A Republican senator has called for Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth to testify under oath about the U.S. military’s campaign of missile strikes against alleged narco-boats in the Caribbean and Pacific.
Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul issued the call after listening to Admiral Frank “Mitch” Bradley and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine give evidence to members of the House and Senate Armed Services and Intelligence Committees on Thursday, the first of the known lethal strikes against accused drug traffickers, which was conducted on September 2.
The attack has been the subject of outrage amid accusations that Hegseth ordered a second strike to “kill everybody” when two survivors were spotted clinging to wreckage in the ocean following the initial blast.
“I think he should testify under oath about the orders that were given,” Paul said of the secretary after emerging from Thursday’s hearing on Capitol Hill.
“And I think that the video of the distressed, shipwrecked, or incapacitated people on those boats being bombed… That video should be shown to every American.”
Connecticut Democratic Rep. Jim Himes, ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee, also emerged aghast at the video, calling it “one of the most troubling things I’ve seen in my time in public service.”
Admiral Bradley was adamant in his testimony that there had been no second “kill” order. His assurance was welcomed by Arkansas Republican Sen. Tom Cotton, who chairs the Senate Intelligence Committee and said afterwards that the Navy SEAL officer “was very clear that he was given no such order to give no quarter or to kill them all.”
Hegseth himself insisted at a cabinet meeting Tuesday that any decisions were taken amid the “fog of war” and insisted that the admiral had acted “within his authority and the law” when he carried out the strike, only for the secretary to have to counter accusations he was ducking ultimate responsibility.
None of which was enough to convince Michigan Democratic Rep. Shri Thanedar, who announced his intention to file articles of impeachment against Hegseth Thursday, a plan unveiled as the latest strike on alleged narcotics traffickers in the Pacific was reported by U.S. Southern Command, which said four people had been killed, taking the total death toll from the campaign to at least 86.
For his part, Paul has emerged as a persistent critic of President Donald Trump’s administration over its aggressions in Central America and complained about Hegseth’s inconsistent commentary earlier this week.
“Secretary Hegseth said he had no knowledge of this, and it did not happen,” he told reporters Tuesday. “It was fake news. It didn’t happen.
“And then the next day, from the podium of the White House, they’re saying it did happen. Either he was lying to us on Sunday or he’s incompetent.”
Paul was previously an outspoken opponent of the Barack Obama administration’s use of drones, fearing they could be used on American soil, launching into a 13-hour filibuster in March 2013 to delay the confirmation of John Brennan as incoming CIA director.
The senator subsequently changed his tune two years later when he issued a surprise defense of the 44th president over the accidental killing of two hostages in a U.S. drone strike in the Afghanistan-Pakistan border region, insisting Obama had been “trying to do the right thing” and warning against excessive partisanship in American politics.
