Admiral Bradley denies Hegseth gave ‘kill them all’ order to Congress

Admiral Mitch Bradley confirmed to lawmakers that Secretary of War Pete Hegseth did not order that all survivors of the anti-drug strikes be killed – although they had mixed opinions on the justification for the so-called “double-tap” strike.

An initial Washington Post report had claimed that Hegseth had ordered those responsible for the drug strikes to “kill them all,” leading Bradley to interpret this as an order to kill remaining survivors.

“The admiral confirmed that there was no order to kill them all and there was no order to give no quarter,” Rep. Jim Himes, D-Connecticut, the top Democrat on the Intelligence Committee, told reporters after a briefing with the admiral.

“Admiral Bradley was very clear that he had no such orders to give no quarter or kill them all,” said Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Tom Cotton, R-Ark.

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Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, left, and Admiral Frank “Mitch” Bradley, right. Hegseth wrote on (Yasin Ozturk/Anadolu via Getty Images; USSOCOM)

Still, he said the full video footage of the Sept. 2 strikes showed the two survivors were “shipwrecked sailors.”

“What I saw in this room is one of the most disturbing things I’ve seen in my career in public service. You have two individuals in obvious distress, with no means of transportation with a destroyed ship, who were killed by the United States,” Himes continued. “Now, there’s a whole series of contextual elements that the admiral explained. Yes, they were carrying drugs. They were in no way able to continue their mission.”

Democrats and Republicans appeared to have strikingly different impressions of the video of the strikes they were shown.

Cotton said video of the strikes showed the survivors “trying to overturn their boat and continue their mission.”

Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., ranking member of the Defense Appropriations subcommittee, said, “I think it would be difficult to watch the video series without being disturbed by it.” »

“I am deeply troubled by what I saw this morning. The Department of Defense has no choice but to release the full, never-before-seen footage of the Sept. 2 strike,” said Sen. Jack Reed, R.I., the senior Democrat on the Armed Services Committee.

Rep. Rick Crawford, chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, appeared to lash out at Democrats for saying he was “disturbed” by the video.

“Those who appear ‘troubled’ by videos of military strikes against designated terrorists have clearly never seen the strikes ordered by Obama, or, for that matter, those of any other administration over the past several decades. I am deeply concerned by public statements made by others who seek to ignore the reality of targeting terrorists to score political points. I call on them to remember their own silence as our forces carried out identical strikes for years – killing terrorists and destroying military targets of the same way as in this strike – and wonder why they would seek to attack our forces today.

SPEC OPS CHIEF ORDERED DEADLY STRIKE IN CARIBBEAN “IN SELF-DEFENSE” WITH HEGSETH’S AUTHORIZATION, WHITE HOUSE SAYS

The United States Southern Command released images on November 15 showing a precision strike carried out by American forces against a narcotics transport vessel operated by a designated terrorist organization in the Eastern Pacific. (United States Southern Command)

“There is [another] example where the survivors were shipwrecked and were in distress and were not trying to continue their mission, and they were treated as they should be, as non-combatants. They were recovered by U.S. forces,” Cotton said.

“This is just one example of how, of course, our military always obeys the laws of war. Our military also acts with appropriate and legal authority to target these narcoterrorists.”

In another strike on October 16 that left two people dead, two survivors were captured and returned to Colombia and Mexico. During a series of four strikes on October 27 that left 14 people dead, one survivor was recovered by the Mexican coast guard.

Cotton said the protocol for caring for survivors remains the same since the strikes began in early September.

Secretary of War Pete Hegseth said: “A total of 14 narcoterrorists were killed in the three strikes, with one survivor. » (X.com/SecWar)

After reporting that a Sept. 2 strike against suspected narcoterrorists left two survivors who were killed in a follow-up strike, lawmakers and legal analysts expressed concern that senior military officers violated the Pentagon’s law of war manual, which considers attacking people rendered “helpless” due to “injury, disease or shipwreck” to be explicitly prohibited and described as “dishonorable and inhumane.” Castaways are protected unless they resume hostile action or regain the ability to pose an immediate threat.

But Pentagon officials suggested that the survivors might have been able to call for reinforcements and that Bradley viewed this as a threat.

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Secretary Pete Hegseth said he witnessed the first strike in real time, but was not present to witness the second. He said he was not involved in the decision to call a second strike, but he stands by Bradley’s decision.

Bradley is now locked in a whirlwind day of meetings on Capitol to explain his decision – he gave separate briefings to top lawmakers on the House Intelligence Committee, the Senate Intelligence Committee, the House and Senate Armed Services Committees, and senior members of the defense appropriations subcommittees.