{"id":56516,"date":"2025-12-07T06:45:37","date_gmt":"2025-12-07T14:45:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/?p=56516"},"modified":"2025-12-07T06:45:37","modified_gmt":"2025-12-07T14:45:37","slug":"demands-to-release-full-video-of-deadly-us-boat-strike-grow-after-congressional-briefing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/2025\/12\/07\/demands-to-release-full-video-of-deadly-us-boat-strike-grow-after-congressional-briefing\/","title":{"rendered":"Demands to Release Full Video of Deadly US Boat Strike Grow After Congressional Briefing"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Calls mounted Thursday for the <a class=\"rm-stats-tracked\" href=\"https:\/\/www.commondreams.org\/tag\/trump-administration\">Trump administration<\/a> to release the full video of a September US airstrike on a boat allegedly transporting drugs in the Caribbean Sea following a briefing between <a class=\"rm-stats-tracked\" href=\"https:\/\/www.commondreams.org\/tag\/pentagon\">Pentagon<\/a> officials and select lawmakers that left some Democrats with more questions than answers.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI am deeply disturbed by what I saw this morning,\u201d Sen. Jack Reed (D-RI), the ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said after the briefing. \u201cThe Department of Defense has no choice but to release the complete, unedited footage of the September 2 strike, as the president <a class=\"rm-stats-tracked\" href=\"https:\/\/abcnews.go.com\/Politics\/trump-problem-releasing-video-2nd-strike-alleged-drug\/story?id=128088957\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">has agreed to do<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Reed\u2019s remarks came after Adm. Frank Bradley and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chair Gen. Dan Caine briefed some members of the Senate and House Armed Services and Intelligence committees on the so-called \u201cdouble-tap\u201d strike, in which nine people were killed in the initial bombing and two survivors clinging to the burning wreckage of the vessel were slain in second attack.<\/p>\n<p>Lawmakers who attended the briefing said that US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth allegedly did not give an order to \u201ckill everyone\u201d aboard the boat. However, legal experts and congressional critics <a class=\"rm-stats-tracked\" href=\"https:\/\/www.commondreams.org\/news\/pete-hegseth-boat\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">contend<\/a> that the strikes are inherently illegal under <a class=\"rm-stats-tracked\" href=\"https:\/\/www.commondreams.org\/tag\/international-law\">international law<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis did not reduce my concerns at all \u2013 or anyone else\u2019s,\u201d Rep. Adam Smith (D-Wash.), who attended the briefing, <a class=\"rm-stats-tracked\" href=\"https:\/\/newrepublic.com\/article\/203988\/hegseth-boat-strike-video-details-horrific\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">told<\/a> the <em>New Republic\u2019<\/em>s Greg Sargent in response to the findings regarding Hegseth\u2019s actions. \u201cThis is a big, big problem, and we need a full investigation.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think that video should be public,\u201d Smith added.<\/p>\n<div class=\"embed-twitter\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Lawmakers pressed officials on releasing video, and the officials said it isn&#39;t their call. And they have no recording of radio traffic from the men, Rep Smith says.<\/p>\n<p>Video + legal memo on broader strikes should be released. This should increase pressure:<a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/1KAEHXVqzA\">https:\/\/t.co\/1KAEHXVqzA<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/u8Yw25xSbV\">pic.twitter.com\/u8Yw25xSbV<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Greg Sargent (@GregTSargent) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/GregTSargent\/status\/1996675978194526441?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">December 4, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/div>\n<div class=\"rm-col-center col sm-mb-1\">\n<div class=\"widget__body clearfix sm-mt-1\">\n<div class=\"body js-expandable clearfix js-listicle-body css-listicle-body-2674371135\" data-headline=\"Demands to Release Full Video of Deadly US Boat Strike Grow After Congressional Briefing\">\n<div class=\"body-description\" data-rm-calc-width=\"700\">\n<p>The Trump administration has tried to justify the strikes to <a class=\"rm-stats-tracked\" href=\"https:\/\/www.commondreams.org\/tag\/congress\">Congress<\/a> by claiming that the US is in an \u201carmed conflict\u201d with drug cartels, which some legal scholars and lawmakers have disputed.<\/p>\n<p>Cardozo Law School professor of international law Rebecca Ingbe <a class=\"rm-stats-tracked\" href=\"https:\/\/time.com\/7338662\/boat-strikes-admiral-frank-bradley-congress-briefing\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">told<\/a> <em>Time<\/em> in a Thursday interview that \u201cthere is no actual armed conflict here, so this is murder.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), a member of the Foreign Relations Committee, said Thursday that \u201cclearly, in my view, very likely a war crime was committed here.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe don\u2019t use our military to help intervene when it comes to drug running, and what the Trump administration has done is manufactured cause for conflict with respect to going after drug boats and engaging in extrajudicial killing when the real aim is clearly regime change in <a class=\"rm-stats-tracked\" href=\"https:\/\/www.commondreams.org\/tag\/venezuela\">Venezuela<\/a>,\u201d he added, alluding to President Donald Trump\u2019s <a class=\"rm-stats-tracked\" href=\"https:\/\/www.commondreams.org\/news\/venezuelas-military\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">massive military deployment<\/a> and <a class=\"rm-stats-tracked\" href=\"https:\/\/www.commondreams.org\/news\/war-powers-act-trump\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">threats to invade<\/a> the oil-rich South American nation.<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"rm-stats-tracked\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/interactive\/2025\/10\/29\/us\/us-caribbean-pacific-boat-strikes.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">At least 83 people<\/a> have been killed in 21 disclosed strikes on boats the Trump administration claims \u2013 without releasing evidence \u2013 were transporting drugs in the Caribbean Sea and Pacific Ocean. South American leaders and relatives of survivors <a class=\"rm-stats-tracked\" href=\"https:\/\/www.commondreams.org\/news\/colombian-fisherman-trump\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">say<\/a> that at least some of the victims of the US bombings were fishermen with no ties to narco-trafficking.<\/p>\n<p>Reed said that Thursday\u2019s briefing \u201cconfirmed my worst fears about the nature of the Trump administration\u2019s military activities, and demonstrates exactly why the Senate Armed Services Committee has repeatedly requested \u2013 and been denied \u2013 fundamental information, documents, and facts about this operation.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis must, and will be, only the beginning of our investigation into this incident,\u201d he vowed.<\/p>\n<p>After the briefing, US Rep. Jim Himes (D-Conn.) \u2013 the ranking member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence \u2013 <a class=\"rm-stats-tracked\" href=\"https:\/\/www.commondreams.org\/news\/top-dem-says-video-of-military-attacking-shipwrecked-sailors-among-most-troubling-things-he-has-ever-seen\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">called<\/a> the footage \u201cone of the most troubling things I\u2019ve seen in my time in public service.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAny American who sees the video that I saw will see its military attacking shipwrecked sailors,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n<p>Thursday\u2019s calls followed similar demands from skeptical Democrats, some of whom accused the Trump administration of withholding evidence.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPete Hegseth should release the full tapes of the September 2 attack,\u201d Senate Minority Leader <a class=\"rm-stats-tracked\" href=\"https:\/\/www.commondreams.org\/tag\/chuck-schumer\">Chuck Schumer<\/a> (D-NY) <a class=\"rm-stats-tracked\" href=\"https:\/\/abcnews.go.com\/Politics\/live-updates\/trump-admin-live-updates?id=127993391&amp;entryId=128051620&amp;userab=abc_web_player-460*variant_a_abc_control-1900%2Cotv_web_player-461*variant_a_otv_control-1902%2Chp_banner-426*variant_a_control-1777\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">said<\/a> on the upper chamber floor on Tuesday. \u201cBoth the first and second strike. Not a clip. Not some edited or redacted snippet. The full unedited tapes of each strike must be released so the American people can see what happened with their own eyes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPete Hegseth said he did nothing wrong,\u201d he added. \u201cSo prove it.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Calls mounted Thursday for the Trump administration to release the full video of a September US airstrike on a boat allegedly transporting drugs in the Caribbean Sea following a briefing between Pentagon officials and select lawmakers that left some Democrats with more questions than answers. \u201cI am deeply disturbed by what I saw this morning,\u201d [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":372,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"coauthors":[806],"class_list":["post-56516","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"meta_box":{"disable_donate_message":"0","custom_donate_message":"","subtitle":"\u201cThe Department of Defense has no choice but to release the complete, unedited footage,\u201d said Sen. Jack Reed. 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