Democratic Sen. Tammy Duckworth said a second military strike on a damaged drug boat in September constituted a “war crime” before checking what video evidence or after-action reports show.
Duckworth appeared on CNN on Sunday and accused the Trump administration, particularly War Secretary Pete Hegseth, of committing a war crime in the Caribbean over a report in The Washington Post last month. The senator made the strong accusation before admitting that she has not seen the classified video or military reports on the controversial strike.
Top military officials have denied the Post’s report, and additional reporting from The New York Times undercuts the Post report’s claim that Hegseth issued a “kill everybody” order.
The Illinois senator suggested that U.S. service members who participate in the “illegal” strikes may be subject to legal accountability in the U.S. or through the International Criminal Court, which the United States is not a party to.
“Everything that they’ve done has been illegal. It’s illegal under international law, it’s illegal under the Geneva Convention, and it certainly is even illegal under domestic law. It was essentially murder with that double-tap strike,” said Duckworth. “It is a war crime. It’s illegal. However you put it, it’s all illegal.”
Duckworth said she made her assessment without watching classified video of the strike that has been shown to some lawmakers. Duckworth said that all of her knowledge on the strike has come from “just what’s been available in the media.”
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“I’ve not seen the actual video. I’ve requested to be able to see the actual video. I’ve also actually asked to see the after-action reports from the pilots and the drone operators, as well as the intelligence debrief that all pilots and drone operators conduct after they have completed a mission,” she said.
The Washington Post reported on November 28 that Hegseth ordered the U.S. military to “kill them all” in relation to narcoterrorists who ferry drugs through international waters in the Caribbean Sea and Pacific Ocean.
Adm. Frank Bradley, who oversaw the September operation in question, testified to lawmakers last week that the Post’s account of the strike is inaccurate. Top military officials have denied that Hegseth ever gave such an order, and that Bradley’s official orders, which have been reviewed by some lawmakers, did not include that wording.
Bradley reportedly told lawmakers during his testimony, not delivered publicly because of the sensitivity of the subject, that each of the 11 people on board the vessel had been confirmed by intelligence as narcoterrorists. Bradley also said that he authorized the second strike on the vessel and that Hegseth had left soon after the first strike was delivered.
, 2025-12-07 15:49:00, 
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