US lawmakers probe 2nd strike on alleged drug boat | DW News
Dec 2, 2025 #USA #Venezuela #DrugCartel
US lawmakers are investigating an attack on an alleged Venezuelan drug boat, after the White House confirmed that the navy admiral in charge ordered a follow-up strike on the boat.
The operation in September was the first in what has since become a regular occurrence. Boats are targeted that Washington claims are trafficking drugs to the US. But the 'double tap' strike, in which survivors of the first attack were killed in the second, has raised fresh questions over its legality, even among Republicans. Eleven people were killed.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed that the order came from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, although she denied reports that Hegseth specifically ordered everyone killed.
More on this from Ben Hodges, a retired Lieutenant General of the United States Army - he served as the commanding general of US Army Europe from 2014 to 2017. And he has extensive operational experience in Iraq and Afghanistan.
00:00 US probe into double strike on alleged Venezuelan drug boat
01:07 Ben Hodges, Retired US Army Lieutenant General
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W2BSp8MoEak
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If not a war crime, it could be murder
The killing of individuals stranded on a boat could be a crime under the law of war, international law or US law, according to Daniel Maurer, a retired Army judge advocate general who is now an associate professor at Ohio Northern University.
“Whether they are narco-terrorists designated by the president or not, whether they’re war criminals or not, it doesn’t matter,” Maurer told CNN’s Boris Sanchez on Monday. “Killing them while shipwrecked, while they’re hors de combat — while they’re out of the fight — is a war crime.”
But Maurer does not believe this particular strike, if it occurred as recent media reports suggest, would be a war crime since he doesn’t consider the US to be legally engaged in an armed conflict with any narco-terrorists.
“It’s just extrajudicial killing, which is a murder under international law, under our domestic law. There is no authority to do this,” he said.
https://www.cnn.com/2025/12/02/politics/boat-strike-controversy-legal-experts
