Rand Paul Demands Release Of Strike Footage, Says Killing Shipwrecked Survivors Would Violate Military Law

Senator Rand Paul (R‑Ky.) appeared on Fox News to challenge the Pentagon’s account of recent strikes on suspected drug‑smuggling vessels in the Caribbean and to respond to President Donald Trump’s comments about the use of force at sea.

The interview began when host Roberts played a clip of the President referring to a second, controversial strike that reportedly killed survivors. Roberts asked whether that footage should be released to the public.

Paul said unequivocally that it should. He argued that images of people clinging to wreckage would undercut any justification for killing shipwrecked survivors and that such acts would violate U.S. military law and the laws of armed conflict.

"Yes, without question. I think if people were to see the images of people clinging to the wreckage, there would not be much sympathy for anyone ordering the killing of people who are shipwrecked,"

Paul told Roberts he had staffers with senior military experience who said the practice is sometimes defended internally as a protective measure. He rejected that rationale and drew parallels to longstanding norms that prohibit killing defenseless combatants and noncombatants:

"If our pilots have to eject from a plane, we show that we don’t shoot people. We don’t shoot pilots that are descending by parachute. If we blow up a boat and there are survivors, we don’t shoot those people. We don't sidle up in a boat, take a nine‑millimeter pistol out, put it to their head and shoot them. Nobody would do that."

Paul added that the physical distance from which a missile is fired does not make the act lawful and questioned whether unarmed smugglers could be categorically treated as wartime enemies. He pressed the administration to present evidence that the boats were armed or were en route to the United States, noting many of the reported encounters involved small motorboats operating far from U.S. shores.

Roberts countered that the administration appears focused on disrupting the drug supply that contributes to overdose deaths in the U.S. He noted that Admiral Bradley told Congress that lawyers from the Judge Advocate General’s (JAG) office had monitored the September 2 strike and determined it was within legal bounds.

Paul responded with a pointed hypothetical aimed at the morality of remote strikes:

"I guess my question would be: if the Admiral were there on the scene and he came up in a follow‑up boat, would he take his nine‑millimeter pistol out and put it up against the head of the survivors and shoot them in the head?"

He criticized what he called the antiseptic distance of remote warfare and said that, a month after the strike, U.S. forces had detained two people who were not Venezuelan, found no drugs or weapons, and repatriated them to Colombia and Ecuador. Paul used that episode to question blanket assertions that the vessels were drug‑running threats to the United States.

Paul also cited Coast Guard boarding data, saying that before a more aggressive policy was adopted, roughly one in four boarded boats were found to carry no drugs. "Are we willing to accept an error rate of one in four and kill people on these boats when we might be wrong one in four times?" he asked.

Roberts closed the segment by saying he hoped the second video would be released so viewers could judge for themselves and thanked the senator for joining the program.

Note: The Fox News clip of the interview was available on the network’s website. This report was originally posted on Mediaite.