Connecticut representative on U.S. boat strikes

(CBS, KYMA) - Rep. Jim Himes (D-Conn.) spoke with Margaret Brennan on Face the Nation Sunday about the U.S. boat strikes.

According to Brennan, Rep. Himes was one of the few lawmakers to have seen a classified video of a U.S. boat strike that happened September 2, where there were four strikes in total.

Brennan also said President Donald Trump said he wants the video to be shown to the public, prompting her to ask the congressman if it is essential for the video to be made public, and if he's confident it will be, to which Himes said:

"I think it's really important that this video be made public. It's not lost on anyone, of course, that the interpretation of the video, which you know, six or seven of us had an opportunity to see last week, broke down precisely on party lines. And so this is an instance in which I think the American public needs to judge for itself. I know how the public is going to be react...is going to react because I felt my own reaction. You know, I've spent years looking at videos of lethal action taken, often in the terrorism context, and this video was profoundly shaken, and I think it's important for Americans to see it. Because, look, there's a certain amount of there's a certain amount of sympathy out there for going after drug runners, but I think it's really important that people see what it looks like when the full force the United States military is turned on two guys who are clinging to a piece of wood and about to go under just so that they have sort of a visceral feel for what it is that we're doing."

Brennan followed up by asking Himes why he was shaken up after seeing the video, and Himes answered saying:

"This is sort of the distinction, and there's a lot to unpack here about whether this is an authorized military action, which it is not, and right on down to whether these were legitimate- legitimate targets, and they were not. But let me go back to some of the reviews I've done of other lethal action. Oftentimes, when the Department of Defense takes a strike against a terrorist in Yemen or Pakistan or wherever, you watch a video of guys fully armed with AK-47s and sidearms and bombs and you name it, and they're on their way to do something terrible. And in this instance, you may have had bad guys, I have no doubt that these guys were involved in the running of drugs. Now, whether they were running it to the United States or Europe is yet another question. But in that instance, these guys were about to die. Had the United States just walked away, their little piece of wood would have gone under the waves. And as many times as Tom Cotton may say that it doesn't matter what they were doing, it matters essentially what they were doing. Because under the law, and if you spent 15 minutes in law school, you know this, under the law, if someone has been struck and is- continues to engage in hostilities, points a gun at you, has a gun, they may be a legitimate target. But if they are outside of combat, they are not and attacking them is a violation of the laws of war. And these guys, and this is why the American people need to see this video. These guys were barely alive, much less engaging in hostilities."

During the interview, Brennan and Himes talked about the identities of those killed in the people who were on the boat at the time of the strike.

According to Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AK), who is the chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, he said all 11 people on the boat were "valid targets because the U.S. had high confidence they were part of a foreign terrorist organization."

When asked if they were high level cartel members, Himes said, "No, of course not," while adding:

"First of all, let's be super clear about this. I don't think we knew the identities of any of the people in the boat. We might have known one or two, I don't know, but we certainly didn't know the identities of all 11. So nobody can characterize who all these people in any of these boats are. Now, I have enough confidence in the intelligence community to know that these are probably not guys out fishing or guys out, you know, being tourists and stuff. They are almost certainly running drugs. But this really matters for the reason that you said. You know, if you're going to occupy an immense amount of the American naval combat capability, you'd like to believe that you're going after the leaders, the cartel leaders, the kingpins, as they say. What we're doing here is we're taking out the equivalent of the corner drug dealer in the Bronx, right? Which, by the way, we should arrest the corner drug dealer in the Bronx. But the main reason we do that is to go after the kingpins who, I promise you, are sitting in very comfortable villas right now in Colombia and Venezuela and everywhere, and watching as much of the United States Navy is dedicated to taking out their lowest level employees."

To watch more of Brennan's interview with Himes, click here.