Latest / DEEP INSIGHT / Rep. Chrissy Houlahan calls for public release of video showing second strike on boat survivors

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Rep. Chrissy Houlahan calls for public release of video showing second strike on boat survivors · DEEP INSIGHT

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  Speaker 1: Pennsylvania Democratic Congresswoman and member of the Army Services Committee,
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  Speaker 1: Christy Hulan joins me now. She was one of six
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  Speaker 1: Democratic lawmakers with either intelligence or military experience in a
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  Speaker 1: recent video that urged service members to ignore unlawful orders.
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  Speaker 1: And we'll get to that in a moment. Congresswoman, based
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  Speaker 1: on what you've heard today, what is your read out,
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  Speaker 1: what is your evaluation of this September second event?
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  Speaker 2: Sure, first of all, thank you for having me and
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  Speaker 2: put me in the camp of the group that needs
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  Speaker 2: to know more and would like to see more. I
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  Speaker 2: serve on the Armed Services Committee and on the Intelligence Committee,
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  Speaker 2: and so the areas in purview that I have spans
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  Speaker 2: the entire thing Gammut from where we get the information
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  Speaker 2: about whether these are indeed bad guys, as Representative Heim said,
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  Speaker 2: all the way to whether or not that this was
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  Speaker 2: a justified killing. I very much think that the full
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  Speaker 2: committees ought to be able to see this information in
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  Speaker 2: these videos and all the information that goes into this
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  Speaker 2: as well. I'll go as far as saying I believe
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  Speaker 2: the public needs to see this as well, because I
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  Speaker 2: think what we've seen is, for whatever reason, we here
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  Speaker 2: in Washington are incapable of having the same view of things.
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  Speaker 2: And I think that what I've heard is that these
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  Speaker 2: were devastating videos, and that these were literally people clinging
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  Speaker 2: for their lives to very small pieces of the boat,
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  Speaker 2: of the hull of the boat. What clearly other people
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  Speaker 2: saw was a righteous killing. And there needs to be
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  Speaker 2: truth somewhere there. So I very much hope that the
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  Speaker 2: American people, either through the oversight of the Congress, the
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  Speaker 2: people they represent they were elected to represent them, or
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  Speaker 2: through their own eyes themselves, can see the truth here.
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  Speaker 1: Congresswen, how do you evaluate the broader policy of designating
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  Speaker 1: cartels foreign terrorist organizations and therefore invoking a kind of
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  Speaker 1: nine to eleven global war on terrorism lethality to approach
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  Speaker 1: any movement of drugs across international waters.
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  Speaker 2: Sure, I personally don't agree with the justification of this
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  Speaker 2: as a war in the same way that nine to
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  Speaker 2: eleven was nine to eleven importantly actually went through the Congress.
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  Speaker 2: The Congress had an input into that. So far, at
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  Speaker 2: this point in time, Congress has had no input into
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  Speaker 2: what this president this administration has decided is a new war.
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  Speaker 2: And so for that reason, I don't necessarily agree that
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  Speaker 2: this is a justified way of using our military, our
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  Speaker 2: US military. But even if you do justify this in
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  Speaker 2: the way that the President and the administration has done,
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  Speaker 2: this is on its surface, ostensibly literally a textbook warcrime.
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  Speaker 2: It is literally in the books that you do not
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  Speaker 2: shoot on people who are sinking in a vessel.
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  Speaker 1: I want to ask you about the video that you
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  Speaker 1: and five other members of Congress, senators and House members recorded,
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  Speaker 1: because today there was a resolution introduced by eighteen Republicans
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  Speaker 1: who called it dangerous, seditious, attempting to sow disillegiance and
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  Speaker 1: encouraging loyalty among members of the intelligence community in the
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  Speaker 1: US military. Your response.
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  Speaker 2: That really actually greatly, gravely disappoints me and saddens me
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  Speaker 2: that my colleagues would do that, would say that, because
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  Speaker 2: this is literally six members of Congress, their colleagues, duly
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  Speaker 2: elected representatives of the people of the United States, who
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  Speaker 2: put together a video that literally said what the law is,
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  Speaker 2: you do not you should not follow an unlawful order,
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  Speaker 2: you should not obey a unlawful order. And for this,
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  Speaker 2: the words sedition is employed. That is gutting to me,
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  Speaker 2: because I don't believe that there's anything more patriotic than
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  Speaker 2: stating the law and asking people to follow it.
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  Speaker 1: I want to play for you sound from twenty sixteen.
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  Speaker 1: Pete Hegseth is the voice you will hear. Please on
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  Speaker 1: the other side, give me your response.
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  Speaker 3: And I do think there have to be consequences for
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  Speaker 3: abject war crimes. If you're doing something that is just
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  Speaker 3: completely unlawful and ruthless, then there is a consequence for that.
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  Speaker 3: That's why the military said it won't follow unlawful orders
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  Speaker 3: from their commander in chief. There's a standard, there's an ethos,
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  Speaker 3: there's a belief that we are above what so many
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  Speaker 3: things that our enemies or others would do.
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  Speaker 2: Congress Woman, mister Hegseth in the past, this was in
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  Speaker 2: the past, makes my point exactly. He said exactly what
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  Speaker 2: we as a group said on the tape. Secretary Hegseth
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  Speaker 2: in the current right now has clearly walked away from
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  Speaker 2: that as a mindset. He has done everything he can
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  Speaker 2: to say that the regular Military Code of Criminal Justice,
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  Speaker 2: the International Code of how We Conduct War is something
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  Speaker 2: that should be scoffed at and disregarded. And this is
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  Speaker 2: why he is not appropriate for serving in this position
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  Speaker 2: right now. This is why he is a hazard, a
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  Speaker 2: liability for this administration, for this country, for the Department
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  Speaker 2: of Defense, and for the World Congresswan.
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  Speaker 1: What was the genesis of this video? Was it about
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  Speaker 1: what's going on at international waters off of Venezuela, that
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  Speaker 1: you and the other members had specific concerns that people
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  Speaker 1: were being given orders that they've regarded as potentially ill, unlawful.
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  Speaker 2: No, And in fact, that wasn't the genesis. It wasn't
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  Speaker 2: any one specific incident, whether domestic or international. It was
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  Speaker 2: sort of the build up over time from the beginning
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  Speaker 2: of the administration and the beginning of Secretary Hegseth being
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  Speaker 2: at the DoD, as he undermined the JAG, the military's lawyers,
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  Speaker 2: as he dismantled the igs, the military's inspectors general, as
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  Speaker 2: the administration declared a war that has not, as I mentioned,
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  Speaker 2: gone through Congress as it should be constitutionally. We all
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  Speaker 2: felt very worried and uncomfortable and felt like it was
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  Speaker 2: appropriate to restate the law and also to tell people
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  Speaker 2: that people like me are here with experience like theirs,
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  Speaker 2: and that we have their back.
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  Speaker 1: Have you been threatened since that happened? The video?
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  Speaker 2: Now the vitriol has been pretty vicious, but I will
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  Speaker 2: also say that the positive response has been overwhelming and
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  Speaker 2: really really heartening, and I think that that's something that's
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  Speaker 2: the untold story, is how many people who are veterans,
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  Speaker 2: or family members of veterans, or just regular citizens are
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  Speaker 2: calling in with their appreciation. And also the conversation that
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  Speaker 2: it's started in this country about these issues is I
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  Speaker 2: think something that's really valuable, particularly now that this issue
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  Speaker 2: of the double TA tap strike has been brought to
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  Speaker 2: the four.
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  Speaker 1: That's a very democratic Congressman, Christy hu Lan. I appreciate
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  Speaker 1: the time.
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  Speaker 2: Thank you very much, thank you for having me