Admiral Mitch Bradley fights back over war crimes accusation in Caribbean Sea

The Joint Special Operations Command has been behind some of the most spectacular American military success stories of the last 15 years. It was responsible for the killing of Osama bin Laden, for example, and eight years later, the death of Abu Bakr al-Bagdadi, the Isis leader, in a tunnel in northern Syria. Its latest mission, however, which led to the deaths of two survivors last seen clinging to the wreckage of a Venezuelan drug boat in the Caribbean Sea, is now being touted as a war crime. Amid growing condemnation of the two strikes on the drug boat, the White House has insisted that responsibility for the second strike, which killed the two survivors on September 2, was the sole responsibility of a former Navy Seal called Admiral Frank “Mitch” Bradley, who at the time headed Joint Special Operations Command. The apparent attempt to blame Bradley for the incident has prompted outrage within the Pentagon’s uniformed personnel who believe he is being left to take the flak for decisions by his political master, Pete Hegseth, the under-fire US defence secretary. It was reported by The Washington Post that Hegseth, the former Fox News presenter, ordered the military involved in Operation Southern Spear “to kill everybody” which he has denied. The White House said on Monday it was Bradley who gave the order for the second strike. Bradley, however, could be about to fight back. A source with intimate knowledge of special operations told The Times that Bradley will have tape recordings of all discussions prior to the decision to launch a second strike. “Everything on the operations floor [on board a warship in the Caribbean Sea] would have been recorded, even if it’s highly classified, so there will be evidence that proper authority was given to ensure there can be no misinterpretations,” the source said. That could be used as a defence by Bradley on Capitol Hill today THUR. So far, 21 drug boats have been hit, killing 83 people. Bradley, a veteran US Navy Seal commander, and “revered” among his peers, has been summoned to give evidence today (Thurs), alongside General Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, for a classified briefing with senior members of the Senate and House Armed Services Committees. “On the face of it, there is no rational explanation why the second strike was ordered, killing two survivors, but Admiral Bradley will have tapes of everything discussed about the mission,” said the source who served in the special operations community. One explanation, reported in The New York Times, is that one of the survivors was attempting to communicate by phone to his bosses on land; and under contingency plans authorised by Hegseth, this would have justified the second strike. Tape recordings of operational discussions would make this clear. Bradley is also said to have used a text-message communications system called Strike Bridge to communicate with his Seal Team 6 operators who were carrying out the drone strikes. This would give further evidence of careful consideration before the order was given for a second strike. “There are rules of engagement for every operation which impose limits on lethal action to be taken. It doesn’t matter whether it’s for special operations troops, special forces or regular forces,” the source said. “From the first moment when you raise your hand and promise to defend the constitution, it’s driven into you that you don’t use deadly force if the enemy is incapacitated or, in this case, shipwrecked. If it was a kill mission, then it would have been talked about at the highest level and it would have been recorded,” said the source. “If there was an order, political or military, to kill everyone on the drug boat, then that would mean the total absence of rules of engagement. No lawyer or military commander would go along with such an order. It would be against everything the military stands for. This is why those tapes should provide the explanation for why there was a follow-on attack,” said the source. “Admiral Bradley is a revered commander, it would be extraordinary if he doesn’t have an explanation for the decision to attack the boat for a second time." The source also pointed out that two admirals were involved: 57-year-old Bradley, who was promoted to commander of US Special Operations Command in October, and Admiral Alvin Holsey, 60, commander of US Southern Command. Admiral Holsey suddenly announced his retirement in October. He is due to step down on December 12, after only one year of his expected three-year appointment. “All the talk is that he retired prematurely because of what has been happening off Venezuela," the source said. "He was in command at the time of the controversial incident and he will have been informed of the decision to strike that boat for the second time." A former senior Pentagon official said: “It seems both Trump and Hegseth initially took credit for ordering these strikes but are now backing away to let Admiral Bradley hold the bag which has sparked a furious backlash inside DoD [Department of Defence] among the uniformed officers. “ It comes amid growing pressure on Hegseth, who is battling fresh accusations of misconduct after an internal Pentagon report concluded he risked endangering American troops by discussing sensitive military operations on Signal. Amid the continuing fallout over the legality of US attacks in the Caribbean, the independent watchdog of the Department of Defence, recently renamed the “Department of War”, reportedly found Hegseth broke security protocols by sharing details about an upcoming airstrike on Houthi targets in a Sigal group chat earlier this year. In September, Hegseth, addressing 800 generals and admirals at an unprecedented “rebranding” event, ordered an end to “tepid legality” and an embrace of “maximum lethality”. He described rules of engagement as “stupid”. Special Operations Command only comprises about three per cent of America’s active duty force but in recent years, under Presidents Barack Obama, Joe Biden and Donald Trump, it has increasingly become the favoured military organisation because of its instant readiness, its reputation for lethal efficiency and its procurement of the most advanced weaponry. Special operations units have been deployed extensively in Latin America in recent years, combating narcotics traffickers and training government forces to disrupt criminal networks. BUY MY NEW SPY THRILLER AGENT REDRUTH, STARRING SUPERSPY REBECCA STRONG. CHECK IT OUT ON AMAZON.