Whether targeting drug boats is legal

DES MOINES, Iowa (Gray Media Iowa State Capital Bureau) — Some members of Congress on Thursday viewed video of a second strike on a boat of suspected Venezuelan drug traffickers who survived an earlier strike from the U.S. military in the Caribbean on September 2nd.

The two strikes killed 11 suspected drug traffickers, the Trump administration reported.

The actions are part of President Donald Trump’s efforts that targeted activity to bring alleged illegal drugs into the country.

U.S. military actions have killed 80 people in 20 different incidents, according to the administration.

The second strike on September 2nd killed the final two passengers who were on board the vessel.

Navy Admiral Frank “Mitch” Bradley commanded the U.S. military strikes and told lawmakers that there was no “kill them all” order from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.

Hegseth has denied that he ordered the second strike on survivors but said that he supported Bradley’s decision.

Some legal experts and Democrats in Congress have questioned whether the action to kill survivors — rather than rescue them and take them into custody — violates laws of military warfare.

U.S. Senator Chuck Grassley, a Republican, told Iowa reporters on Wednesday that he supported the Trump administration’s efforts to target suspected drug traffickers.

On Thursday, U.S. Representative Ashley Hinson, a Republican from Marion, also told reporters that she approved of the administration’s efforts to go after alleged drug smugglers attempting to transport them into the United States.

(Associated Press information contributed to this story.)

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