Survivors Clinging to Capsized Boat Didn't Radio Backup

Friday, December 05, 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.

Posted by REDIAL at 07:32 AM | 16 COMMENTS | permalink | Comment on This Entry |

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Has Bradley made a statement, and/or does he have counsel? Admiral Frank M. Bradley Commander, USSOCOM Adm. Frank M. Bradley is a U.S. Navy SEAL Officer www.navy.mil/Leadership/F ...

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-- Nancy Levine Stearns (@nancylevinestearns.bsky.social) Dec 2, 2025 at 1:20 PM

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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 | Newsworthy 1

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

Cannot have American troops, heavily armed, patrolling American streets, without a danger from "terrorists", and narco terrorists fill the bill. I would expect the midterms to be full of blood and drama, because if Trump really were to lose both the House and the Senate, he and his family would be in court, pretty much all the time. It seems that influence peddling is an actual crime.
If I were Trump, I would be planning on 'retiring' from the Presidency so President Vance could pardon me, my family, and my entire gang of cultists, and if he loses the midterms, I would expect him to seriously consider such an action soon after.
Nixon walked away free and clear, thanks to the Republican Party rigging things with President Ford.

#4 | Posted by Hughmass at 2025-12-05 07:44 AM | Reply | Newsworthy 1

it's
a
slippery
slope
on
the
way
to
admitting
it's
all
about
OIL

#5 | Posted by RightisTrite at 2025-12-05 08:03 AM | Reply | Funny: 1 | Newsworthy 1

#5- Can't tell if you're doing a parody of a mindless drone, or actually being one.

#6 | Posted by sentinel at 2025-12-05 08:14 AM | Reply

#5
....said the mindless drone...

#7 | Posted by Wardog at 2025-12-05 08:25 AM | Reply | Funny: 1

Hi Hugh Mass:

Richard Nixon was clever choosing Gerald R. Ford to be his VPOTUS. Ford was the ultimate insider in Wash DC, a 32-degree Scottish Rites Freemason, Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity brother, BPOE (Elks), Yale Law School grad, USN veteran, served 25 years in Congress, sat on the Warren Commission, and was liked on both sides of the aisle.

JD Vance is a flyweight compared to Gerald Ford, but he is loyal and may serve the purpose you propose.

#8 | Posted by C0RI0LANUS at 2025-12-05 08:35 AM | Reply

If I were Trump, I would be planning on 'retiring' from the Presidency so President Vance could pardon me

#4 | Posted by Hughmass

I agree that this is a possibility, except for two things--

1) Donald's sick, sick pride might keep him from humiliating himself by passing power on to Vance.

2) Donald, his family, and his cult have committed countless crimes in various States, and Vance's pardons would touch those.

No, I think that it's more likely that Donald will---

1) Attempt to flee the country and go into exile. Although this, too, would be an affront to his pride.

2) Do some Gotterdamerung thing and try to pull the house down with him.

#9 | Posted by Zed at 2025-12-05 08:58 AM | Reply

Where's the blood and guts conservatives?

Where's MSgt and Boaz and GracieAmazed dancing on the watery graves of unarmed civilians?

You're telling me Megan Kelly is swinging bigger than Boaz?

"I really do kind of not only want to see them killed in the water, whether they're on the boat or in the water, but I'd really like to see them suffer," Kelly said before sharing a twisted fantasy of how she'd like to see President Donald Trump and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth handle alleged Venezuelan drug traffickers.

"I would like Trump and Hegseth to make it last a long time so that they lose a limb and bleed out a little," Kelly said.

#10 | Posted by snoofy at 2025-12-05 09:05 AM | Reply | Newsworthy 1

I also leave room for, if Donald is truly cornered, that he does what other tyrants with his sickness have done: kill himself, like Hitler or Nero.

Of course, there's always the Mussolini scenario: Attempting to escape, he's captured, killed, and hanged upside down by an enraged citizenry,

#11 | Posted by Zed at 2025-12-05 09:05 AM | Reply

"....said the mindless drone..."

IKYABWAI! ...said Peewee Herman.

It's sad that some people can't comprehend that not everything is about oil. It's an oversimplification, at best.

#12 | Posted by sentinel at 2025-12-05 09:47 AM | Reply

Actually everyone in the chain of command needs to testify under oath as to what their orders were and why they followed them.

Only cowards kill survivors when the enemy is defeated.

Especially shipwrecked sailors. Killing shipwrecked sailors is such a Nazis thing to do.

In World War II a Nazi U-boat commander ordered the killing of shipwrecked sailors.

After German submarine U-852 sank the Greek steamship SS Peleus in the Atlantic Ocean, the U-boat's commander, Heinz-Wilhelm Eck, ordered his crew to shoot at the survivors in the water and throw hand grenades at the wreckage and life rafts to eliminate all traces of the sinking.

After the war, Eck and two other crew members were tried by a British military tribunal for war crimes. They were convicted and subsequently executed in November 1945, the only German submariners executed for war crimes committed during World War II.

If they don't do it now then after Trumpy loses power everyone will be tried by a military "tribunal" force at crimes. Best save all emails documents and orders and digital data related to these incidents so you can save your "assets" from jail or execution.

#13 | Posted by donnerboy at 2025-12-05 10:35 AM | Reply

It's sad that some people can't comprehend that not everything is about oil. It's an oversimplification, at best.

#12 | POSTED BY SENTINEL

If it's not about oil and it's not about "drug terrorists" (because that's obviously a lie) then what is it really about?

Please enlighten us with your unique SSentinel perspective.

#14 | Posted by donnerboy at 2025-12-05 10:38 AM | Reply

"Especially shipwrecked sailors. Killing shipwrecked sailors is such a Nazis thing to do."#13 | Posted by donnerboy at 2025-12-05 10:35 AM | Reply

Yes, innocent "shipwrecked" sailors. Clinging to a bucket of cocaine.

What's the issue Donner? You afraid your crack shipment will be delayed?

And how does the left know that they didn't have communication devices? Because they didn't get the call?

#15 | Posted by fishpaw at 2025-12-05 11:10 AM | Reply

So, this is a change from the narrative that Pete told the Admiral to "kill them all."

If the commander's guidance were to "destroy" the ship, in doctrinal terms that means something. It means that the target must be rendered in such a way that it is no longer able to perform the tasks that that make it a valid military target. If the Ship was the target, and it was still floating, that means hitting it until it no longer floats. To target distressed seamen is a war crime. To achieve the desired effect on a valid military target is not.

When I was doing this, it was rare for a commander to state that something needed to be destroyed, but there were plenty of times when strikes were carried out against a previously struck target because a few feet of wall remained.

The US also struck narcotics labs in Afghanistan, as they had been linked to Taliban funding. The coalition also used to strike oil tankers in Syria. When OIR started, the coalition went in and blew up the oil wells that ISIS controlled. The result was that it created pools of dirty oil. ISIS would collect this oil and sell it in Turkey. Since the oil trucks were linked to counter-threat finance, they were valid military targets.

#16 | Posted by madbomber at 2025-12-05 11:14 AM | Reply