Democratic congressmen accuse the Secretary of Defense of “war crime” in the Caribbean

Error al procesar la solicitud According to The Washington Post, which cited two sources with direct knowledge of the operation, after the first missile hit the ship, the commanders realized that there were two crew members clinging to the remains of the vessel. The commander in charge of the operation then ordered a second attack to comply with Hegseth’s instructions, who had ordered to “kill everyone” present on the ship. Sam Liccardo, a California congressman, stated on his X profile that if the accusations are true, Hegseth should be considered “fully responsible for homicide.” Liccardo responded to a post by Hegseth in which he defended the legality of the first attack against a boat of alleged drug traffickers in the Caribbean on September 2nd.

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The Secretary of Defense also stated that the attacks carried out in this region are specifically aimed at being “lethal kinetic bombings”.

The Attacks in the Caribbean

Ted Lieu, who represents California’s 36th district in the House of Representatives, criticized on X that neither the operation’s memorandum nor military law authorized “a second kinetic attack against defenseless survivors.” “If the reports are true, then a war crime was committed,” he added. Seth Moulton, congressman for Massachusetts, joined the criticism against the Donald Trump government and asserted on X that killing the survivors was “totally illegal”. “The idea that the remains of a small vessel in a vast ocean pose a danger to maritime traffic is clearly absurd,” he pointed out. And he asserted that, although it will take time, “Americans will be judged for it, either as a war crime or as cold-blooded murder.” For their part, Republican Roger Wicker and Democrat Jack Reed, both from the Senate Armed Services Committee, said in a statement released Friday night that they have requested information from the Department of Defense on this matter. “The Committee is aware of recent press reports and the initial response from the Department of Defense regarding alleged subsequent attacks against vessels suspected of drug trafficking in the SOUTHCOM area of responsibility,” they indicated. In addition, they anticipated that the committee will carry out “a rigorous supervision” of the facts.