Democrats and the media have spent the past week implying that Secretary of War Pete Hegseth is a possible war criminal, claiming that he ordered a second strike on a Venezuelan drug boat designed to kill off stranded survivors. New details have emerged, though, that paint a starkly different picture of what happened.
According to ABC News, a source knowledgeable on the attack said that two survivors climbed back into the boat after the initial strike. These survivors were thought to be attempting to salvage some of the drugs. If true, this would go against initial news coverage of the second strike, which portrayed it as directed toward stranded survivors.
Admiral Frank M. Bradley, the military official in charge of the operation, made the decision that the two survivors were legitimate targets who were trying to continue a drug run into the United States. Hegseth has claimed that he did not order a second strike, but defended Bradley’s decision, saying, “I would have made the same call myself.”
It is doubtful any additional context will prevent Democrats from trying to keep this story in the news, though as the latest ginned-up controversy du jour. While Democrats have painted this specific attack as illegal, they have previously questioned the Trump administration’s rationale for launching any strikes on drug boats.
Back in September, Senators Adam Schiff and Tim Kaine filed a joint resolution seeking Congressional authority over the boat strikes. While stating that they did not aim to prevent the President from defending against an armed attack, their resolution stated: “the trafficking of illegal drugs does not itself constitute such an armed attack or threat.” Why the process of combating drug trafficking should be made more difficult is never explained.
The oddest aspect of Democrats attacking the Trump administration over the boat strikes, including casting doubt on the intelligence used to target them, is that it runs counter to their own counter-terrorism approach over the years. President Barack Obama ordered multiple drone strikes on terrorists, and there is a chance that if a Democratic president was engaging in the same tactics as the Trump administration, they would be praised for decisive leadership. Clearly, though, Democrats decided to make this their latest talking point, in an attempt to take out Hegseth and score a partisan PR victory. Soon, they’ll be on to their next invented scandal.
