WASHINGTON — According to a defense official’s statement to NBC News, Adm. Frank M. Bradley viewed the two survivors from a strike on a suspected drug trafficking boat as legitimate military targets, in line with operational rules that may have branded them as narco terrorists.
The military executed a subsequent strike on the same vessel on September 2, sparking debate over whether this action was permissible or could be perceived as a potential war crime.
The Wall Street Journal reported that Bradley, who was in command of the Joint Special Operations Command at the time, asserted that the survivors from the initial strike were making an effort to continue their drug operation, and thus were considered valid targets. NBC News has reached out to the Pentagon for further comments regarding what Bradley intends to convey during his briefing to lawmakers on Thursday.
In light of the second strike that resulted in the deaths of the survivors, both the House and Senate are launching investigations, according to officials.
This week, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth mentioned that he did not notice survivors after the initial strike. “The situation was engulfed in flames,” he stated during a Cabinet meeting on Tuesday. “It was explosive, filled with fire and smoke. It was impossible to see anything.”
Hegseth described the scenario as the fog of war, explaining that while he observed the first strike in real-time, he had to proceed to other meetings and learned about the second strike only afterward.
This article was originally published on NBCNews.com.
