A secondary strike on an alleged drug trafficking boat in the Caribbean on Sept. 2, taking out survivors of an initial hit by U.S. forces, was conducted within established rules of engagement, retired Air Force Lt. Col. Berney Flowers said on Newsmax Sunday.
"Before the first boat leaves the port, before the first airplane launches, we've got rules of engagement," Flowers on Newsmax's "Wake Up America Weekend." "Commanders know that you need to stay within those rules of engagement."
Flowers said he agrees with both U.S. Navy Adm. Frank "Mitch" Bradley, who testified last week to lawmakers that he'd ordered the second strike on the boat, and with Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., who defended the strikes as being "entirely lawful."
Asked whether Adm. Bradley followed the law when he ordered additional strikes, Flowers said commanders operate under predetermined rules set before any mission begins.
Flowers said he did not expect commanders to deviate from those rules and agreed with Cotton's defense of the strikes.
"There is no expectation that the commander went outside of those rules of engagement," Flowers said. "So yes, the senator is correct."
The discussion later shifted to the Russia-Ukraine war and whether a peace deal could be near.
Saturday, U.S. Ambassador to NATO Matthew Whitaker said at the Doha Forum in Qatar that negotiators were "close" to peace, while also noting any agreement would require acceptance by Ukraine and a "sincere desire" from Russia to end the war.
Flowers said he welcomes the possibility of movement but cautioned that predicting a near-term breakthrough was difficult.
"That's a tough one," Flowers said, adding that progress can be incremental, "like three yards and a cloud of dust."
Flowers also warned that the conflict remains costly and risky, calling it a dangerous model for U.S. involvement.
"We just can't afford this anymore," he said, describing it as "a dangerous precedent" to have "a nuclear-armed adversary involved in a proxy war."
He said the U.S. "shouldn't have ever gotten ourselves involved in this," and voiced support for President Donald Trump’s efforts to end the fighting.
"I know that the president is doing everything he can to make this stop, and I support him 100%," Flowers said.
Flowers also criticized the conditions that led to Russia's invasion and suggested the conflict would not have happened if Trump had been in office at the time.
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