The targeted boat had planned to “rendezvous” with a second vessel and transfer drugs to it, Adm. Frank Bradley said during the briefings
The alleged drug boat, which has become the centre of controversy in the US, was headed for Suriname, Navy Admiral Frank Bradley has said as he testified to lawmakers about the second strike that was conducted to kill the remaining survivors of the Venezuelan vessel.
According to intelligence gathered by US forces, the targeted boat had planned to “rendezvous” with a second vessel and transfer drugs to it, Adm. Frank Bradley said during the briefings. However, the military was unable to locate the second vessel.
Bradley told lawmakers that the shipment still could have ultimately made its way from Suriname to the US, the sources told CNN, arguing that this possibility justified striking the smaller boat even if it was not directly heading for US shores at the time.
At the same time, US Drug Enforcement officials have said that ships crossing routes via Suriname are usually headed to European countries and that US-bound drug trafficking routes fall on the Pacific Ocean.
Four strikes to bring down ship
Bradley, who headed Joint Special Operations Command at the time of the strike, also acknowledged that the boat had turned back before being hit, apparently after those on board spotted the American aircraft overhead, the sources said.
The US military ultimately struck the vessel four times; the first strike split the boat in two, leaving two survivors clinging to an overturned section. The second, third, and fourth strikes killed them and sank the remains of the vessel.
‘Hegseth didn’t give kill order’
Bradley has also testified that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth did not give an order to “kill them all” by conducting a second strike on the alleged Venezuelan drug boat to ensure the survivors were dead.
After reviewing footage of the 2 September double-strike incident and receiving a closed-door briefing from Adm. Frank Bradley, both Democratic and Republican lawmakers voiced their support.
The White House has consistently pinned the blame on Bradley for conducting the follow-up strike on the drug vessel, although backing the admiral’s “right call”. The Trump administration has been facing heat from US lawmakers over the use of military force.
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