In the Trump administration’s Sept. 2 opening salvo against boats it says are carrying cartel drugs to America, it gave orders for a lethal U.S. military strike.

But when two members of the crew clung to the boat’s wreckage after the first missile hit, Adm. Frank “Mitch” Bradley ordered a second strike to carry out Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth’s initial order – issued before the operation began – to “kill everybody,” according to a Nov. 28 report in The Washington Post.

This second strike, which could be deemed illegal under international humanitarian law if it targeted surviving crew members, was confirmed in a briefing Tuesday by Pentagon Press Secretary Kingsley Wilson. Ms. Wilson said Mr. Hegseth authorized the initial attack but did not utter the words attributed to him by The

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