Boat strike footage rattles some lawmakers

What happened

A select group of lawmakers Thursday viewed video of the Sept. 2 military strike on an alleged cocaine-trafficking boat, including the follow-up strike that killed two survivors clinging to portions of the destroyed vessel.

Following a series of classified briefings by Adm. Frank “Mitch” Bradley, who ordered the second strike, Democrats called the footage “disturbing” and urged its public release, while some Republicans defended both the strike and President Donald Trump’s broader campaign to blow up suspected drug traffickers. A 22nd boat strike announced Thursday evening killed four more people, bringing the total death toll to 87.

Who said what

The footage of the Sept. 2 strike showed that after the first missiles destroyed most of the boat, “two survivors, shirtless, clung to the hull, tried unsuccessfully to flip it back over, then climbed on it and slipped off into the water, over and over,” The New York Times said, citing lawmakers and staffers. Before Bradley ordered the second strike that killed the survivors, military officials spent 41 minutes discussing “what to do as they watched the men struggle to overturn what was left of their boat,” CNN said. The survivors did not radio or call for assistance or backup, as previously claimed by defense officials.

“What I saw in that room was one of the most troubling things I’ve seen in my time in public service,” said Rep. Jim Himes (Conn.), the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee. Sen. Jack Reed (R.I.), the Senate Armed Services Committee’s top Democrat, said he was “deeply disturbed” by the video and the briefing “confirmed my worst fears” about Trump’s “military activities.” His GOP counterpart, Sen. Roger Wicker (Miss.), declined to comment after the briefing.

Senate Intelligence Committee chair Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) said the strikes were “righteous” and “entirely lawful and needful.” He said he "saw two survivors trying to flip a boat loaded with drugs bound for the United States back over so they could stay in the fight.” Rep. Mike Turner (R-Ohio) told reporters he was “concerned” about the strikes because, if the survivors had been rescued, they “would be put in jail,” not “subject to capital punishment.”

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What next?

Congressional Republicans have “turned back attempts to put a check on Trump’s power to engage in the missile campaign,” which Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth “has vowed will continue,” The Associated Press said.