Hegseth Defends Second September Drug Boat Strike

Secretary of War Pete Hegseth said on Dec. 6 that he supports the decision in early September to initiate a second strike on a drug boat in the South Caribbean that killed two survivors of a previous strike. Hegseth said, “I fully support that strike” while speaking at the Reagan National Defense Forum in Simi Valley, California, on Saturday. “I would have made the call myself,” the secretary added. Hegseth also defended the broader rationale for the series of strikes of strikes over recent weeks, which have killed more than 80 people who U.S. officials say are drug traffickers. Democrats and other critics say such strikes may have potentially violating international law if shipwrecked survivors were targeted in a subsequent strike....