Incumbent U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth is under new scrutiny and investigation following a new report which alleged that Hegseth ordered to “kill them all,” referring to survivors on a ship that was attacked twice. For context, since early September the U.S. has conducted various missile strikes in the Caribbean and Pacific Oceans, alleging drug smuggling on ships. Over 80 people have been reportedly killed in these missile strikes. With these strikes being in the vicinity of South American nations, President Trump has also threatened to strike on land in Venezuela and potentially Colombia.
“If they come in through a certain country, or any country, or if we think they’re building mills, whether its fentanyl or cocaine … anybody doing that and selling it into our country is subject to attack. Not just Venezuela,” Trump said. In response to the threats, Colombian President Gustavo Pedro invited Trump to come watch the country destroy and crack down on cocaine laboratories and also urged Trump not to strike on Colombian land claiming that it would be a declaration of war.
Now, one of the strikes from early September is under major scrutiny following the report on a Sep. 2 strike on a boat that allegedly was carrying narcotics. After the first strike of the boat, two survivors were spotted on the ship and according to the Washington Post, “Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth gave a spoken directive, according to two people with direct knowledge of the operation. “The order was to kill everybody,” one of them said.
The attack killed 11 people in total. This could constitute a war crime, as those who are wounded in attacks are not allowed to be attacked again under the Second Geneva Convention. This is also mentioned in the Pentagon’s own Law of War manual which states, “Members of the armed forces and other persons … who are wounded, sick, or shipwrecked, shall be respected and protected in all circumstances.”
Hegseth has denied the accusations in a post on X (Twitter) where he said, “Our current operations in the Caribbean are lawful under both U.S. and international law, with all actions in compliance with the law of armed conflict—and approved by the best military and civilian lawyers, up and down the chain of command.”
Despite this, the House and Senate Armed Services Committee have begun an investigation into the Sept. 2 attacks and if the second strike constituted a war crime. In an interview with NPR, Jim Himes, who represents the 4th district of Connecticut in the US House of Representatives and is the Ranking Democrat for the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence said, “I’m very interested in this video being released because, again, you know, this is a – the visual is two men who are about to go under the waves, observed for a lengthy period of time, shipwrecked sailors killed by the United States. Again, not in the fog of war, not because they pointed an AK-47 at an American service member, but just because there was this absurd notion that clinging to a piece of wood, they were still capable of hostilities, which is the legal question. So, look, I – you know, Rick Crawford, my counterpart in the Republican Party, said something similar. The decisions and the interpretations are falling along partisan lines. The American people need to see this. They need to see it.”
The alleged order in the attacks was given to Navy Admiral Frank Bradley although according to Himes, “The admiral confirmed that there had not been a ‘kill them all’ order, and that there was not an order to grant ‘no quarter.’ Despite this, multiple members of Connecticut’s congressional delegation such as Himes have called upon Hegseth to resign U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal, who after calling for his resignation, also said, “He is ultimately responsible for not only the second strike on that virtually destroyed boat, killing two individuals who were in effect out of the fight, which were murders or war crimes, but he is also accountable for the entire series of strikes on the boats that were destroyed, along with more than 80 deaths.”
Connecticut’s other U.S. Senator Chris Murphy, as well as representatives John Larsen from Connecticut’s 1st district and Joe Courtney from Connecticut’s 2nd district, have also called upon Hegseth to resign. Hegseth also went under fire for another post on X (Twitter) showing the cartoon character Franklin the turtle being used in a fake edition of the children’s books called, “Franklin Targets Narco Terrorists.” The Franklin publisher Kids Can Press said in a press release that, “We strongly condemn any denigrating, violent, or unauthorized use of Franklin’s name or image, which frankly contradicts these values.”
