The U.S. military killed four suspected drug traffickers on Thursday in its latest airstrike on an alleged drug-carrying vessel, the first destroyed since a news report revealed the Pentagon ordered a “double tap” strike on one boat to kill the remaining survivors.
U.S. Southern Command announced the 22nd drug vessel strike on social media, complete with video footage of the vessel’s destruction.
“On Dec. 4, at the direction of [Secretary of War] Pete Hegseth, Joint Task Force Southern Spear conducted a lethal kinetic strike on a vessel in international waters operated by a Designated Terrorist Organization,” SOUTHCOM posted on X. “Intelligence confirmed that the vessel was carrying illicit narcotics and transiting along a known narco-trafficking route in the Eastern Pacific. Four male narco-terrorists aboard the vessel were killed.”
Last month, Hegseth announced Operation Southern Spear to more efficiently target drug-trafficking networks in the Caribbean Sea and Pacific Ocean. The last known vessel strike occurred on Nov. 15 and killed three people. It was the first strike conducted since the start of the new operation.
Thursday’s strike brings the total number of people killed to 86 since early September.
Two strikes on the same boat have recently come under scrutiny by federal lawmakers after the Washington Post reported Hegseth directed Navy Adm. Frank “Mitch” Bradley, the commander who oversaw both strikes, to leave no survivors in the Sept. 2 operation. Bradley then ordered a Navy SEAL team to eliminate two people who were still alive after the initial strike.
The Trump administration defended Bradley’s decisions earlier this week, saying he acted within his authority and the law to destroy the boat and eliminate the so-called narcoterrorists.
The Department of War has repeatedly dismissed the Washington Post report as “fake news.” The reporting was contradicted by Bradley’s closed-door briefings before Congress on Thursday when the admiral testified Hegseth had not given him a “kill them all” order, multiple lawmakers told reporters.
“Adm. Bradley was very clear that he was given no such order to, to give no quarter or kill them all,” said Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR), chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, in defense of the double strike.
Rep. Jim Himes (D-MA), ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee, said while he agreed with Cotton that the admiral confirmed there had been no “kill all” order, the video of the second strike was still “one of the most troubling things” he had ever seen. Despite being emotionally disturbed by the footage, the congressman said Bradley “did the right thing” during the operation.
“Adm. Bradley defended the decisions taken, and Adm. Bradley has a storied career, and he has my respect, and he should have the respect of all of us,” Himes said.
CONGRESS SPLIT AFTER BRIEFING FROM ADM. MITCH BRADLEY ON NOTORIOUS BOAT STRIKE
Hegseth is facing criticism from lawmakers, particularly Democrats, who claim he committed war crimes by relentlessly targeting alleged drug traffickers. There have been calls for the Pentagon chief to testify on the legality of the strikes, but the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee felt there was no need to question Hegseth after Bradley’s briefings.
“I feel confident and have no further questions of Hegseth,” Rep. Rick Crawford (R-AR) said.
