Former Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said Monday he doesn’t “think there’s any question” a reported second U.S. strike on an alleged Caribbean drug boat was a war crime.
“I don’t think there’s any question that that’s a war crime, if it happened in that way. I think the best thing that’s happening now is that the Armed Services Committee in both the Senate and the House have indicated that they’re going to do a full investigation of this issue,” Panetta said on CNN’s “The Situation Room.”
“And I think that’s what’s needed, because, there’s obviously going to be a lot of different viewpoints, you heard what the president said. But, I think, ultimately it’s up to those committees to find out exactly what happened. And if it was a war crime, to make sure we hold people accountable,” he added.
Multiple lawmakers have pushed the Trump administration for information after The Washington Post and CNN reported late last week that the U.S. carried out an additional strike on the alleged drug-smuggling boat in September, killing two survivors of the initial strike.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Friday defended the U.S. military’s recent strikes on alleged drug-trafficking boats, calling the Post’s report “fake news.”
“As usual, the fake news is delivering more fabricated, inflammatory, and derogatory reporting to discredit our incredible warriors fighting to protect the homeland,” Hegseth said Friday evening in a post on the social platform X.
“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,” he added.
The Hill has reached out to the Pentagon for comment on Panetta’s remarks.