US Military brass attend meeting convened by Def Sec/War Pete Hegseth at Marine Corps Base Quantico, Quantico, VA, September 30, 2025. Getty // AFP
Q1. Last week, the Washington Post reported that on Sept 2, 2025, as a US surveillance aircraft followed a boat in the Caribbean, analysts in a command center became increasingly confident that the eleven people on board the boat were ferrying drugs. At that point, Defense/War Secretary Pete Hegseth gave a directive to "kill everyone on board."
A subsequent missile strike reduced the the boat a smoldering wreck, but two survivors were clinging to the debris. Admiral Frank Bradley, the commander overseeing the operation, ordered a second strike "to comply with Hegseth's instructions," that killed the two men in the water. The Post attributed this version of events to two anonymous people with "direct knowledge of the operation."
Subsequent to the publication of the article, a White House spokesperson acknowledged that Admiral Bradley did order that second strike, but that Hegseth did not give an order to "kill everybody."
Which of the two strikes on the boat do you support?
A subsequent missile strike reduced the the boat a smoldering wreck, but two survivors were clinging to the debris. Admiral Frank Bradley, the commander overseeing the operation, ordered a second strike "to comply with Hegseth's instructions," that killed the two men in the water. The Post attributed this version of events to two anonymous people with "direct knowledge of the operation."
Subsequent to the publication of the article, a White House spokesperson acknowledged that Admiral Bradley did order that second strike, but that Hegseth did not give an order to "kill everybody."
Which of the two strikes on the boat do you support?
(Image: Admiral Bradley testifies in Senate before Armed Services Committee, July 2025. Getty)
overall
custom
male
female
rep
ind
dem
18-29
30-44
45-64
65+
Don't care
1%
1%
1%
2%
2%
0%
0%
1%
2%
0%
1%
Q2. Two days after the Post article, Senator Rand Paul (R, KY) tweeted "It is not permitted, under the laws and customs of honorable warfare, to order that no quarter be given — to apply lethal force to those who surrender or who are injured, shipwrecked, or otherwise unable to fight."
There is no universally accepted document that determines what actions are war crimes, but it is generally accepted from the Geneva Conventions and Nuremberg trials that killing incapacitated combatants is a war crime.
Chairman of the Senate Armed services Committee, Roger Wicker (R, MS), said lawmakers were planning to interview the "admiral in charge of the operation," and are seeking audio and video to "see what the orders were."
According to the US Uniform Code of Military Justice, service members have a duty to “disobey illegal orders” such as those to commit a crime or violate the Constitution.
Which people, if either, do you think should face serious legal jeopardy when the military kills incapacitated combatants?
There is no universally accepted document that determines what actions are war crimes, but it is generally accepted from the Geneva Conventions and Nuremberg trials that killing incapacitated combatants is a war crime.
Chairman of the Senate Armed services Committee, Roger Wicker (R, MS), said lawmakers were planning to interview the "admiral in charge of the operation," and are seeking audio and video to "see what the orders were."
According to the US Uniform Code of Military Justice, service members have a duty to “disobey illegal orders” such as those to commit a crime or violate the Constitution.
Which people, if either, do you think should face serious legal jeopardy when the military kills incapacitated combatants?
(Image: In 1944, nine US airmen were shot down over Chichijima. One, George HW Bush, evaded capture, the other eight were killed in captivity by Japanese soldiers. Four of the Japanese soldiers were later executed for war crime of killing unarmed combatants. )
overall
custom
male
female
rep
ind
dem
18-29
30-44
45-64
65+
Those who originated the order
18%
15%
20%
19%
16%
16%
32%
27%
9%
13%
18%
Those who carried out the order
1%
1%
1%
2%
0%
0%
0%
0%
2%
2%
1%
Both
49%
47%
51%
14%
63%
79%
55%
45%
49%
51%
49%
Neither
28%
32%
25%
59%
15%
3%
10%
26%
34%
32%
28%
Not sure
2%
3%
1%
3%
1%
1%
0%
2%
3%
1%
2%
Don't care
2%
2%
1%
3%
4%
0%
2%
1%
3%
1%
2%
Q3. On Sunday, President Trump said "I wouldn’t have wanted that, not a second strike. The first strike was very lethal; it was fine. And if there were two people around … but Pete (Hegseth) said that didn’t happen. I have great confidence in him."
Which, if either, do you think originated the order to kill survivors of the strike?
Which, if either, do you think originated the order to kill survivors of the strike?
(Image: Last week, Trump pardoned fmr Honduran Pres Hernandez, convicted in US of of taking bribes from drug cartels to facilitate transit to US. Here being extradited in 2022. Getty)
overall
custom
male
female
rep
ind
dem
18-29
30-44
45-64
65+
Moot: there was no such order
23%
27%
20%
49%
16%
0%
2%
25%
28%
22%
23%
President Trump
11%
9%
13%
0%
13%
20%
24%
10%
9%
8%
11%
Pete Hegseth
40%
36%
42%
6%
47%
69%
37%
35%
39%
49%
40%
Admiral Bradley
6%
8%
4%
10%
6%
2%
12%
2%
6%
6%
6%
Someone below Bradley
1%
2%
1%
2%
1%
0%
0%
0%
2%
2%
1%
Someone else
1%
1%
0%
1%
1%
0%
0%
0%
1%
1%
1%
Not sure
12%
9%
15%
16%
12%
9%
24%
16%
8%
6%
12%
Don't care
7%
9%
6%
16%
4%
0%
0%
12%
7%
5%
7%
Poll Comments (112)
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