Hegseth claims he only learned of second strike on Venezuelan drug boat ‘a couple of hours later’

NY Post ^ | December 2, 2026 | Steven Nelson

[rexthecat]

Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth said Tuesday that he only learned of a second strike on an alleged Venezuelan drug boat to finish off two survivors “a couple of hours later.”

Hegseth disavowed responsibility amid a congressional outcry over the Sept. 2 follow-up attack on the wrecked vessel.

[rexthecat]

Breaking..

[ProtectOurFreedom]

Who cares? If it takes six missiles to sink a boat, then shoot six missiles at them. They chose poorly when selecting a profession.

[llevrok]

Throwing his Admiral/General under the bus? I hope not

[logi_cal869]

As I’ve stated prior:

“Smells”

https://freerepublic.com/focus/news/4355425/posts?page=74#74

[God luvs America]

taking a page out of obama’s “i first heard about it on the news” book- love it!!!

[Cletus.D.Yokel]

Blah, blah, blah.

“I’ll get you my pretty little Orange man!
And your Secretary of War, too!”

[BradyLS]

Not believing anything about this as presented by the MSM.

[stanne]

“ “I moved on to my next meeting. A couple of hours later, I learned that that commander had made the [decision] — which he had the complete authority to do,” he added.”

How is this disavowing responsibility?

He said he learned of the issue later in response to a question

The post is trying….

[The_Media_never_lie]

Didn’t Obama blow up an American citizen over in the Middle East? I believe it was a drone attack. No big deal then.

[The_Media_never_lie]

Didn’t Obama blow up an American citizen over in the Middle East? I believe it was a drone attack. No big deal then.

[Col Frank Slade]

The commander of that unit made a command decision.

That’s his job.

[Oldeconomybuyer]

Anonymous SourcesGate.

[hotsteppa]

If you actually read the article, it doesn’t imply what the NYPOST headline suggest.

[HYPOCRACY]

They must think he stands at this giant map and moves toy soldiers and ships around.

[PGR88]

Dems are trying to turn this into a “Geneva Convention” thing.

Idiotic

Let them defend cartels and drug smugglers.

[DesertRhino]

Yeah… it’s true. He does… It’s called the “big board”. You can’t let anyone see it!

[Bikkuri]

This will upset the Randassie worshipper...

[Sunsong]

Noem claims Trump saved “hundreds of millions of lives”

blowing up cocaine in the Caribbean.

I call BS!

[Night Hides Not]

Absolutely! What makes our military so lethal and effective is the autonomy given to our field commanders. Other countries have a top down system requiring orders from above to accomplish their mission.

The admiral conducted the mission within the authority given him.

[Joe 6-pack]

"Who cares? If it takes six missiles to sink a boat, then shoot six missiles at them."

My only objection is that we probably wasted a second missile. Mother ocean would have taken care of the survivors. I suppose if there was still some useful "product" on the flotsam that could have been recovered, then it was probably worth the double tap to send it to the bottom, too.