“What I saw in that room was one of the most disturbing things I have ever seen in my public career.” Connecticut Representative Jim Himes, the Democratic leader of the House Intelligence Committee, expressed himself this way after watching the video of the September 2 attack that the Pentagon showed behind closed doors in which two survivors were seen being killed: “There are two people in clear danger, with a destroyed boat, killed by the United States.”
On the same day that Admiral Frank “Mitch” Bradley appeared before Congress to provide explanations for this attack, the US military reported a new sinking in the eastern Pacific Ocean.
“On December 4, at the direction of Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, the Combined Joint Task Force carried out a deadly attack on a vessel in international waters operated by a designated terrorist organization. Intelligence confirmed that it was transporting illicit drugs and transiting a known drug trafficking route in the eastern Pacific Ocean. Four male narco-terrorists on board were killed.”
This brings the number to 87 extrajudicial killings in total. Without trial and without evidence for defenseless civilians.
The attacks against alleged “drug boats,” which began on September 2 in Caribbean and eastern Pacific waters and, three months later, began to impact the Trump administration. Such is Secretary of War Pete Hegseth Under pressure from the Senate and House of Representatives to order the elimination of two survivors of the first sinkingWhich ended in 11 extrajudicial killings.
Both Republicans and Democrats in Congress have opened investigations into what would constitute a war crime to execute people adrift, and this Thursday the commander who ordered the second attack, according to the Trump administration, Admiral Frank “Mitch” Bradley, appeared at the Capitol.
The admiral told lawmakers that there was no order to “kill them all” from Hegseth, according to Sen. Tom Cotton, who chairs the Senate Intelligence Committee.
Hegseth defended the second attack as something that arose in the “fog of war,” noting during Tuesday’s Cabinet meeting at the White House that he did not see any survivors, but he did not witness the rest of the mission either.
The Defense Secretary also said that Bradley, as Admiral Commander, “made the correct decision” in ordering the second strike, over which he “had full authority.”
President Donald Trump was asked on Wednesday whether he would release the video of the subsequent attack, as Democrats had demanded, and he replied: “I don’t know what they have, but whatever it is, we’ll definitely release it. No problem.”
A subsequent attack at the end of September prompted the family of a Colombian citizen to file a formal complaint with the main human rights monitoring body in the Americas. The petition filed by Alejandro Carranza’s family alleges that the army bombed their fishing boat on September 15, in violation of human rights conventions.
Congress wants to stop the attacks
The House sat inactive for nearly two months because Republicans did not want political pressure during the government shutdown. But once overcome, the recorded resolutions pile up to avoid the attack on Venezuela, which Donald Trump has been sending since September.
The latest resolution, recorded Tuesday, reads: “Congress directs the President to withdraw U.S. armed forces from hostilities within Venezuela or against this country, unless expressly authorized by a declaration of war or a specific statutory authorization for the use of military force.”
This decision was promoted by Massachusetts Democratic Representative James McGovern, and supported by Kentucky Republican Thomas Massie.
On Wednesday, Senate Democrats, along with Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), introduced another war powers resolution to prevent the White House from using the military in hostilities with Venezuela without congressional approval.
The resolution, introduced by Paul and Sens. Tim Kaine (D-Va.), Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), directs Trump to stop using the military “unless specifically authorized under a declaration of war or a specific authorization for the use of military force.”