6/ Finally, your reminder that Hegseth said Bradley acted within the authority Hegseth gave him and that, in retrospect, Bradley made the "correct decision."

5/ Why is Bradley saying his decision was based on this?:

<<while the survivors were not armed, he said the mission identified the drugs as the threat to the U.S., effectively deeming the cocaine as the weapon that could endanger Americans>>

He told lawmakers the drugs were headed to Europe/Africa

4/ Also why is Bradley saying they were not visibly injured but were still on the list of approved targets.

Hors de combat is hors de combat. List doesn't affect that.

WWII Germans could have a list of American soldiers who can be killed. But if they're shipwrecked, killing them is a war crime.

3/ If this reporting is correct, DoD killed 2 shipwrecked (hors de combat) just to eliminate remaining possible bags of cocaine that might be picked up.

2/ "Bradley told the lawmakers the boat was eventually heading to Europe or Africa."

Mind-blowing.

Then the 11 people were engaged in "war sustaining" activities on best reading in favor of DoD. Clearly civilians not engaged in combat activities under DoD's own view of law.

... (ii) that Boasberg's orders were best or most farily read not to prohibit such transfers; nor even, and most importantly, (iii) *that she thought the transfers were lawful*. [2]

4/ GOP Chair Wicker and Ranking Member Reed, Senate Armed Services, "requested copies of the execute orders related to the strikes in September, without success. ... Bradley supported sharing the materials when asked by lawmakers Thursday but noted that he alone was not authorized to release them."

3/ "Rep. Don Bacon (Nebraska), a member of the Armed Services Committee and a rare Republican who has openly criticized Hegseth, said he supported releasing the video of the Sept. 2 operation and called on Holsey to meet with the committee."

2/ "A spokesperson for Rep. Adam Smith (Washington), the top Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee, said that panel also requested briefings with U.S. Southern Command, though not with Holsey specifically."

www.washingtonpost.com/national-sec...

6/ CNN confirms:

"The survivors were also waving at something in the air, the sources said Bradley told them, although it’s unclear whether they might have been surrendering or asking the US aircraft they had spotted for help."

By @natashabertrand.bsky.social

5/

Wrong drugs
Wrong direction

2/ source

Exclusive: Boat at center of double-tap strike controversy was meeting vessel headed to Suriname, admiral told lawmakers

By @natashabertrand.bsky.social

4/ I would love to know how the secret DOJ Office of Legal Counsel Opinion tries to get around such facts of heading away from the United States (to Suriname) and most likely onto Europe.

Or the military ops maybe don't match the secret legal justifications.

3/ And, yes, the administration's attempted constitutional and other legal claims unravel if boats are delivering drugs (let alone, cocaine not fentanyl) to Europe instead.

2/ Problems for Bradley's credibility.

On left:

Bradley argued to lawmakers was "still a possibility" drugs could've ultimately made way to US.

On right:

Trump State Department: "Suriname is a transit country for South American cocaine, the majority of which is likely destined for Europe."

2/2 On the latter point about POTUS needing affirmative authorization, big recommend:

Dissecting the Trump Administration’s Effort to Circumvent the War Powers Resolution for Boat Strikes
By @bcfinucane.bsky.social