Tom Cotton says US attacks on suspected drug ship were fair

WASHINGTON – Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) said Thursday he was pleased with video he had just seen at a classified briefing that showed two survivors of a U.S. military strike on a suspected drug ship dying in a subsequent attack. An incident that has alarmed legislators from both parties and sparked calls to investigate possible war crimes or outright assassinations.

They were “just attacks,” Cotton, who chairs the Senate Intelligence Committee, told reporters at the Capitol. He was one of several lawmakers briefed by Adm. Frank Bradley and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine. about the September 2 ship attacks in the Caribbean near Venezuela.

“The first, second, third and fourth attack on September 2 were completely legal and necessary and were exactly what we expected our military commanders to do,” he said.

When asked to describe what he saw in the footage of the second ship collision, Cotton chuckled.

“I saw two survivors trying to turn over a ship loaded with drugs bound for the United States so they could continue the fight,” he said. “And potentially, given all the context we heard, that other narcoterrorist vessels in the area will come to their aid to recover their cargo and recover those narcoterrorists.”

He added: “These are narcoterrorists, designated terrorist organizations from abroad, who are bringing drugs to our shores that have killed millions of Americans and thousands of Arkansans.”

The Republican senator’s justification for these attacks (much like President Donald Trump’s) appears to be based on a massive lie: that drug traffickers were in the process of bringing the deadly synthetic opioid, fentanyl, into the U.S. Pentagon officials have told lawmakers in recent briefings that they have not recovered fentanyl in any of these cases, only cocaine.

Cotton’s comments stood in stark contrast to the solemn reactions Democrats had leaving the same briefing.

via News

Rep. Jim Himes (D-Conn.), the ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, told reporters that “what I saw in that room was one of the most disturbing things I’ve seen in my time in public service.”

“There are two individuals in clear danger, without any means of transportation, with a destroyed ship, who were murdered by the United States,” Himes said, pausing several seconds later.

Sen. Jack Reed (D-R.I.), the top Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee, said he was “deeply disturbed” by what he saw.

“The Department of Defense has no choice but to release the complete, unedited footage of the September 2 attack.North Dakota strike, as the president agreed to do,” Reed said in a statement.

“This briefing confirmed my worst fears about the nature of the Trump Administration’s military activities and demonstrates exactly why the Senate Armed Services Committee has repeatedly requested, and been denied, critical information, documents and facts about this operation,” he said. “This must be and will be the only beginning of our investigation into this incident.”

When asked by a reporter what he thought of Himes being shaken by the video, Cotton essentially shrugged his shoulders.

“I didn’t see anything concerning about it,” the Arkansas Republican said. “What disturbs me is that millions of Americans have died because of the drugs that these cartels bring into the United States. What I find gratifying is that the president has finally made the decision, after decades of allowing that to happen, that we are going to take the battle to them and we are going to continue attacking these ships.”