Admiral says drug boat was meeting Suriname vessel before strike

 

 

DOUBLE-TAP BOAT STRIKE

The deadly September 2 maritime strike — already under intense scrutiny for its “double-tap” kill of survivors — has gained yet another twist. Adm. Frank Bradley told lawmakers that the alleged drug runners targeted by U.S. forces were preparing to rendezvous with a second vessel headed toward Suriname, a known transit point for Europe-bound narcotics. That detail adds friction to the Trump administration’s claim that the strike was necessary to stop drugs from reaching the United States.

 

Bradley admitted the larger vessel was never located. Nonetheless, he argued the shipment could still have made its way back into U.S. supply chains — a justification that lawmakers from both parties view with skepticism. U.S. drug-route data shows Suriname’s primary trafficking flows serve Europe, not American shores.

 

Complicating matters further, Bradley acknowledged that the targeted boat had turned around before the strike — apparently after spotting the U.S. aircraft. CNN previously reported this reversal, but Bradley’s confirmation underscores the degree to which the boat may have been retreating, not advancing.

U.S. forces struck four times, the first blast splitting the vessel in half, leaving two men alive and clinging to debris. The second, third and fourth hits killed them and sank the remains. Bradley reportedly told lawmakers that the survivors were “waving at something in the air,” raising unresolved questions about whether they were attempting to surrender.

 

Killing shipwrecked survivors is considered a war crime under the Pentagon’s own law-of-war guidelines, making the mission’s legality a top concern for the Senate Armed Services Committee. While most Republicans back Trump’s aggressive Caribbean crackdown, the September 2 operation has broken that unity, with oversight now guaranteed.

 

Attention is increasingly shifting to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s precise orders. While he signalled before the mission that the strikes should be lethal, sources say he was not informed survivors remained until after they were dead. A U.S. official stressed that although the objective was understood as killing all 11 suspects, it was not an authorised “no-quarter” mission — which would itself be illegal.

 

The result: a growing Washington dispute over rules of engagement, political pressure, and a troubling question — did the United States commit a war crime in the Caribbean?

 

• Suriname link deepens scrutiny: The boat hit by the US was allegedly set to rendezvous with a larger vessel bound for Suriname — a route typically tied to Europe-bound narcotics, not US markets, complicating the Trump administration’s claim of an "imminent threat" to America.

• Survivor killings under the spotlight: US forces struck the vessel four times, with the last three strikes killing shipwrecked survivors — an act that could constitute a war crime under international law, triggering rare bipartisan concern and a vow of oversight from the Senate Armed Services Committee.

• Orders and accountability questioned: Adm. Frank Bradley told lawmakers he understood the objective was to kill all 11 on board, though Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth was reportedly unaware survivors remained until after they were killed — leaving the Pentagon’s decision-making chain under intense legal and political scrutiny.

 

SOURCE:  CNN

Once again, militarists have hijacked a great term double-tap. Sex reference.

It was meeting another boat, but they couldn't locate that boat? I call BS on that.

Who cares where it was going.  Carrying death for profit ... and the world is better without them.  

 

I know a couple friends tat OD'd and more than a few lives were ruined by the poison they distribute.  Kill 'em all, as far as I'm concerned.  Go after the factories, the banks, anyone involved with that trade.

 

How many have to die, or have their lives ruined, before people have had enough.