Admiral contradicts Donald Trump's claims, alleged drug boat was not heading to US
&imwidth=600&imheight=450&format=webp&quality=medium "Admiral contradicts Donald Trump's claims, alleged drug boat was not heading to US")
US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth (R) looks on as U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during a meeting of his Cabinet in the Cabinet Room of the White House on December 02, 2025 in Washington, DC. A bipartisan Congressional investigation has begun regarding Secretary of War Pete Hegseth's role in ordering U.S. military strikes on small boats in the waters off Venezuela that have killed scores of people, which Hegseth said are intended "to stop lethal drugs, destroy narco-boats and kill the narco-terrorists who are poisoning the American people. Photograph: (AFP)
Admiral Frank Bradley told lawmakers the alleged Venezuelan drug boat struck by the U.S. was heading toward Suriname, contradicting Donald Trump and Pete Hegseth’s claim that it was bound for the US, as criticism mounts over possible war crime.
Frank Bradley, the Admiral who oversaw the air strike on alleged Venezuelan drug vessels, admitted that it was not heading towards the US, which is in direct contradiction to the claim of Secretary of War Pete Hegseth. The strike resulted in 11 casualties.
However, according to the US drug enforcement officials, boats from Suriname head towards Europe.
After the strike, the US President in post on Truth Social wrote, “The strike occurred while the terrorists were at sea in International waters transporting illegal narcotics, heading to the United States.” Around 86 people have been killed in 22 total strikes this year. Both US President Donald Trump and Secretary of War Pete Hegseth insisted that the strikes were necessary to stop the flow of drugs to the United States.
Bradley, while briefing the lawmakers on Thursday, said that the boats were heading toward Suriname, on the northern coast of South America, but ultimately could have ended up in the US, which warranted striking the boats, as reported by CNN. According to CNN, Bradley told the lawmakers that two of them who survived the first strike and held on to the wreckage for 40 minutes were waving in the air, meaning they would have surrendered. Every part of the whole process is a gigantic war crime.
“The video we saw today showed two shipwrecked individuals who had no means to move, much less pose an immediate threat, and yet they were killed by the United States military,” said Democratic Rep. Jim Himes and Adam Smith on Thursday, following the Bradleys' briefing. According to the Washington Post, the directive was issued by the Secretary of War Pete Hegeseth to the SEAL team in charge of the operation to kill every individual on board. However, Hegseth blamed the “fog of war” for the second strike during a cabinet meeting on Tuesday, September 2.
