeff Bennett:
But Democrats accused the commander of targeting a shipwreck, which would constitute a violation of international law. Both sides agreed that Minister Hegseth had not given what would have been an illegal order to kill everyone on board.
Nic Schifrin begins our coverage.
a question:
Admiral, General, what is your message to the American people?
Nick Shiffrin:
On Capitol Hill today, the top U.S. military officer and the admiral at the center of the controversial strike gave their version and revealed more videos of the Sept. 2 attack targeting what the administration says were 11 drug-trafficking terrorists.
Adm. Frank Mitch Bradley and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Kean told lawmakers in classified briefings that the first strike killed nine people, and that after the first strike, the boat was still seaworthy, the men on board were still carrying drugs and communications, meaning they were still combatants, and a rescue boat was approaching, a U.S. official told “PBS News Hour.”
Bradley then ordered a second strike 30 to 60 minutes later to kill two more people. The third and fourth strikes sank the boat.
Republicans have embraced this narrative, including Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Tom Cotton.
Senator Tom Cotton (R-AR):
I saw two survivors trying to turn back a boat loaded with drugs bound for the United States so they could stay in the fight. The first, second, third and fourth strikes on September 2 were entirely legitimate and necessary, and exactly what we expected our military leaders to do.
Nick Shiffrin:
But one of the lawmakers who criticized today’s briefing told “PBS News Hour” that the ship capsized due to the first strike and nearly sank. The survivors had no means of communication and it was not clear whether a nearby boat would come to their rescue.
House Intelligence Ranking Member Jim Himes:
Rep. Jim Himes (D-CT):
What I saw in that room was one of the most disturbing things I have ever seen in my time in public service. You have two people in obvious distress, with no means of transportation, with a destroyed ship, killed by the United States.
Any American who saw the video I saw would see the United States military attacking shipwrecked sailors.
Nick Shiffrin:
But there was bipartisan agreement that Minister Pete Hegseth had not issued a written or verbal order before the strikes to kill everyone on board.
Senator Tom Cotton:
Admiral Bradley was very clear that he had not issued such an order.
Representative Jim Himes:
The Admiral emphasized that there was no order to “kill them all.”
Nick Shiffrin:
The US Army says that, since September, it has launched 21 strikes, killing more than 80 people, in a mission aimed at saving the lives of Americans from drugs. Cotton said today that the United States struck this submarine in mid-October, and instead of targeting the survivors, it rescued them, because unlike the previous case, their ship was no longer seaworthy.
Senator Tom Cotton:
They were treated, as they should be, as non-combatants. They were arrested by American forces.
Nick Shiffrin:
Democrats and many former military lawyers still question whether an all-out campaign is legal. But when it comes to the September 2 strike, Republicans who lead Congress appear satisfied with the military and administration’s explanations.
On the “PBS News Hour,” I’m Nick Schifrin.
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