Washington (EFE).- The White House implied on Monday that the United States carried out a second attack against survivors of an initial bombardment on a boat allegedly linked to drug trafficking in the Caribbean in September.
However, it insisted that the attack was legal and absolved Secretary of War Pete Hegseth of any responsibility at a time when Congress was preparing to investigate a potential war crime.
During a press conference on Monday, White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt confirmed the claim that Hegseth did not directly give the order when asked by a reporter.
She then read a statement in which the administration maintained that the controversial attack, revealed by the Washington Post, took place «in international waters and in accordance with the law of armed conflict.»
«President Trump and Secretary Hegseth have made it clear that presidentially designated Narco terrorist groups are subject to lethal targeting in accordance with the laws of war,» Leavitt said.
Regarding the attacks, she said that Secretary Hegseth authorized Admiral Frank Bradley to carry them out on Sep. 2.
«Adm Bradley worked well within his authority and the law directing the engagement to ensure the boat was destroyed and the threat to the US of America was eliminated,» she added.
Bradley is a US Navy admiral who, at the time of the attack, was commander of the Joint Special Operations Command.
On Nov. 27, The Washington Post reported, citing anonymous officials, that a second attack was carried out to kill two survivors of the initial attack in the Sep. 2 bombardment, in which all 11 people aboard an alleged drug-trafficking boat died.
Leavitt, who considered the newspaper’s reports to be false, merely read the aforementioned statement when asked what law authorizes leaving no survivors.
The spokeswoman stressed that the Pentagon is attacking these boats in the Caribbean and the Pacific because «this administration has designated these Narco terrorists as foreign terrorist organizations.»
As of Monday, several influential congressional committees are intensifying oversight, sending requests for information and preparing reviews regarding the attack. EFE
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