By Idrees Ali and Phil Stewart
WASHINGTON, Dec 4 (Reuters) – A U.S. military commander is expected to tell lawmakers on Thursday that survivors of a military strike in the Caribbean were legitimate targets for a second strike because their ship was still believed to be carrying illegal narcotics, a U.S. official told Reuters.
On September 2, the US military carried out a strike in the Caribbean that killed 11 suspected drug traffickers.
Officials said that the American military carried out a second attack against their ship, which raised questions about the legality of the operation.
Admiral Frank M. Bradley, then head of the Joint Special Operations Command, will tell lawmakers in classified information on Thursday that the two survivors were legitimate military targets because they were perceived as capable of continuing drug trafficking, the official said.
Bradley, who now heads the US Special Operations Command, will be joined by Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Dan Caine, during the closed-door hearing, the official added.
The Pentagon did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The early September strike drew bipartisan scrutiny from Congress and concerns about the legality of the administration’s actions. So far, there have been 20 US military strikes in the Caribbean and Pacific against suspected drug vessels, killing more than 80 people.
US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said on Tuesday that he had seen the first US strike in September on the alleged drug smuggling vessel in real time, but did not see the survivors in the water or the second lethal strike which he described as being carried out in the “fog of war”. But he defended Bradley’s decision to carry out a follow-up strike.
“Admiral Bradley made the correct decision to ultimately sink the boat and eliminate the threat,” Hegseth said.
Trump, who told reporters on Air Force One on Sunday that he did not want a second strike, largely expressed support on Tuesday, saying he was not aware of a second strike.
US officials told Reuters that Hegseth ordered lethal attacks on drug vessels, including the early September one in question, as part of a broader campaign by the Trump administration to equate suspected drug traffickers with terrorists despite objections from many legal experts.
(Reporting by Idrees Ali; Editing by Michael Perry)