The Second Strike
Why?
I am not a Navy SEAL. I am not in the National Guard. The closest to military authority I have ever been was my grandfather, who died years ago. He spoke to me about his experience in the military while serving in World War II exactly one time. Not once during that conversation did we discuss morals and his time in service.
So when you read this, please understand that this article is coming from a purely civilian point of view.
What it takes to be a Navy SEAL is beyond the capacity of most people. They are trained at the highest level. They are put through hell. They are put through mental and physical stress beyond what the average person could possibly do.
I looked it up, and the reading about the training involved made me want to take a nap.
Admiral Bradley is under intense scrutiny for his alleged order to launch the second missile on the disabled Venezuelan ship. There were two survivors still alive on the boat. There were originally eleven individuals before the initial strike.
According to what we know so far, the Admiral gave the order. Of course with this administration, who knows if that is true? You can't trust anything coming from the current regime, so take it with a grain of salt.
The Admiral was in closed-door meetings with multiple committees all day on Thursday.
Per multiple news sources now, it has been made clear, according to the Admiral, that Hegseth did not give a “kill them all” order. Admiral Bradley also states that the actions that were taken with the 2nd strike were appropriate.
This is where I get a bit fuzzy, though. Lawmakers from the meetings have said that the survivors on the ship were “clearly in distress.” In addition, they posed no threat to the United States. If they were moving drugs, why couldn’t they have arrested these people when they got to shore?
We have the most powerful, well-funded military on earth. I would imagine that there must be less lethal means of destroying what amounts to a fishing boat.
What imminent threat justified any of these attacks in the first place? Venezuela is almost 2500 miles away from the mainland United States. The action taken strikes me as completely unnecessary. It seems more like overkill. I am sure the Navy is much more equipped to match the amount of force used with the actual threat.
The whole thing is still very suspect. Even if Adm. Bradley gave the orders and Hegseth didn't say “kill them all,” the need for a second launch was not necessary.
There shouldn’t even be a need to have UCMJ rules on this. To kill two people trying not to drown is morally unjust. Rules of engagement should have been followed. The mission was done after the first strike. The next action should have been to gather evidence and save the survivors on what was left of that boat.
No more people had to die. If it turns out that Adm. Bradley gave the order for the 2nd strike, then during his training he must have lost his humanity along the way.
Meanwhile, the regime is releasing people who are the actual threat, like the former Honduran president Juan Orlando Hernandez, a man that was caught having brought 400 tons of cocaine into the United States.
So why are we killing Venezuelans on fishing boats when the motivation for doing so was to stop drugs from coming into the United States?
From my view as a civilian, this does not make sense. We are not at war with Venezuela as of yet. There was no reason to strike any of these ships other than to satisfy Hegseth, Trump, or now maybe even Adm. Bradley’s bloodlust.
To me it is sick and immoral. In most administrations they would have come out and shown everyone evidence. They would have given plausible reasons for this type of overly aggressive action.
It is yet another disgraceful example of what this country has become. I thought illegal orders shouldn’t be followed. I am sickened by it. These were human beings despite what they were up to.
They were almost 2500 miles away. How on earth could that type of action be justified?
Love you guys.
Erik
(Liberaldad)
Very well-written, Brother.
I agree with you wholeheartedly!
Here is how I break it down:
a. Bradley gave the final order for the second strike. That's murder.
b. This is just an opinion: I firmly believe Hegseth did give, somewhere along the way maybe not specifically that day, a "kill them all" (no quarter) order, which led Bradley to give the final order. As such, Bradley should have refused illegal orders. "Just following orders" is not a legally acceptable defense.
And, if Hegseth didn't say it, ever, then why did Bradley say that he did to begin with? Which, in my book potentially means that Hegseth did give a "no quarter" order somewhere along the lines, or that Bradley knew he fucked up and tried to shift the blame to Hegseth.
c. Hegseth should also be charged: This happened under his watch, therefore, he should be held responsible.
d. Führer von Fuckery should also be held responsible. He appointed a wholly unqualified asswipe to head up our military. And, it happened under his ass-ministration... he tries to hold Biden responsible for things that happened under Biden's administration, whether they actually happened or not, whether Biden actually owned any responsibility for it, and even if it was the Fuckwit Felon's own doing. You mean that doesn't work both ways?
To summarize:
The whole damned mess is morally wrong... not just the second strike... the entire issue of blasting civilian boats out of the water, killing all aboard... based on what? Suspicion? Allegation? Where is the evidence?
Which brings me back to that fact that the entire practice of bombing civilian boats and killing those onboard is outright murder, and has to be highly illegal unless actual tangible proof is provided to show that these boats did, in fact, have drugs on them and were bound for the US... and still, we have a Coast Guard whose job it actually is to interdict these suspected boats, board them, find drugs or not, and act accordingly.
Donnie Demonic disrespected our Coast Guard and defamed them stating that they aren't doing their job.
Yet, let's remember that in the months surrounding these immoral bombings, the Coast Guard actually and truthfully did bring in the largest drug seizures in history. And, they did so legally. No boats were blasted to smithereens, no people, legal or otherwise, were killed... rather, the boat occupants were arrested and brought to the US for that thing called... oh, yeah! "Due Process"!
The 'most "transparent" administration in history' my fucking ass!
Absolutely well expressed! This article is highly insightful. Great reporting.