Images of criticized drug boat attack not released

TT

Published 20.05

 

US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth in Congress on Tuesday. Photo: Jose Luis Magana/AP/TT

The Pentagon will not release video clips of the deadly double attack on a "drug boat" in the Caribbean Sea in September. This is what Secretary of War Pete Hegseth says after a congressional hearing.

Hegseth has been in the hot air after the attack, where the US military followed up an attack with a second shelling of the boat when it was determined that two people had survived the first.

A 29-second video from the September 2 incident has been released, but it does not show the second missile attack.

– Of course, we will not release a top-secret uncut video of the entire process to the public, Hegseth says now, after previously signaling that a release could occur.

On Tuesday, he and Secretary of State Marcio Rubio were questioned by the Senate and the House of Representatives about the many attacks on boats in the Caribbean Sea and the Pacific Ocean during the fall. More than 20 boats that the US says are smuggling drugs have been destroyed and at least 95 people have been killed.

The operations have been criticized, especially the deadly double attack in September. The procedure at that time has met with sharp criticism from lawyers and former military personnel, who believe that it constitutes a violation of international law and possibly even a war crime. This is because the two were considered to lack the ability to defend themselves.