Posted originally on CTH on December 2, 2025 | Sundance
The New York Times has admitted what the White House, President Trump and Secretary of War Pete Hegseth previously affirmed.
Despite the manipulative effort of the original CIA report (Washington Post), which was purposefully intended to undermine the authority and legitimacy of the Trump administration, Secretary Pete Hegseth did not order a second strike on the drug carrying narcoterrorism boat. The second strike was authorized by General Bradley as part of the mission objective.
Hegseth’s order was to “destroy” the vessel. The vessel was not completely “destroyed” in the first attack, it was “disabled.” A second attack was ordered independently by General Bradley to render the vessel destroyed and compete the mission.
If the vessel was destroyed the mission was complete. If the vessel was disabled, the mission objective remained active until the vessel was destroyed. This is not complicated to understand.
The CIA mockingbird operation to delegitimize the mission and protect their independent sources of revenue has failed.
(New York Times) – […] According to five U.S. officials, who spoke separately and on the condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive matter that is under investigation, Mr. Hegseth, ahead of the Sept. 2 attack, ordered a strike that would kill the people on the boat and destroy the vessel and its purported cargo of drugs.
But, each official said, Mr. Hegseth’s directive did not specifically address what should happen if a first missile turned out not to fully accomplish all of those things. And, the officials said, his order was not a response to surveillance footage showing that at least two people on the boat survived the first blast.
Admiral Bradley ordered the initial missile strike and then several follow-up strikes that killed the initial survivors and sank the disabled boat. As that operation unfolded, they said, Mr. Hegseth did not give any further orders to him.
The officials clarified the sequence of events amid the political and legal uproar that has followed a report in The Washington Post last week. It said that Admiral Bradley ordered the second strike to fulfill a directive by Mr. Hegseth to kill everyone. The reaction has included questions about whether Mr. Hegseth specifically ordered an execution of shipwrecked sailors in violation of the laws of war. (more)
Centinel2012 