Mark Kelly suggests Pete Hegseth, US military violated Geneva Conventions in September boat strike

Senator Mark Kelly, one of six lawmakers who recently came under fire for telling active duty US troops to "refuse illegal orders," suggested on Monday that members of the military have violated the Geneva Conventions and other international laws in recent strikes on boats in the Caribbean that the Trump administration says are carrying narcotics to the United States. This comes after a report claimed that Secretary of War Pete Hegseth had allegedly issued orders ahead of a September attack on a drug boat to leave no survivors and that this caused the mission commander to issue a second attack after there were survivors clinging to wreckage.

"Folks in the military need to understand, you know, the Law of the Sea, the Geneva Conventions, what the law says. And I'm concerned that if there were, in fact, as reported, you know, survivors clinging to a damaged vessel, that that could be, you know, over a line. I hope it's not the case. I truly do," Kelly said, later adding, "Again, I am, you know, not sure of all the facts yet. I don't want to prejudge before we have all the information. I think it's important for there to be an investigation. The Inspector General, inspectors general of DoD, needs to investigate this. Unfortunately, an unqualified Secretary of Defense fired a bunch of them and got rid of a bunch of lawyers."

"I mean, think about this. He runs around on a stage talking about lethality and warrior ethos and killing people. We have the most competent, capable military this planet has ever seen by far. That's not the message that needs to come from the Secretary of Defense. The message should be about what's our mission, and accountability, and the rule of law, and training, and let me make sure you're equipped to do really hard jobs. Let me give you all the tools you need to do something that often is an impossible mission. 

"And instead, he runs around on a stage like he's a 12-year-old playing army. And it is ridiculous. It is embarrassing, and I can't imagine what our allies think of looking at that guy in this job, one of the most important jobs in our country, in my view, after the President of the United States, it is the next most important job. He is in the National Command Authority for nuclear weapons, and last night, he's putting out on the internet turtles with rocket-propelled grenades kill—I mean, have you seen this? This is the Secretary of Defense. This is not a serious person. He should have been fired after Signalgate.

Democrat lawmakers have accused Hegseth of war crimes after a Washington Post report claimed that after a September 2 strike on boats in the Caribbean, two men had been clinging to a burning ship when they were struck by a missile. Citing "two people with direct knowledge of the operation," the outlet said that Hegseth’s "order was to kill everybody."

Hegseth has denied this, writing, "As usual, the fake news is delivering more fabricated, inflammatory, and derogatory reporting to discredit our incredible warriors fighting to protect the homeland. 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."