Hegseth defends decision to kill survivors in strike off Venezuela

Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth doubled down on deadly US air strikes against alleged drug-running boats off the Venezuelan coast, saying he would have made the same call as the admiral who ordered survivors to be killed.

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The nearly two dozen strikes on boats in the Caribbean and Pacific have come under bipartisan scrutiny, but recent reports that a September strike included a second one to kill two survivors clinging to wreckage at sea have prompted accusations of possible war crimes.

"From what I understood then and what I understand now, I fully support that strike," Mr Hegseth said on Dec 6. "I would have made the same call myself."

His remarks during and after a speech at the Reagan Defence Forum in Simi Valley, California, went a step further than his comments at the White House earlier in the week, when he appeared to lay responsibility on Admiral Frank Bradley, who ordered the second strike on the same boat.

Mr Hegseth praised the policy of sinking boats and killing alleged drug-runners whom the Trump administration considers enemy combatants and not criminals.

That policy has led to serious debate in Congress and among legal experts about whether they are legal, and whether the boats are actually headed for the US.