WASHINGTON: The United States has “only just begun” targeting alleged drug-trafficking boats, defence secretary Pete Hegseth insisted Tuesday, despite a growing outcry over strikes that critics say amount to extrajudicial killings.
Hegseth and President Donald Trump’s administration have come under fire particularly over an incident in which US forces launched a follow-up strike on the wreckage of a vessel that had already been hit, reportedly killing two survivors.
Both the White House and Pentagon have sought to distance Hegseth from that decision – which some US lawmakers have said could be a war crime – instead pinning the blame on the admiral who directly oversaw the operation.