This is not going to be hard ...

Adm. Frank Mitchell Bradley has taken part in operations that span the globe from Afghanistan to Yemen.Credit...Tierney L. Cross/The New York Times

The New York Times At the White House on Monday, Karoline Leavitt, the press secretary, read a statement that said Mr. Hegseth had authorized Admiral Bradley “to conduct these kinetic strikes” and that the admiral had “worked well within his authority and the law” to make sure the boat was destroyed.

The public comments of the president, Mr. Hegseth and Ms. Leavitt all leave Admiral Bradley exposed.

“For the top two civilians in the Pentagon and the White House to effectively wash their hands of it and claim no responsibility, while simultaneously saying that they stand by the decision, goes against any kind of ideas of responsible command,” said Carrie A. Lee, the former chair of the department of national security and strategy at the Army War College. “If there has ever been a SEAL who is above reproach, it’s Mitch,” Mr. Cooper added. “I have yet to meet a finer person, much less a finer SEAL.” 

This hits home as my brother was a SEAL who saw combat, knew what was right and wrong and followed the chain of command. As for me, a communications officer back in the day, this hurts as the betrayal of Bradley by his superiors is a breach of the chain of command at the highest level because superiors must take ownership of whatever actions they do, good or bad. Trump and Hegseth, as Bradley's superiors, have not. What makes this even worse is the fact the ops taken against alleged drug smugglers from Venezuela have never been vetted. No intel on site to verify as to whether the guys in the boats were drug smugglers has ever been presented, just strikes and we now know why Trump and company is doing this, it's for the oil as Venezuela has the largest known reserves in the world. In hindsight, should Bradley disobey Hegseth? That's not for me to judge as I was not there but any notion this professional did the second hit on his own. Not a chance. Trump and Hegseth have crossed the line to hang Bradley out to dry to cover their asses and one never does that as a good superior takes care of his subordinates without question. End of rant for now.

As for the oil bit ...

U.S. Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar

© Salazar's official Youtube channel

Speaking on Fox News, Salazar said the Trump administration is taking the same steps it did before striking Iran's nuclear facilities earlier this year. "This is what he did with Iran. We gave ample notice to commercial airlines. Don't fly over Venezuela," she said.

This is what we said about Nam and Iraq ...

Just one more thing ...

Pete Hegseth Already Bragged About That Second Strike

The defense secretary admitted in September that he watched the strike.

It turns out that Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth knows all about the circumstances of the America’s September 2 strike on boats in the Caribbean Sea. 

A clip of Hegseth talking the next day about the strike to Fox News in September resurfaced online Monday night. In the clip, Hegseth said he watched the bombing happen live. 

“I can tell you that was definitely not artificial intelligence. I watched it live. We knew exactly who was in that boat. We knew exactly what they were doing, and we knew exactly who they represented, and that was Tren de Aragua, a narco-terrorist organization designated by the United States, trying to poison our country with illicit drugs,” Hegseth said. 

Hegseth’s words contradict the Trump administration’s statements after details emerged earlier this week that the U.S. conducted a second strike on September 2 to kill survivors from its initial attack. The administration has attempted to shift blame and responsibility from Hegseth to Commander Frank “Mitch” Bradley. Trump himself claimed Sunday he “wouldn’t have wanted that—not a second strike.” 

If indeed the U.S. government conducted a second strike to kill survivors, that would be a war crime—and that’s assuming we are even at war, which Congress has not declared. 

Interesting is it not?