Full, unedited video of Sept. 2 follow-up boat strike will not go to public: Hegseth

WASHINGTON, Dec. 16 (Xinhua) -- U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Tuesday that the Pentagon will not release the full, unedited video of the Sept. 2 air raid by the U.S. military on an alleged drug boat in the Caribbean, which killed two survivors in a follow-up strike.

"In keeping with long-standing Department of War policy ... Department of Defense policy, of course, we're not going to release a top secret full unedited video of that to the general public," Hegseth told reporters.

He said U.S. lawmakers on the House Armed Services and Senate Armed Services Committees will get access to the full, unedited video of the strikes.

A growing bipartisan pressure in Congress is mounting on Hegseth to disclose the original video since it was revealed that two survivors, clinging to the boat wreckage in the raid, were killed in a follow-up strike following the initial attack on the vessel on Sept. 2.

The incident has drawn growing outrage from legal experts and members of Congress, who said the killing of unarmed civilians breaches the laws of war.

On Friday, congressional Democrats sent a letter to the Pentagon, asking for the full video to be released to lawmakers before the end of December.

"We also urge you to expedite the public release of the video, taking into account appropriate precautions to protect sources and methods, so that the American people can judge for themselves the legality and necessity of their government engaging in such activities that potentially put our men and women in uniform at risk," it read.

Since Sept. 2, U.S. forces have sunk at least 25 alleged drug-transporting vessels in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific Ocean, killing at least 95 people aboard.

Brookings Institution Senior Fellow Michael O'Hanlon told Xinhua: "In my judgment, but it is judgment ... Neither the strikes nor the second strike seems legal, or ethical, or smart, to me."

For almost four months, the United States has maintained a significant military presence in the Caribbean, much of it off Venezuela's coast, purportedly to combat drug trafficking -- a claim Venezuela has denounced as a thinly veiled attempt to bring about regime change in Caracas.

Nearly half of the U.S. adults, 48 percent, say they oppose the U.S. military strikes targeting alleged drug boats in the Caribbean near Venezuela without first getting court approval, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll released last week. ■