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Former Navy captain, Democratic senator who urged military members to refuse illegal orders says ‘double-tap’ strike ‘seems to’ be a war crime, if reports are accurate
John Bowdenin Washington, D.C.Sunday 30 November 2025 18:33 GMTComments
CloseWhite House: Maduro leadership is 'illegitimate' and Venezuela boat strikes will continue
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The reported description of the use of U.S. Navy SEALs to strike survivors of the destruction of a boat the Trump administration claims was piloted by “narco-terrorists” constituted a war crime, Sen. Mark Kelly argued on Sunday.
Kelly was one of a handful of Democratic members of Congress, all veterans of the armed services, who released a video message urging members of the military to follow the law when faced with illegal orders from their commanders. The video set off a firestorm on the right, with Donald Trump apparently calling for the death penalty for every Democrat who participated in the video.
On Sunday, Kelly responded to a pair of reports from CNN and The Washington Post detailing a September 2 strike against a vessel in the Caribbean, which included never-before-reported detailed accounts of a second attack against the disabled vessel aimed at killing survivors in the water.
“Going after survivors in the water; that is clearly not lawful,” Kelly told CNN’s Dana Bash on Sunday. “If what has been reported is accurate, I’ve got serious concerns.”
Before the strike began, Secretary of “War” Pete Hegseth gave an order to “kill everybody”, according to a U.S. official with direct knowledge of the operation. According to the news outlet’s sources, an initial strike disabled the vessel and killed some number of individuals on board, leaving others in the water clinging to the craft for life.
open image in galleryMark Kelly, a former Navy pilot who flew in combat during the Gulf War, said that any U.S. strike against survivors would be 'clearly' illegal (CNN - State of the Union)In response, the Post reported, a U.S. commander overseeing the operation, following Hegseth’s order, directed a second strike on the burning craft. Two survivors of the initial strike were believed to be killed.
Asked directly by CNN if the Post’s account would constitute a war crime, the Arizona senator called on his own experience in the Gulf War, carrying out attacks against the Iraqi navy, and affirmed that a strike on survivors would cross that line.
The deaths are just a fraction of the dozens now dead as a result of the U.S.’s escalating military campaign against small boats operating off the coast of Venezuela and Colombia. The Trump administration and the president’s most ardent supporters have argued that they are carrying dangerous drugs bound for the U.S.
At least 80 are confirmed dead from the strikes. At the same time, the U.S. has built up significant military assets in the region in what many fear precedes larger ground or air operations within Venezuela itself. The Trump administration designated Nicolas Maduro, the country’s enduring president, as the leader of a drug cartel made up of top officials and military brass called “Cartel De Los Soles” earlier in 2025.
Maduro remains in power despite an election in 2024, which most international experts agree was actually won by his opponent, with official results reflecting a fraudulent outcome.
open image in galleryVenezuela’s Nicolas Maduro brandishes the sword of Simon Bolivar. His government has remained defiant in the face of U.S. threats of military action inside his country (Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)Other experts have agreed that U.S. orders to target survivors, if Hegseth or other U.S. commanders gave them, constitute a war crime.
Any order that forbids the taking of prisoners is illegal under the Geneva Convention and could subject individuals to either U.S. criminal statutes or the Uniform Code of Military Justice, argued a statement from a group of former military lawyers this week.
“We believe that under all these circumstances – particularly, the gross violations of international law reported yesterday – the Senate must immediately take up the matter of AP2 advice and consent,” that group said in a statement.
Sen. Tim Kaine, a Democrat from Virginia, added on CBS’s Face the Nation of the strike on Sunday: “This rises to the level of a war crime if it’s true.”
Members of the respective committees overseeing the armed forces in the House and Senate announced plans to investigate the reports of the U.S. operation on September 2. Led by Republicans, given the GOP’s twin majorities in Congress, the military-focused committees are typically somewhat sheltered from the partisan divides that define other policy committees and powerful groups like the House Oversight Committee.
open image in gallerySecretary of “War” Pete Hegseth reportedly ordered U.S. forces to leave no survivors alive as the military carried out a strike on a suspected drug-ferrying vessel on Sept. 2 (Getty)"The Committee is aware of recent news reports and the Department of Defense’s initial response — regarding alleged follow-on strikes on suspected narcotics vessels in the SOUTHCOM area of responsibility,” the Republican and Democratic senators leading the Armed Services Committee in the upper chamber said in a joint statement on Friday.
“The Committee has directed inquiries to the Department, and we will be conducting vigorous oversight to determine the facts related to these circumstances.”
Many experts continue to argue that the entire U.S. military campaign against so-called “narco-terrorists” is illegal and dismiss the White House’s rationalization for using military assets in what has traditionally been a civilian law enforcement setting.
“The term for premeditated killing outside of armed conflict is murder,” Brian Finucane, senior adviser with the International Crisis Group, told The Independent.
“The Trump administration has not established that these strikes are taking place in an armed conflict nor that the targets would be lawful under the law of war,” he added.
Allies of the president continue to insist that the U.S. is not plotting a full-scale invasion of Venezuela. In a Truth Social post on Saturday, the U.S. president directed airlines and other civilians to vacate the entire airspace of Venezuela.
“To all Airlines, Pilots, Drug Dealers, and Human Traffickers, please consider THE AIRSPACE ABOVE AND SURROUNDING VENEZUELA TO BE CLOSED IN ITS ENTIRETY. Thank you for your attention to this matter! PRESIDENT DONALD J. TRUMP”, he wrote early Saturday morning.
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Mark Kellywar crimeU.S.VenezuelaDonald TrumpPete HegsethNarcoticsTerrorismWhite HousePentagonDefense DepartmentJoin our commenting forum
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