Video shows 'distress' of survivors in U.S. attack on boat, lawmaker says
By: Idrees Ali
Phil Stewart
and Patricia Zengerle
Reuters
WASHINGTON - A senior U.S. lawmaker said a video shown to lawmakers on December 4 [2025] of a military strike against a suspected drug vessel was "one of the most troubling things" he had seen as it showed survivors in clear distress when they were killed.
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The remarks by Representative Jim Himes, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, ratchets up pressure on officials involved in a September 2 [2025] U.S. military attack on a suspected drug boat in the Caribbean Sea that killed 11 people the Trump administration has accused of being traffickers.
..... Officials have said the operation included a follow-on strike against the vessel ager an initial attack when there were still survivors, raising questions about the legality of the operation and Secretary of War Pete Hegseth's role in it. Hegseth has already come under fire this year [2025] after a Pentagon investigation faulted him for using the Signal app on his personal device to send sensitive information about planned strikes in Yemen.
..... Admiral frank Bradley, who was the head of the Joint Special Operations Command at the time, and top U.S. General Dan Caine on December 4 [2025] briefed lawmakers including Himes on the operation and showed an unedited video of the second strike.
..... "What I saw in that room was one of the most troubling things that I've seen in my time in public service," Himes told reporters after the briefing. "You have two individuals in clear distress, without nay means of locomotion, with a destroyed vessel, who were killed by the United States."
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But he also said that Bradley and Caine "did the right thing" and hat he respected the admiral, who is now the head of the U.S. Special Operations Commend.
..... Before the briefing, a U.S. official said Bradley would tell lawmakers that the survivors were legitimate targets for a second attack because their vessel was still believed to contain illegal narcotics.
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The Pentagon did not respond to a request for comment.
..... So far, there have been 20 U.S. military strikes in the Caribbean and Pacific against suspected drug vessels this year [2025] that have killed more than 80 people. Killing suspected drug traffickers who pose no threat of causing imminent serious injury to others would be murder under U.S. and international law. However, the United States has framed the attacks as a war with drug cartels, calling them armed groups.
..... The Pentagon's Law War Manual forbids attacks on combatants who are incapacitated, unconscious or shipwrecked, provided they abstain from hostilities or are not attempting to escape. The manual cites firing on shipwreck survivors as an example of a :clearly illegal" order that should be refused.
..... Hegseth said on December 2 [2025] he had watch the first U.S. strike in September [2025] on the suspected drug vessel in real time but did not see survivors in the described as being carried out in the "fog of war." But he defended Bradley's decisions to carry out a follow-up strike.