He suggested the strikes are meant to protect Americans, comparing the actions to the war on terror that commenced after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
Secretary of War Pete Hegseth said on Dec. 6 that he supports the decision in early September to initiate a second strike on a drug boat in the South Caribbean that killed two survivors of a previous strike.
Hegseth said, “I fully support that strike” while speaking at the Reagan National Defense Forum in Simi Valley, California, on Saturday.
“I would have made the call myself,” the secretary added.
Hegseth also defended the broader rationale for the series of strikes of strikes over recent weeks, which have killed more than 80 people who U.S. officials say are drug traffickers.
Democrats and other critics say such strikes may have potentially violating international law if shipwrecked survivors were targeted in a subsequent strike.
The secretary suggested the strikes are meant to protect Americans, comparing the military actions to the war on terror that commenced after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on U.S. soil. Hegseth said President Donald Trump can use the U.S. military however “he sees fit” to defend U.S. interests.
“If you’re working for a designated terrorist organization and you bring drugs to this country in a boat, we will find you, and we will sink you. Let there be no doubt about it,” the secretary said. “President Trump can and will take decisive military action as he sees fit to defend our nation’s interests. Let no country on earth doubt that for a moment.”
The latest strike was announced on Dec. 4 by the Pentagon, which said it resulted in four deaths and took out a drug trafficking boat in the Eastern Pacific.
Trump administration officials, including Hegseth, have said the war secretary did not order the follow-up strike on Sept. 2 that killed two survivors of a previous strike. Instead, Navy Adm. Frank “Mitch” Bradley, who was leading the Joint Special Operations Command at the time, determined that the boat needed to be destroyed as it might contain cocaine.
By Jacob Burg
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