Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth arrives for a briefing in the US Capitol with Congressional leaders and Secretary of State Marco Rubio on military strikes against alleged drug trafficking boats in the Caribbean.

The White House on Monday shifted the blame for killing the survivors of a US military strike on an alleged drug smuggling boat from Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth and onto the commanding admiral.

Killing survivors of a destroyed vessel is literally an example of a war crime in the US Department of Defence Law of War Manual. “For example, orders to fire upon the shipwrecked would be clearly illegal,” the manual reads.

Press secretary Karoline Leavitt, nevertheless, repeatedly stated that it was legal – even as she further claimed, as President Donald Trump did on Sunday, that Hegseth was unaware that it had happened.

“On September 2, Secretary Hegseth authorised Admiral Bradley to conduct these kinetic strikes. Admiral Bradley worked well within his authority and the law, directing the engagement to ensure the boat was destroyed and the threat to the United States of America was eliminated,” she said.

At the time........

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