Survivors clinging to capsized boat didn’t radio backup

Thursday, December 04, 2025

The two men killed as they floated holding onto their capsized boat in a secondary strike against a suspected drug vessel in early September did not appear to have radio or other communications devices, the top military official overseeing the strike told lawmakers on Thursday, according to three sources with direct knowledge of his congressional briefings. Thursday, Adm. Frank "Mitch" Bradley acknowledged that the two survivors of the military's initial strike were in no position to make a distress call in his briefings to lawmakers.

Posted by REDIAL at 11:53 PM | 3 COMMENTS | permalink | Comment on This Entry |

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For a little under an hour " 41 minutes, according to a separate US official " Bradley and the rest of the US military command center discussed what to do as they watched the men struggle to overturn what was left of their boat, the sources said. Ultimately, Bradley told lawmakers, he ordered a second strike to destroy the remains of the vessel, killing the two survivors, on the grounds that it appeared that part of the vessel remained afloat because it still held cocaine, according to one of the sources. The survivors could hypothetically have floated to safety, been rescued, and carried on with trafficking the drugs, the logic went.

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At this point, my main concern is the changing stories that have been issued to substantiate what occurred.

Why, for example has Sec Hegseth's apparent explanation seemed to have changed over time?

If he was aware of what was occurring, why change his explanation over time?

If he was not aware of what was happening, well, as Sec of Defense, he may have other issues.

imo, of course.

#1 | Posted by LampLighter at 2025-12-05 12:27 AM | Reply

the changing stories that have been issued to substantiate what occurred.

Indeed. Wasn't eliminating a "hazard to navigation" the first story?

#2 | Posted by REDIAL at 2025-12-05 12:31 AM | Reply

Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) declared Secretary of War Crimes Pete Hegseth should testify before Congress "under oath" about the orders to strike suspected Venezuelan drug boats:

"I think he should testify under oath about the orders that were given, and I think that the video of the distressed, shipwrecked or incapacitated people on those boats being bombed, that video should be shown to every American."

Source: thehill.com

Murder-Death-Kill

Is that my Enemy over yonder, you say?
Indeed it is my Friend, so bombs away!
And how many of Them did we slay today?
Why, I couldn't care to know or to say,
That's the American, Russian, and Israeli way.

#3 | Posted by C0RI0LANUS at 2025-12-05 06:06 AM | Reply