On Thursday (4), high-ranking American military officials showed members of the US Congress a video clip of the attack on a ship in the Caribbean Sea on September 2, when Washington killed survivors of the first explosion.
Operations in the region, which have been ongoing for three months under the pretext of combating drug smuggling, have gained new features with these accusations, because killing the wounded in attacks, even in the event of armed conflict, is illegal, according to international law.
Those responsible for showing the footage to parliamentarians were Admiral Frank Mitchell Bradley, head of Joint Special Operations Command at the time, and Dan Kean, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. It is unclear whether video of the second attack will be released, although President Donald Trump has said he has no problem releasing the footage.
Rep. Jim Himes of Connecticut, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, told reporters: “You have two people in clear danger, without any means of transportation, with a destroyed ship, killed by the United States.”
He continued that the video was “one of the most disturbing things” he had ever seen, but Bradley reportedly told lawmakers that he had not received an order to kill everyone on board — which Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth did, according to a report in The Washington Post.
Jack Reed of Rhode Island, the top Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee, said he was “deeply disturbed” and said the video should be released to the public. “This briefing confirmed my worst fears about the nature of the Trump administration’s military activities,” Reed added in a statement.
The aforementioned accident led to the death of 11 people. The United States accuses them, without providing concrete evidence, of being drug traffickers – just like dozens of people killed in 20 other attacks since then.
Reports of two bombings have increased pressure on Hegseth, who had already come under fire this year after a Pentagon investigation found he was responsible for using the Signal messaging app on his personal device to send sensitive information about planned attacks in Yemen that was leaked to the press.
Republicans came to Bradley and Hegseth’s defense.
“I saw two survivors trying to capsize a ship loaded with drugs headed to the United States so they could continue the fight,” said Tom Cotton of Arkansas, the Republican chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee. He claims that other boats suspected of carrying drugs can recover the drugs on board.
Republican Representative Rick Crawford of Arkansas and a member of the House Intelligence Committee issued a statement saying the attacks were lawful.
Before the news conference, a US official said Bradley, who now heads US Special Operations Command, would tell lawmakers that the survivors were legitimate targets for a second strike because he believed their ship still contained illicit drugs.
International law does not permit attacks against people who do not pose an imminent danger, unless they are enemy combatants in the context of armed conflict – which is not the case in the Caribbean. Even if the United States were at war with drug traffickers, the latter would actually constitute a war crime, because soldiers injured, out of combat, or who have surrendered have a right to protection.
Under Trump, the United States is carrying out the largest military mobilization in Latin America in decades. Hardline members of the Trump administration, such as Secretary of State Marco Rubio, are behind the scenes advocating military intervention aimed at removing dictator Nicolas Maduro from power.
The United States has already deployed massive firepower in the waters around Venezuela, including the aircraft carrier USS Gerald Ford, the world’s largest warship.