TRANSCRIPT
The United States is facing accusations of extrajudicial killings and potential war crimes as its so-called war on drug trafficking begins to court scrutiny around the world.
The U-S military began carrying out strikes in early September on boats in the Caribbean Sea and East Pacific that they claim were transporting drugs, claiming they are at a state of war with drug traffickers.
The bombing campaign has so far killed at least 83 people.
And it's one of the first strikes, on September 2nd, that have caused an eruption of controversy over the past week.
At the centre of the outcry is the biggest proponent of these strikes, Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth.
"In waging this war on narco-terrorists, we're willing to go on the offence. Go on the offence in a way that changes the dynamic for the entire region."
Mr Hegseth and President Donald Trump's administration have come under fire after it was revealed that U-S forces launched a follow-up strike on the wreckage of a vessel that had already been hit, reportedly killing two survivors.
If the administration's claims of a war are to be believed, that follow-up strike would appear to run afoul of the Pentagon's own Law of War manual, which states that orders to fire upon the shipwrecked would be clearly illegal.
Before the operation, Mr Hegseth ordered the military to ensure the strike killed everyone on board, but it's unclear whether he knew there were survivors before the second strike.
After the controversial nature of that strike was revealed, both the White House and Pentagon have sought to distance the Defence Secretary from the decision, pinning responsibility on Admiral Frank Bradley, head of Special Operations Command.
But Mr Hegseth says he backs what the Admiral did.
"I watched that first strike live. As you can imagine at the Department of War, we got a lot of things to do. 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. And it was the right call. We have his back, and the American people are safer."
Mr Hegseth has told Fox News he's absolute sure those targeted were drug traffickers.
"We knew exactly who was in that boat, we knew exactly what they were doing and we knew exactly who they represented. That was Tren de Aragua, a narco-terrorist organisation designated by the United States, trying to poison our country with illicit drugs."
The U-S government has failed to provide any evidence of their allegations against any of the 83 victims of these strikes.
United Nations' Human Rights Office spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani says all of these attacks clearly violate international law.
"Airstrikes by the United States of America on boats in the Caribbean and in the Pacific violate international human rights law. These attacks and their mounting human cost are unacceptable. The United States should investigate and if necessary prosecute and punish individuals accused of serious crimes in accordance with the fundamental rule of law principles of due process and fair trial."
Aside from the Pentagon's own rules of combat, the Crisis Group think tank says there are concerns the second strike could violate the law of armed conflict which prohibits the execution of an enemy combatant that is taken out of the fight due to injury.
Mr Hegseth says these strikes have only just begun, despite growing condemnation from Democrat politicians.
Democratic Senate leader Chuck Schumer tells C-N-N that Congress is attempting to acquire the war-room tapes to investigate the issue.
"Well we hope that we can bring before the committees and get the top military people to testify and we hope that they will release the tapes. Hegseth is hiding something here and he's known to be a liar and if he has nothing to hide, if he said he did nothing wrong, if he said no laws were violated, release the tapes."
Admiral Frank Bradley is set to provide a classified briefing to key politicians overseeing the military as they investigate the attack.
Meanwhile, Mr Trump has defended his Defence Secretary and has threatened to take the war on drug trafficking to a boots-on-the-ground offensive into Venezuela.
"Pete didn't know about a second attack having to do with two people. I can say this, I want those boats taken out, and if we have to we'll attack on land also just like we attack on sea. And there's very little coming in by sea. I think we've knocked out over ninety per cent of it. We're saving hundreds of thousands of lives with those pinpoint attacks."
