(Photo from Senator Wicker on X)
- The Senate Armed Services chairman recently a statement following reports that Secretary of War Pete Hegseth gave a “kill everybody” order, an allegation Hegseth calls “fake news.”
Mississippi U.S. Senator Roger Wicker (R) says there will be “vigorous oversight” related to reports that Secretary of War Pete Hegseth ordered military officers to “kill everybody” when conducting a targeted strike on alleged drug trafficking vessels in the Caribbean.
Wicker, the chairman of the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee, along with ranking Democrat U.S. Senator Jack Reed of Rhode Island released a joint statement over the weekend following a Washington Post report on the matter.
“The Committee is aware of recent news reports — and the Department of Defense’s initial response — regarding alleged follow-on strikes on suspected narcotics vessels in the SOUTHCOM area of responsibility,” Wicker and Reed stated. ““The Committee has directed inquires to the Department, and we will be conducting vigorous oversight to determine the facts related to the circumstances.”
The Washington Post reported that Secretary Hegseth “gave a spoken directive, according to two people with direct knowledge of the operation. ‘The order was to kill everybody,’ one of them said.”
“A missile screamed off the Trinidad coast, striking the vessel and igniting a blaze from bow to stern. For minutes, commanders watched the boat burning on a live drone feed. As the smoke cleared, they got a jolt: Two survivors were clinging to the smoldering wreck,” the Washington Post reported. “The Special Operations commander overseeing the Sept. 2 attack — the opening salvo in the Trump administration’s war on suspected drug traffickers in the Western Hemisphere — ordered a second strike to comply with Hegseth’s instructions, two people familiar with the matter said. The two men were blown apart in the water.”
President Donald Trump (R) on Sunday expressed confidence in Hegseth not giving such an order. Trump told reported that Hegseth told him that he “did not say that, and I believe him, 100 percent.”
Hegseth wrote on X following the Washington Post’s reporting that “the fake news is delivering more fabricated, inflammatory, and derogatory reporting to discredit our incredible warriors fighting to protect the homeland.”
“As we’ve said from the beginning, and in every statement, these highly effective strikes are specifically intended to be “lethal, kinetic strikes.” The declared intent is to stop lethal drugs, destroy narco-boats, and kill the narco-terrorists who are poisoning the American people. Every trafficker we kill is affiliated with a Designated Terrorist Organization,” Hegseth shared on X, adding, “Our current operations in the Caribbean are lawful under both U.S. and international law, with all actions in compliance with the law of armed conflict—and approved by the best military and civilian lawyers, up and down the chain of command.”
President Trump has since said he has “very little” concern about how the military strikes in the Caribbean are being handled.
Upwards of 20 Caribbean strikes have been carried out by the U.S. military in relation to alleged drug trafficking since September against what the Trump administration claims are “narco-terrorists.”
Frank Corder
