Senator Rand Paul

We asked the Coast Guard for specific statistics off the coast of Venezuela.

And they said of boats that have been interseeded off of the coast before we came up with this blow them to smithereens policy, we used to interdict them.

And of the boats that we interdicted off the coast of Venezuela, about one in four, 21% to be exact, were not carrying drugs.

That would mean if you're going to blow up all of the boats off the coast that look like drug boats or that you're suspicious for, 21% of the time you'd be killing innocent people.

So I think it's outrageous that anybody would countenance this kind of activity.

And I'm surprised that I seem to be one of the few people who seem to be alarmed at this.

But I think it's unconscionable.

It's wrong on any level to kill people with no proof that they are engaged in combat at all with your country.

There has to be an investigation, and I am glad that for a change there is a bipartisan push from the Armed Services Committee to get to the bottom of this.

So there'll be an investigation.

I think he needs to be asked under oath, did you give the order to kill any survivors?

And if you didn't give the order, what was the order?

Why did the admiral think that he was supposed to kill people clinging to wreckage?

And the idea that these people were still a threat,

It's a debate whether they were ever a threat.

They're on a motorboat 2,000 miles from our coast.

If you want to take that motorboat to the closest point of entry in Miami, you'd probably have to fill it up 20 times.

These motorboats can't go 2,000 miles on a tank of gas.

If there was drugs on board, they may be going to other countries, but probably not to the U.S.

So the whole thing is just remarkable that in our country we would allow this to happen.