‘Kill Them All’? It’s Complicated
Has the Trump administration gone too far with its series of military strikes taking out Venezuelan “narco-terrorist” drug boats in the Caribbean?
When The Washington Post headlined that Secretary of War Pete Hegseth had given a “kill them all” order on the first Caribbean boat strike against Venezuelan drug cartels, the rest of the media launched nearly ubiquitous coverage of the supposed scandal. We opted for a wait-and-see approach because Leftmedia “scoops” like that have a way of being revised as time goes on.
The Post’s report, it admitted, “is based on interviews with and accounts from seven people with knowledge of the Sept. 2 strike and the overall operation.” In other words, anonymous sources who were not directly involved. Take that for what it’s worth. You can also consider the fact that the Post’s report comes not long after six Democrats posted an inciteful video urging Armed Forces personnel to disregard illegal or unconstitutional orders. Right on cue?
The Post essentially accused Hegseth and a Special Operations commander of a war crime — killing “two survivors [who] were clinging to the smoldering wreck.” The rest of the Leftmedia dutifully jumped aboard the same boat.
Democrat Senator Mark Kelly, one of the six Democrats in that video, agreed that the strike “seems to” constitute a war crime, though he was wily enough not to repeat the words “war crime” used by CNN’s Dana Bash.
Now, let’s back up a minute.
On this day in 1823, President James Monroe established what became known as the Monroe Doctrine — that the United States, not Europe, would be the driving force in the Western Hemisphere.
President Donald Trump has embraced that policy. For instance, he has homed in on the drug cartels as being responsible for the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Americans over the years, as well as facilitating what he has called an “invasion” of illegal aliens. The cartels traffic drugs and people across our borders, and Trump has escalated the U.S. response from border security and widespread deportations to the military level — 11 warships and 15,000 troops are now in the Caribbean. The administration has taken out at least 23 drug boats since September, killing more than 80.
The administration is also posturing toward regime change in Venezuela. Illegitimate strongman President Nicolás Maduro, the Trump administration argues, effectively runs foreign terrorist organizations like TdA (Tren de Aragua), Sinaloa, and Cartel de los Soles (Cartel of the Suns). Team Trump says those FTOs represent a real threat to U.S. national security, justifying a military response.
Now, back to the kill order.
To be fair, The Washington Post did extensively report various angles, such as this nugget in the 25th paragraph: Joint Special Operations Command, or JSOC, explained that “the ‘double-tap,’ or follow-on strike, was intended to sink the boat and remove a navigation hazard to other vessels — not to kill survivors.” But as intended, the Post’s “kill them all” headline got all of the attention.
“Mark my words,” warned Massachusetts Democrat Representative Seth Moulton, “It may take some time, but Americans will be prosecuted for this, either as a war crime or outright murder.” Translation: If Democrats win in 2026, stay tuned for Impeachment 3.0.
Hegseth responded to the Post’s report, “As usual, the fake news is delivering more fabricated, inflammatory, and derogatory reporting to discredit our incredible warriors fighting to protect the homeland. As we’ve said from the beginning, and in every statement, these highly effective strikes are specifically intended to be ‘lethal, kinetic strikes.’ The declared intent is to stop lethal drugs, destroy narco-boats, and kill the narco-terrorists who are poisoning the American people. Every trafficker we kill is affiliated with a Designated Terrorist Organization.”
As usual, the fake news is delivering more fabricated, inflammatory, and derogatory reporting to discredit our incredible warriors fighting to protect the homeland.
— Secretary of War Pete Hegseth (@SecWar) November 28, 2025
As we’ve said from the beginning, and in every statement, these highly effective strikes are specifically…
Asked about the story, Trump initially responded on Sunday, “We’ll look into it, but no, I wouldn’t have wanted that — a second strike.” Trump, the White House, and the Pentagon have all said Hegseth did not specifically order the second strike to kill those two survivors, only the initial lethal strike. Admiral Frank M. “Mitch” Bradley was the Special Operations commander overseeing the attack, and Hegseth called him “an American hero” who “has my 100% support.” Still, Hegseth’s defense — basically that “it was always our intention to kill them” — doesn’t really suffice.
Shooting the wounded is what the Japanese did to American sailors in World War II, and that was during an actual declared war. Killing combatants who are hors de combat (i.e., no longer in the fight) runs afoul of the U.S. Law of War Manual, as well as the Geneva Conventions. If that is what happened, there are accountability questions.
Representatives Mike Rogers (R-AL), chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, and Adam Smith (D-WA), the panel’s ranking Democrat, agree. “We take seriously the reports of follow-on strikes on boats alleged to be ferrying narcotics in the SOUTHCOM region and are taking bipartisan action to gather a full accounting of the operation in question,” the pair said in a statement.
Furthermore, though the administration has (sort of) laid out its strategy with Venezuela and the cartels, the legality of the whole enterprise is debatable. Essentially, it boils down to this: Congress has specifically defined both terrorist activity and drug trafficking, and there’s no significant intersection in those definitions. Though the administration certainly claims the authority to conduct such strikes, Congress has never chosen Trump’s combined “narco-terrorist” definition.
As for the strikes, two comparisons come to mind. Barack Obama conducted numerous drone strikes overseas, some of which killed four American citizens. Team Obama essentially said “Oops” and moved on. More than a decade later, in retaliation for 13 Americans killed during Joe Biden’s disgraceful surrender and retreat from Afghanistan, he ordered a diversionary drone strike that killed a longtime U.S. aid worker and nine Afghan civilians, seven of whom were children. Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Mark Milley called it “a righteous strike.”
I’m not making a “well, they did it first” argument. I’m saying that, as with many other issues in Trump’s second term, the president is arguably following bad precedents set by his predecessors, and that is not the ideal way to govern. Maybe, as Trump’s most arduous supporters would say, I just need to remember “what time it is.” In other words, things are so bad that Trump has no choice but to govern by pushing the bounds of power in whatever direction he deems necessary.
Trump definitely deserves a bit of latitude in his governance and use of the Armed Forces as commander-in-chief, but as we approach the 250th anniversary of our Declaration of Independence, we should be looking to its principles as intently as ever. That is the source of my concern, regardless of which party is in the White House.
Update 12/3: In a cabinet meeting yesterday, Hegseth said this:
So, I said I’m going to be the one to make the call after getting all the information and make sure it’s the right strike. That was September 2nd. There’s a lot of intelligence that goes into that, building that case and understanding that, a lot of people providing information. I watched that first strike live.
So, I didn’t stick around for the hour and two hours or whatever where all the sensitive site exploitation digitally occurs. So I moved on to my next meeting. A couple of hours later, I learned that that commander had made the — which he had the complete authority to do. And by the way, Admiral Bradley made the correct decision to ultimately sink the boat and eliminate the threat.
I did not personally see survivors, but I stand — because the thing was on fire. That was exploded and fire or smoke, you can’t see anything. You got digital. This is called the fog of war.
Update 12/5: Admiral Bradley told Congress on Thursday that there was no “kill them all” order, contrary to The Washington Post story that kicked off this whole kerfuffle.
