Hegseth in hot water over boat strike order

The Hill ^ | 12/01/25 7:11 AM ET | by Jared Gans and Jonathan Carter

[RandFan]

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is facing bipartisan scrutiny over his reported order to strike a boat in the Caribbean a second time, killing two survivors who were clinging to the ship’s wreckage on Sept. 2.

The Washington Post reported Friday that Hegseth issued an order to “kill everybody” after the initial strike, the first of what is now more than 20 such attacks, did not immediately kill all 11 of the people on board the vessel, leading the Special Operations commander overseeing the attack to order a second strike.

Some Democrats and a senior Republican said Sunday the strike was a possible war crime. The GOP chairs of the House and Senate armed services committees are promising “vigorous oversight” of the incident.

“We take seriously the reports of follow-on strikes on boats alleged to be ferrying narcotics in the SOUTHCOM region and are taking bipartisan action to gather a full accounting of the operation in question,” Reps. Mike Rogers (R-Ala.), the chair of the House committee, and Adam Smith (D-Wash.) said in their statement.

“The Committee has directed inquiries to the Department, and we will be conducting vigorous oversight to determine the facts related to the circumstances,” said Sens. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), the Senate committee chair, and Jack Reed (D-R.I.) said.

Rep. Mike Turner (R-Ohio), a former chair of the House Intelligence Committee, agreed with Democratic Sens. Chris Van Hollen (Md.) and Mark Kelly (Ariz.), who said the strike against defenseless individuals appeared illegal.

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TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; Miscellaneous; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: 5thcolumnonfr; anonymoussources; arrestrandpaul; barbarypirates; boats; cartelhemplobby; cartelsenator; commiefan; concerntroll; concerntrolling; drugs; dukeywordtroll; fakenews; followthemoney; foxnewsweekendhost; frtraitorslist; hemplobbyist; hotwater; jaredgans; jonathancarter; officialdemnarrative; randpaulisatraitor; randstands4cartels; randstands4maduro; randtraitor; rottenbrain; rottweillerinc; smuggling; thehill; theshill; traitors4venezuela; trumphoaxpart25; vermontlt; vermonttraitor; warcriminal; whyishestillthere; zot

[where's_the_Outrage?]

” whole laws of war “

I would guess running drugs into the US may be covered by use of chemical weapons, which is prohibited and could negate capture protocols.

[ProudDeplorable]

Do you really think the American people care about 2 drug dealers who are delivering poison to America to kill our kids?
This is the Democrats attempt to throw something up on the wall to see what sticks.

[dforest]

Most people I know aren’t losing any sleep over it. They have other things occupying their minds right now.

[Vaduz]

Reported order to strike a boat in the Caribbean a second time, killing two survivors.
^^^^^^^^

No way there were no survivors after the strike it wasn’t a bag of firecreckers the hit the boat.

BS is getting deep with the left

[odawg]

“Are you sure we’re not out of step with public opinion on this one?”

“We”????

Do you actually think you are in step with opinion on Free Republic?

[mlitefan]

The problem is he said it out loud.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

He did? According to who?

[Flavious_Maximus]

“...Some Democrats and a senior Republican...”

They should be taken out as well for giving aid and comfort to the enemy. /spit

[mmichaels1970]

Are you sure we're not out of step with public opinion on this one?

I know I'm not out of step with parents whose children are being poisoned and killed by the crap they're bringing in. I don't care one bit about the rest of "public opinion". Destroy them all. If they still float after the second pass, order a strafing run for the third so that they become chum in the water.

And with regard to Mexico (which you bring up frequently), I sincerely hope we are gathering intel right now so we can strike every manufacturing facility and level each and every hacienda that was built with the money made from killing our children.

Continue to hit them until the biggest threat from their poison is inhaling the fumes of the smoldering rubble that was once their distribution and manufacturing centers.

Keep up the good work Secretary Hegseth.

[mlitefan]

Are you sure we’re not out of step with public opinion on this one?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“WE”? LMAO..... that’s rich. You are completely in step with DU.

[backpacker_c]

Are you sure we're not out of step with public opinion on this one?

Who's this "we're" you're gaslighting and painting with a broad brush?

Because much of FR certainly isn't an anti-Trump, open borders, pro drug smuggling and cartel supporting, apparent leftist you seem to be.

[mikey_hates_everything]

What “The Hill” says is not public opinion.

[rottweiller_inc]

“Because much of FR certainly isn’t an anti-Trump, open borders, pro drug smuggling and cartel supporting, apparent leftist you seem to be. “

Or pro law and how everyone, even the government needs to obey it and the constitution and the whole “due process” thing. Right now there is no proof anyone other than an ardent supporter would accept. Venezuela is mostly cocaine and not fentanyl which is more of Mexico thing. Even if they were smuggling drugs can you say if it was 25,000 person killing fentanyl or cocaine?

[twister881]

Buried at the bottom of the article is Hegseth’s denial that he issued such an order, calling it fake news. Trump believes him “100%.”

[Wilderness Conservative]

We are at war and the under attack and Randcuck wants to play debate society. He/she/it is in bed with the enemy.

[MCF]

The accusers need to produce the video of the incident. Until then I'm skeptical that it happened at all.

[xone]

brand people terrorist and assume that gives you the right to target

Yeah, but it does.

[Drago]

Fentanyl kills 3x as many people with overdoses as cocaine (Venezuela)...why are there no military strikes on Chinese or Mexican assets/shipping? (They are the main sources of Fentanyl coming into the USA).

[Lurker]

Is there a shred of evidence that this actually happened? Or did this come from yet another anonymous source?

L

[GranTorino]

Keep posting crap from the hill.
It helps your credibility.

[xone]

could negate capture protocols.

A flag of truce is the only 'capture protocol' applicable for enemy and unlawful combatants. Enemy can surrender and are given Geneva rights as POWs as long as they aren't engaged in war crimes. Unlawful combatants OTOH have no 'capture protocol', similar to pirates.