Lawmaker urges release of Venezuela strike footage as parties split over whether targets were defenseless

One of the few U.S. lawmakers who have seen classified footage of the U.S. military’s strikes against a suspected drug boat off the coast of Venezuela believes the public should get to see the evidence, too.

“I think it’s really important that this video be made public. It’s not lost on anyone, of course, that the interpretation of the video, which you know, six or seven of us had an opportunity to see last week, broke down precisely on party lines,” Rep. Jim Himes, D-Conn., said in an interview with “Face the Nation” on Sunday.

“I know how the public is going to react, because I felt my own reaction,” Himes added.

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Democrats quickly condemned the administration when news first broke that the U.S. Department of War had ordered a second strike to eliminate survivors who had somehow escaped an initial strike.

Republicans, by contrast, largely came to the defense of the strike, arguing that the administration had taken the necessary steps to eliminate narco-traffickers that President Donald Trump had designated as terrorists.

The War Department has ordered over 20 different strikes on small boats in the Caribbean, targeting what it calls drug smuggling activity. 

Only one strike is thought to have had multiple attacks to eliminate survivors.

“I think it’s important for Americans to see it because, look, there’s a certain amount of sympathy out there for going after drug runners,” Himes said. “But I think it’s really important that people see what it looks like when the full force of the United States military is turned on two guys who are clinging to a piece of wood and about to go under, just so that they have sort of a visceral feel for what it is that we’re doing.”

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Himes said his estimation of the video turned on the defenselessness of the targets. 

“These guys — and this is why the American people need to see this video — these guys were barely alive, much less engaging in hostilities,” Himes said.

In addition to viewing the footage, Himes said he had met with Adm. Frank Bradley, suggesting that Bradley had received pressure to carry out the strikes.

“Anyone who has ever worked with Admiral Bradley will tell you that he has a storied career and that he is a man of deep, deep integrity. And frankly, I have no reason to doubt that,” Himes said.

“An apparently good man like Admiral Bradley is placed in a context where he knows that if he countermands an order that he is perhaps uncomfortable with, it is very likely that he’ll be fired,” Himes said.

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The details of the communication surrounding the second strike and its ordering remain unclear. 

The House of Representatives and the Senate both opened inquiries into the strikes late last month. When asked about their progress, Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, declined to describe the probe but said lawmakers would evaluate all relevant evidence.

“The investigation will be done by the numbers,” Wicker said.