Leaders of both the Senate and House armed‑services committees pledged intensified scrutiny on the Pentagon after a startling report that the U.S. military carried out a follow‑up strike in the Caribbean on survivors of a drug‑smuggling boat — allegedly under orders from Pete Hegseth to “kill everybody aboard.”
According to the account, on Sept. 2 a U.S. missile strike hit a vessel suspected of smuggling narcotics. A live drone feed showed two survivors clinging to the wreckage. Those survivors were later killed in a second strike, reportedly to comply with Hegseth’s command.
In response, the chairs of both the Senate and House Armed Services committees — Roger Wicker (R‑Miss.) and Jack Reed (D‑R.I.) in the Senate; Mike D. Rogers (R‑Ala.) and Adam Smith (D‑Wash.) in the House — issued a joint statement vowing a full accounting, demanding documents, legal justifications, and a complete breakdown of the operation.
The reported strike is part of a broader military campaign begun in September 2025 that has targeted suspected drug‑ trafficking vessels in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific. According to internal Pentagon data, this campaign has killed more than 80 people across more than 20 strikes.
Yet critics — including former military attorneys and international law scholars — argue the operation may amount to a war crime. Under the laws of armed conflict, they say, individuals who survive an attack and pose no imminent threat must be captured or otherwise afforded protection.
In his public response, Hegseth defended the strikes as lawful, calling them “lethal, kinetic strikes” and asserting they targeted “traffickers affiliated with a Designated Terrorist Organization.” He also condemned media coverage as “fake news … discrediting our incredible warriors fighting to protect the homeland.”
Despite those claims, members of both parties on Capitol Hill voiced frustration. According to aides, Pentagon briefings to lawmakers have lacked key details — from intelligence used to justify the strikes to the identities of the deceased. Some Republicans reportedly joined Democrats in demanding a full accounting.
One former Marine Corps attorney said killing defenseless survivors would constitute “an order to show no quarter,” a textbook war crime under international law. Others speculated that personnel involved in the strike could face future prosecution — domestic or international — if the U.S. abandons its current legal posture.
The controversy spotlights the legal and moral perils of extrajudicial use of lethal force — especially when the targets are not formally combatants in a declared war. As Congress ramps up oversight, the Pentagon may face its most significant challenge yet in justifying a policy increasingly described as “outside the law.”
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