While Hegseth should also be on trial for this, Admiral Bradley could have refused that order if he believed it to be illegal.
The White House swore Pete Hegseth knew nothing about the Caribbean strikes. Then a video surfaces of him bragging he watched it happen live.
IF
Unconfirmed sources linked to Admiral Bradley say the only reason he gave the order to strike the boat a second time was because those orders came from the President himself. Is there evidence?
Unlike Admiral Bradley, Navy Admiral Alvin Holsey resigned - refused to go along with the illegal orders.
During his career, Adm. Frank Mitchell Bradley, a stoic and cerebral SEAL known as Mitch to his peers, has ordered and carried out military strikes against targets in Afghanistan, Yemen and other war zones.
Over the decades, he drew little attention outside the smoke and mirrors world of military Special Operations. But now he is facing his biggest professional challenge in public.
After years of following orders with clear rules of engagement and with congressional authority, targeting jihadists in rural and urban settings, Admiral Bradley was put in command of a legally murky attack on Sept. 2 targeting a boat in the Caribbean that the Trump administration says was smuggling drugs.
And in ordering a second strike that killed two survivors who were clinging to the burning wreckage of the boat — something his superiors say they did not specifically order him to do — Admiral Bradley now finds himself in potential legal jeopardy.
On Thursday, he will head to Capitol Hill for closed-door sessions with lawmakers, as Republicans and Democrats express concerns about the Trump administration’s campaign.
www.nytimes.com/...
"Hegseth is now throwing Admiral Bradley and the operators under the bus, insisting they acted alone, despite having just spent 48 hours bragging that killing everyone in sight is his patriotic duty."
GEMINI
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The Second Strike: After an initial strike on the boat, two survivors were reportedly seen clinging to the wreckage. Vice Admiral Bradley, who was the commander of the Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) at the time, ordered a follow-up strike, stating the intent was to ensure the boat was destroyed and the threat was eliminated.
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Superior Orders: While Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth had reportedly authorized Admiral Bradley to conduct the "kinetic strikes" to destroy the vessel, the White House has maintained that it was Bradley who ordered the second, follow-up strike. This distinction is crucial in determining the ultimate legal responsibility, as Bradley's superiors claim they did not specifically order the killing of survivors.
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Legal Jeopardy: The killing of shipwrecked or hors de combat (out of combat) persons is generally considered a war crime under international law and a violation of the Law of War Manual for the U.S. Department of Defense. This is the basis for the potential legal jeopardy Bradley faces. The key legal questions are:
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Whether the order to kill survivors was manifestly unlawful, which would negate a "superior orders" defense for any subordinate following it.
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Whether the operation was conducted in the context of an "armed conflict" with drug cartels, a classification asserted by the administration but disputed by some legal experts who argue the act would therefore constitute murder.
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Congressional Review: Both the House and Senate Armed Services Committees have launched inquiries into the incident, requesting classified briefings from Admiral Bradley and other officials, and seeking video and audio recordings of the strike.
The term originates from the original Star Trek television series (1966–69), in which red-uniformed security officers and engineers often suffered deaths in the episode in which they first appeared, in contrast to most of the show's main characters wearing other colors.[1]
GROK
Pete Hegseth, the US defense secretary, told soldiers under his command in Iraq to ignore legal advice about when they were permitted to kill enemy combatants under their rules of engagement.
The anecdote is contained in a book Hegseth wrote last year in which he also repeatedly railed against the constraints placed on “American warfighters” by the laws of war and the Geneva conventions.
Hegseth is currently under scrutiny for a 2 September attack on a boat purportedly carrying drugs in the Caribbean, where survivors of a first strike on the vessel were reportedly killed in a second strike following a verbal order from Hegseth to “kill everybody”.
Hegseth has denied giving the order and retained the support of Donald Trump. The US president said Hegseth told him “he did not say that, and I believe him, 100%”. But some US senators have raised the possibility that the US war secretary committed a war crime.
www.theguardian.com/...
