War crime?
“Officials in Congress and the Pentagon said Monday they are increasingly concerned that the Trump administration intends to scapegoat the military officer who directed U.S. forces to kill two survivors of a targeted strike on suspected drug smugglers in Latin America, as lawmakers made initial moves to investigate whether the attack constituted a war crime,” reports The Washington Post.
The Post had reported on Friday that Defense Secretary Hegseth gave a spoken order to kill the entire crew of a boat thought to be carrying narcotics in the Caribbean Sea, the first of nearly 20 such strikes directed by the administration since early September.
When two survivors were detected, the military commander overseeing the operation, Adm. Frank Bradley, directed another strike to comply with Hegseth’s order that nobody be left alive, people with direct knowledge of the incident told the Post.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Monday that Hegseth had authorized Bradley to conduct the strikes on Sept. 2. Bradley “worked well within his authority and the law, directing the engagement to ensure the boat was destroyed,” she said.
That “elicited a furious backlash within the Defense Department, where officials described feeling angry at the uncertainty over whether Hegseth would take responsibility for his alleged role in the operation — or leave the military and civilian staff under him to face the consequences,” the Post says.
A group of former judge advocates general (military lawyers) issued a statement on Saturday saying, “The bottom line is that, since orders to kill survivors of an attack at sea are ‘patently illegal,’ anyone who issues or follows such orders can and should be prosecuted for war crimes, murder, or both.”
Roll Call is reporting on the increasing bipartisan scrutiny of the issue on Capitol Hill.
“Lawmakers in both parties, including the Republican chairmen and the Democratic ranking members of the House and Senate Armed Services committees, have vowed to investigate following a Washington Post article about Hegseth’s alleged order — marking a rare instance of GOP unease with the Trump administration,” Roll Call says.
Meanwhile, after most of the press corps at the Pentagon refused in September to sign a pledge not to report unauthorized information, including nonclassified information, and now are reporting from outside the building, newly credentialed members of the Pentagon press corps include Trump allies Laura Loomer and Matt Gaetz, The Associated Press reports.
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