The Washington Post recently reported that Hegseth personally ordered the follow-up attack, giving a spoken order “to kill everybody.”
Multiple military legal experts, lawmakers, and now confidential sources within the government who spoke with The Intercept say Hegseth’s actions could result in the entire chain of command being investigated for a war crime or outright murder.
The military has carried out 21 known attacks, destroying 22 boats in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean since September, killing at least 83 civilians.
The double-tap strike on September 2 added a second layer of illegality to strikes that experts and lawmakers say are already tantamount to murder.
“Every single strike exposes those in the chain of command to the risk of criminal liability under murder statutes and international law prohibiting extrajudicial killings.”.
Later Monday, Hegseth suggested in a post on his personal X account that he wasn’t responsible decisions surrounding the Sept. 2 strike. »