{"id":55670,"date":"2025-11-29T17:24:17","date_gmt":"2025-11-29T17:24:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/55670\/"},"modified":"2025-11-29T17:24:17","modified_gmt":"2025-11-29T17:24:17","slug":"hegseth-dismisses-report-he-demanded-no-survivors-be-left-in-drug-boat-strike","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/55670\/","title":{"rendered":"Hegseth dismisses report he demanded no survivors be left in drug boat strike"},"content":{"rendered":"

War Secretary Pete Hegseth<\/a> defiantly dismissed a report Friday alleging he ordered no survivors be left ahead of the first military strike on a drug smuggling boat in the Caribbean Sea in September.\u00a0<\/p>\n

A Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) commander reportedly ordered a second airstrike on the speed boat carrying 11 \u201cTren de Aragua Narcoterrorists\u201d<\/a> on Sept. 2 after the first strike left two people clinging to the wreckage, according to the Washington Post<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The call for a second strike was allegedly given in response to a verbal order from Hegseth to \u201ckill everybody,\u201d the outlet reported.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Hegseth was adamant Friday that the military campaign against alleged narcoterrorists in the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific is \u201clawful.\u201d ORLANDO BARRIA\/EPA\/Shutterstock<\/p>\n

\u201cAs usual, the fake news is delivering more fabricated, inflammatory, and derogatory reporting to discredit our incredible warriors fighting to protect the homeland,\u201d Hegseth wrote on X<\/a> after the report dropped.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cAs we\u2019ve said from the beginning, and in every statement, these highly effective strikes are specifically intended to be \u2018lethal, kinetic strikes,\u2019\u201d the Pentagon chief continued. \u201cThe declared intent is to stop lethal drugs, destroy narco-boats, and kill the narco-terrorists who are poisoning the American people.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery trafficker we kill is affiliated with a Designated Terrorist Organization.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Echoing Hegseth, Pentagon press secretary Kingsley Wilson argued<\/a>: \u201cEvery lethal kinetic strike against narco-terrorists is:1) Completely legal\u00a0 2) Conducted against the operations of a Designated Terrorist Organization\u00a0 3) In defense of vital U.S. national interests.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

President Trump shared footage of the Sept. 2 attack \u2013 the first of more than a dozen military strikes targeting suspected drug smugglers<\/a> in the Caribbean Sea and Eastern Pacific \u2013 showing only the first missile hitting the speed boat, and seemingly obliterating it.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Washington Post claims a total of four missiles were fired at the boat: Two to kill the crewmember and two to sink the vessel.\u00a0<\/p>\n

JSOC reportedly explained to the White House and congressional lawmakers that multiple strikes were needed to remove potential navigational hazards to other ships.\u00a0<\/p>\n

A person who watched a live feed of the second lethal strike told the outlet that the public \u201cwould be horrified\u201d if they saw the footage.\u00a0<\/p>\n

After the Sept. 2 strike, protocols were reportedly changed to emphasize rescuing survivors, according to the report.<\/p>\n

More than a dozen suspected drug boats have been sunk as part of Operation Southern Spear. US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth’s X Account\/AFP via Getty Images<\/p>\n

The Trump administration has shared several videos of the alleged drug smugglers being blasted at sea. US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth’s X Account\/AFP via Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Biden administration preferred the kid gloves approach, allowing millions of people \u2014 including dangerous cartels and unvetted Afghans \u2014 to flood our communities with drugs and violence,\u201d Hegseth\u2019s post continued. \u201cThe Trump administration has sealed the border and gone on offense against narco-terrorists.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cBiden coddled terrorists, we kill them.\u201d<\/p>\n

The war secretary argued that the strikes against suspected narcoterrorists, part of a campaign dubbed \u201cOperation Southern Spear,\u201d are \u201clawful under both US and international law, with all actions in compliance with the law of armed conflict \u2014 and approved by the best military and civilian lawyers, up and down the chain of command.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Democratic lawmakers vowed to investigate and prosecute anyone who gave \u201cillegal orders\u201d in response to the report.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe idea that wreckage from one small boat in a vast ocean is a hazard to marine traffic is patently absurd, and killing survivors is blatantly illegal,\u201d Rep. Seth Moulton (D-Mass.), wrote on X<\/a>. \u201cMark my words: It may take some time, but Americans will be prosecuted for this, either as a war crime or outright murder.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rep. Eugene Vindman (D-Va.) warned Hegseth that he will be \u201cheld accountable for illegal orders you give.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis demands Congressional investigation, and the unredacted video of the strike and radio recordings of the orders given need to be shared with Congress and the American people immediately,\u201d Vindman added<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Rep. Ted Lieu (R-Calif.) said \u201cnothing\u201d in the classified legal memo or military law being used to the justify the operation \u201cauthorizes a second kinetic strike against defenseless survivors.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIf the reports are true, then a war crime was committed,\u201d Lieu claimed<\/a>. \u201cAlso, there is generally no statute of limitations for war crimes.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

The White House did not immediately respond to The Post\u2019s request for comment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"War Secretary Pete Hegseth defiantly dismissed a report Friday alleging he ordered no survivors be left ahead of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":55671,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[858,153,7317,661,9,11,10,1351,87,30305,58,5561],"class_list":{"0":"post-55670","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"tag-congress","9":"tag-donald-trump","10":"tag-drugs","11":"tag-military","12":"tag-new-york","13":"tag-new-york-headlines","14":"tag-new-york-news","15":"tag-pete-hegseth","16":"tag-politics","17":"tag-the-pentagon","18":"tag-us-news","19":"tag-white-house"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55670","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=55670"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55670\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/55671"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=55670"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=55670"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=55670"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}