US used aircraft disguised as civilian in first Caribbean strike, report says

Independent.co reports the U.S. military used a secret aircraft painted to look like a civilian plane to carry out its first strike against an alleged drug boat in the Caribbean last September. Officials told The New York Times the craft did not carry visible munitions under its wings and was not painted with clear military markings.

Retired Maj. Gen. Steven J. Lepper, former deputy judge advocate general for the U.S. Air Force, said such tactics could constitute the crime of "perfidy," telling the paper: "Shielding your identity is an element of perfidy. If the aircraft flying above is not identifiable as a combatant aircraft, it should not be engaged in combatant activity." The Pentagon said: "The U.S.

military utilizes a wide array of standard and nonstandard aircraft depending on mission requirements." The September 2 strike at issue killed 11 people and drew controversy over orders to take out two survivors clinging to wreckage; administration officials said Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth did not directly order the so-called "double-tap strike" and that a Navy admiral acted under Hegseth's general brief, a decision Hegseth said he supported.

Key Topics

World, Secret Aircraft, Perfidy, Steven J. Lepper, Pete Hegseth, Double-tap Strike