On Thursday, December 4, 2025, the same day a US Navy Admiral briefed lawmakers behind closed doors about an earlier attack during which survivors were killed during a second strike against a suspected drug-smuggling boat in the Caribbean, Defense Secretary Hegseth ordered another attack, which killed four more people.
However, it is the September 2, 2025, attack of another small boat that is raising troubling questions that Congress is attempting to answer. After the initial missile strike split the boat in two, a pair of survivors were seen waving their hands as they clung to a portion of the hull that remained afloat.
They were killed forty-one minutes later after a second strike was ordered.
That second attack appears to violate the US Department of Defense Law of War Manual (2023), which states:
18.3.2.1 Clearly Illegal Orders to Commit Law of War Violations. The requirement to refuse to comply with orders to commit law of war violations applies to orders to perform conduct that is clearly illegal or orders that the subordinate knows, in fact, are illegal. For example, orders to fire upon the shipwrecked would be clearly illegal.
However, CNN reports that two sources “with direct knowledge of his congressional briefings” told them that the officer in charge of the attack, Admiral Frank “Mitch” Bradley, “consulted with the uniformed lawyer on duty during the operation (and the) JAG officer, or Judge Advocate General officer, assessed it would be legal to move forward with a second strike.”
Both the House and Senate Armed Services Committees have launched formal investigations into the incident, and more congressional inquiries are likely.
87 people are known to have been killed in 22 attacks by the US military against suspected drug-smuggling boats in the Caribbean since September.
Are you concerned that war crimes may have been committed during the US attacks on suspected drug-smuggling boats in the Caribbean?
Share your opinion in the comments to this article!
Abrazos,
Jack Beavers
Thanks for reading the US Border News! This post is public, so feel free to click the button below to share it.
I'm inclined to think that the legal advice was good. We don't destroy these craft without detailed information on their nature and the identity of the crew. I believe they are engaging in the moral equivalent of piracy. During the Gulf War the navy simply machine-gunned Iranians that thought they were attacking oil tankers at night, even though the war was technically against Iraq.
Thanks for the specific information about the incident that wasn't published to the public before. I thought that the second attack was appropriate like shooting drug dealer running from a cop. I didn't know that there was a 42 minute period between attacks and the second attack was approved after a consultation with Navy JAG. It wasn't a split decision action taken during the initial contact under pressure. Wouldn't the survivors have been a good source of intelligence after an interrogation? Forty-two minutes allows for questioning the purpose and utility of the second attack. I support the attacks but I'm not sure about the 2nd attack of this one.