GREEN MAG

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth on Saturdaydefended the Sept. 2 strikeon survivors of an initial U.S. military attack on an alleged drug boat.

Hegseth made the remarks at the Reagan National Defense Forum during a conversation with Fox News correspondent Lucas Y. Tomlinson. He told Tomlinson that he had left the room after the first strike and before the second-strike order was given but said that he would have made the same decision.

"A couple hours later [after moving on], I was told, hey, there had to be a re-attack, because there were a couple folks who could still be in the fight," Hegseth told Tomlinson. "Access to radios. There was a link-up point of another potential boat. Drugs were still there. They were actively interacting with them."

"I said, Roger, sounds good," Hegseth said.

On Sept. 2, the U.S. military struck a boat twice that the Trump administration alleged was carrying drugs, a U.S. official and a source familiar with the Pentagon's actions previously told NBC News. Two survivors remained after the first strike, the official said, and the second strike killed them.

"From what I understood then and what I understand now, I fully support that strike," he told Tomlinson. "I would have made the same call myself. Those who were involved in 20 years of conflict, Iraq and Afghanistan or elsewhere, know that re-attacks and re-strikes of combatants on the battlefield happen often."

Hegseth would not say definitively whether the Department of Defense would release video of the Sept. 2 strike.

"We're reviewing it [the video] right now to make sure sources, methods, I mean it's an ongoing operation," he said. "We've got operators out there doing this right now. So whatever we were to decide to release we'd have to be very responsible about, so we're reviewing that right now."

Asked whether Hegseth at any time said everyone on board should be killed, the Secretary of Defense said he did not.

"It's just patently ridiculous," he said. "It's meant to create a cartoon of me in the decisions that we make and how we make them. Just ridiculous."

President Donald Trump and the White House have publiclydefended Hegseth, with Trump saying that Hegseth did not order the second strike.

Thesecond strike has prompted concernsfrom some over whether there was a directive to kill survivors who were unable to fight back, which could constitute a violation of international law.

NBC Newsreported Saturdaythat Adm. Frank "Mitch" Bradley told lawmakers that Hegseth ordered the strike to kill all 11 people on the boat because they were on an internal list of narco-terrorists who U.S. intelligence and military officials determined could be lethally targeted.

An order to kill people on a list of targets is not forbidden under U.S. and international law, unlike a "no quarter order," which is an illegal military directive to kill all enemy combatants and show no mercy, even if they surrender or are gravely injured.

Bradley was asked in a Congressional briefing this week whether Hegseth gave a no quarter order, according to a U.S. official and a second person with knowledge of the briefing, and he replied that he was not given such an order and would not have followed one if it had been given.

An administration official said in a written statement that, "As with all such actions, a uniformed JAG provided advice and counsel every step of the way" with regard to the Sept. 2 strike.

There have been at least 22 strikes on alleged drug boats, and at least 86 people have been killed. The Trump administration has produced no evidence supporting its allegations about the boats, the people on board or their cargo.

The United States will mark the 84th anniversary of the Japanese attack on the U.S. naval base in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on Sunday, Dec. 7, as the number of Americans belonging to "the Greatest Generation" who lived through World War II diminishes.

The attack on Dec. 7, 1941, killed 2,403 service members, and civilians were killed during the attack on Pearl Harbor, according to the National Park Service. Five of the eight battleships, three destroyers, and seven other ships stationed at the base were sunk or severely damaged. More than 200 aircraft were destroyed –according to History.com.

The bombing led the U.S. to declare war on Japan the next day, when then-President Franklin D. Roosevelt declared that Dec. 7, 1941, would be "a date which will live in infamy."

The U.S. defeated Japan in August 1945, days after launching atomic bomb attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, killing hundreds of thousands of civilians.

Here is a look at some of the photos from that fateful Sunday morning.

Dec. 7, 1941: Pearl Harbor attack in photos

From the network:Eyewitness account of Pearl Harbor attack as 84th anniversary approaches

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY:Pearl Harbor attack in photos. The day that lives in 'infamy'

DOUANKARA, Mauritania (AP) — A new Russian military unit that replaced theWagner mercenary groupis carrying out abuses including rapes and beheadings as it teams up withMali's military to hunt down extremists, dozens of civilians who fled the fighting have told The Associated Press.

TheAfrica Corpsis using the same tactics as Wagner, the refugees said, in accounts not reported by international media until now. Two refugees showed videos of villages burned by the "white men." Two others said they found bodies of loved ones with liver and kidneys missing, an abusethe AP previously reportedaround Wagner.

"It's a scorched-earth policy," said a Malian village chief who fled. "The soldiers speak to no one. Anyone they see, they shoot. No questions, no warning. People don't even know why they are being killed."

West Africa's vast Sahel region has become the deadliest place in the world for extremism, with thousands of people killed. The military governments of Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger have turned from Western allies to Russia for help combating the fighters affiliated with al-Qaida or the Islamic State group.

When the Africa Corps replaced Wagner six months ago, weary civilians hoped for less brutality.The United Nations saysthey have been abused by all sides in the conflict.

But refugees described a new reign of terror by Africa Corps in the vast and largely lawless territory, and legal analysts said Moscow is directly responsible.

The AP gained rare access to the Mauritanian border, where thousands of Malians have fled in recent months as fighting intensified. It spoke with 34 refugees who described indiscriminate killings, abductions and sexual abuse. Most spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation.

"They are the same men, paid by the government, and continue the massacres. There is no difference between Wagner and Africa Corps," said the village chief.

Malian authorities have never publicly acknowledged the presence of Wagner or Africa Corps. But Russian state media in recent weeks have published reports from Mali, praising Africa Corps for defending the country from "terrorists," and Russia's Foreign Ministry has confirmed that the unit is active "at the request of the Malian authorities," providing ground escorts, search-and-rescue operations and other work.

Russia's Defense Ministry did not respond to AP questions.

Calling locals 'dogs' in Russian

It was early morning and Mougaloa was preparing sweet black tea when she heard gunshots. Seconds later, two cars pulled up in front of her tent, filled with masked white men shouting in a foreign language.

A herder from northern Mali, she has witnessed her share of horrors over the last decade of violence — but she said no one had been as ferocious as these men.

Armed men had come before, Mougaloa said. Usually the family would flee when they heard them coming. But three months ago, they were caught.

She said the men arrived with Malian soldiers and grabbed her 20-year-old son, Koubadi. The Malians asked him whether he had seen militants. When he said no, they beat him until he fainted.

Then the men slit his throat as Mougaloa watched, powerless.

She said the family fled but the armed men found them again in late October.

This time, they didn't ask questions. They wore masks and military uniforms. They took everything the family had, from animals to jewelry.

And they kept repeating one word, "pes" — a derogatory term for dog in Russian.

They dragged Mougaloa's 16-year-old daughter, Akhadya, as she tried to resist. Then they spotted Mougaloa's older daughter, Fatma, and lost interest in Akhadya.

They took Fatma into her tent. Without thinking, Mougaloa took Akhadya's hand and started running, leaving Fatma behind. They have not heard from her since.

"We were so scared," Mougaloa said, trembling. "We are hoping she will get here at some point."

Experts say it's impossible to know how many people are being killed and assaulted in Mali, especially in remote areas, while journalists and aid workers have increasingly limited access to the country.

"There is a lot of people raped, attacked, killed. Families are separated, there is no doubt about that," said Sukru Cansizoglu, the representative in Mauritania for the U.N. refugee agency. But "it is sometimes difficult to really pinpoint who are the perpetrators."

Civilians, under pressure from both the militants and the Africa Corps and Malian fighters, are "between a rock and a hard place," said Heni Nsaibia from the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project, or ACLED.

If people don't follow JNIM evacuation orders, they face reprisals, Nsaibia said. But if they flee, Mali's army and Africa Corps consider them JNIM accomplices.

Mougaloa's family experienced it firsthand.

"If you don't tell the army you saw jihadists, the army will kill you," she said. "But if you do tell them, the jihadists will find you and kill you."

Questions around the Africa Corps

Reported abuses against civilians intensified when Wagner joined the underfunded Malian army in 2021. According to private security analysts, Mali paid Russia about $10 million a month for Wagner's assistance. While the group was never officially under the Kremlin's command, it had close ties to Russia's intelligence and military.

Moscow began developing the Africa Corps as a rival to Wagner after its leaderYevgeny Prigozhinwas killed in a plane crash in 2023 following his brief armed rebellion in Russia that challenged the rule ofPresident Vladimir Putin.

It is unclear whether the terms of Mali's agreement remain the same for Africa Corps. Much is unknown about its operations, including the number of fighters, which analysts estimate at around 2,000.

Not all Africa Corps fighters are Russian. Several refugees told the AP they saw Black men speaking foreign languages. The European Council on Foreign Relations in a recent report said the unit recruits from Russia, Belarus and African states.

Africa Corps and Malian forces have increased their joint offensives in northern Mali, home to substantial gold reserves, according to the Critical Threats project by the American Enterprise Institute.

While civilian deaths blamed on the Russians have dropped this year — 447 so far compared with 911 last year — the numbers might not reflect the full scale, Nsaibia said: "People are more scared to report, in order to avoid putting their own safety on the line."

Fewer outsiders are watching. A U.N. peacekeeping mission withdrew from Mali in 2023 under government pressure. Mali's withdrawal this year from the International Criminal Court has further complicated efforts to track abuses. The ICC has been investigating serious crimes committed in Mali since 2012, when fighting with armed groups began.

Eduardo Gonzalez Cueva, a U.N. independent expert on human rights in Mali, told the AP he asked the country's military authorities twice this year for permission to visit, and sent them a questionnaire. They did not respond.

Mali's government considers investigations into alleged abuses "inconvenient and harmful to the morale of the troops," Cueva said in his latest report to the U.N. Human Rights Council in March, noting that "the escalation of serious human rights violations and abuses by all actors is accelerating due to impunity."

'Only the name has changed'

When Wagner announced its departure from Mali, some refugees decided to return home. Many found that nothing had changed.

"It was the same thing," said one, Bocar, who spoke with resignation as he cradled his youngest son. He said he had seen bodies with organs missing.

He said he had counted all the men killed or abducted by Wagner and Mali's army in his hometown of Lere before he first fled in 2023. He said the list reached 214 people.

"Only the name was changed," he said of Africa Corps. "The clothes, the vehicles, the people stayed the same. The methods stayed the same, and even became worse. So we left home again."

Other refugees described being so terrified of the Russians that at any noise resembling an engine, they would run or climb the nearest tree.

One woman said she was so frantic to flee Wagner fighters that she once left her 3-month-old baby at home. When she returned hours later, her daughter was laying in front of the house, her tiny hands clenched into fists.

"I was so scared, I forgot I had a baby," the woman said, clutching her daughter.

Legal experts said the shift from Wagner to Africa Corps makes the Russian government directly accountable for fighters' actions.

"Despite the rebranding, there is striking continuity in personnel, commanders, tactics and even insignia between Wagner and Africa Corps," said Lindsay Freeman, senior director of international accountability at the UC Berkeley School of Law's Human Rights Center, which has monitored the conflict in Mali.

Because Africa Corps is directly embedded in Russia's Ministry of Defense, it can be treated as an organ of the Russian state under international law, Freeman said. "That means any war crimes committed by Africa Corps in Mali are, in principle, attributable to the Russian government under the rules on state responsibility."

'Life has lost its meaning'

When white men came to the village of Kurmare less than a month ago, Fatma said everyone fled but her.

At the sound of gunshots, her 18-year-old daughter had a seizure and fell, unconscious. Fatma stayed with her as the men looted the village and shot at people running away.

The men went from house to house, taking women's jewelry and killing men. When they entered Fatma's house, they thought her daughter was dead and left her alone.

Fatma did not want to talk about what the white men did to her.

It "stays between God and me," she muttered, trembling.

When they left her village hours later, she found the body of her son, who was shot at his shop. Then she found her injured brother. As she set off for Mauritania, her daughter, who continued having seizures, died as well.

"Before the conflict erupted, I had strength, I had courage," Fatma said faintly. Now, "life has lost its meaning."

Her family is with the Fulani ethnic group, which Mali's government accuses of being affiliated with the militants. Some Fulani, long neglected by the central government, have joined the fighters. Civilians are often targeted by both sides.

But Fatma said no one killed or injured in her village belonged to any armed group. "I don't know what we did to deserve it," she said.

Now, in Mauritania, the memories haunt her. She has trouble sleeping and breathing, and clutched repeatedly at her chest. She spends her time looking at the only photograph she has of her daughter.

"I am just someone who is alive and appears as a person that I was — but is not, in fact, living," she said.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Tomislav Ivisic and Keaton Wagler each scored 16 points and No. 14 Illinois beat No. 13 Tennessee 75-62 Saturday night in the second part of the Music City Madness.

The Fighting Illini(7-2) came in rested after an eight-day break with this their last of four Top 15 opponents over a seven-game stretch. Illinois snapped a five-game skid on neutral courts againstrankedopponents and also gave coach Brad Underwood his first win in three tries against Tennessee.

Illinois is averaging 90.4 points a game this season after leading the Big Ten in scoring last season. Leading scorer Kylan Boswell went to the bench in the opening minutes grabbing at his left shoulder. He returned and finished with 15 points.

David Mirkovic added 10 for the Fighting Illini.

Tennessee(7-3) has lost three straight after going 30-8 last season and reaching the Elite Eight in the NCAA Tournament.

Ja'Kobi Gillespie led Tennessee with 15 points. Freshman Nate Ament, who has been averaging 17.1 points a game, finished with nine.

The Vols never led by more than two and had their last lead at 49-48 on a dunk by J.P. Estrella when Illinois went on a 15-3 spurt started by Andrej Stojakovic's layup taking the lead back for good, and Boswell's layup with 6:55 to go put the Fighting Illini up 63-52. Illinois pushed that to as much as 14 in the final minutes.

Illinois controlled much of the first half. Ivisic scored the last 10 of the half for the Fighting Illini, but the Vols finished the half on an 11-4 run with Cade Phillips' layup with 51 seconds left putting Tennessee up 34-32 at halftime.

Illinois: At Ohio State on Tuesday night.

Tennessee: Hosts No. 6 Louisville on Dec. 16.

Get poll alerts and updates on the AP Top 25 throughout the season. Sign uphereandhere(AP mobile app). AP college basketball:https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-basketball-pollandhttps://apnews.com/hub/college-basketball

ATLANTA – Now, the elephant sweats.

With a chance to remove all doubt that it's aCollege Football Playoffteam,Alabamalet doubt multiply like weeds after a thunderstorm.

Alabamacould have played its way into the bracket. Now, it's left to try to talk its way in, after trying its darnedest to play its way out in apitiful 28-7 loss to Georgiain the SEC Championship game.

One of these teams looked like a playoff team.

CFP rankings predictions:Live bracket projections for 12-team field

The other team looked like a worthy opponent for Michigan in the Citrus Bowl. Alabama hasn't played like a playoff team since descending from its mid-October peak.

Alabama's one-dimensional offense downgraded to zero-dimensional on this day.Georgiastomped a hole in its chest.

When Ty Simpson's fourth-down pass deep inside Alabama territory sailed incomplete to suffocate Alabama's faint hope, Kalen DeBoer threw his hands onto his head.

Sorry, coach,the Penn State job is fillednow.

CFP rejecting Alabama would spur debate on playoff size, format

We can have a spirited debate about the optics or ethics ofNotre Dame and Miamibenefiting from sitting at home while Alabama strapped it up against one of the nation's best teams, but this is college football, so what are ethics?

I'm unaware of any playoff rule that says the committee must select a three-loss team that got whipped twice.

There's two spots for three teams. The committee must decide whether to bounce Alabama, Notre Dame or Miami.Brigham Young, Texas and Vanderbilt would like a word, too, but their words will fall on deaf ears.

Two spots. Three teams.

The committee must play the hand its dealt. It's not the committee's fault thatit must select a Tulane, which lost to Mississippi by 35 points, or that five-loss Duke retained a shot at an automatic bid, hours before selection day.

If Alabama had just been competitive in this game, that would have buttoned up the Tide's spot. They weren't competitive. They were steamrolled.

The "It Just Means More" brigade will howl that there's no way the SEC's runner-up should be left out of a 12-team bracket. That would hold merit if we knew Alabama is the conference's second-best team.

Truth be told, there's no evidence Alabama is superior to Mississippi or Texas A&M. When it played Oklahoma, it lost at home. Nobody forced the SEC to expand to 16 teams, and Alabama played only half the conference to earn its spot here. The Tide reached this game thanks in part to league tiebreaker rules. Those tiebreakers don't apply to the CFP.

If the SEC's runner-up gets rejected from the bracket, that probably assures change is coming to the playoff's size and format. Change is likely coming, anyway. If this is to be the accelerant, so be it.

While the muckety mucks do their playoff rethinking, spare some brainpower for what should be done with the first weekend in December.

Conference championships were a wonderful data point when the playoff consisted of four teams. At 12 teams, we'd be better served if conference title games were dumped in favor of a 13th game for everyone on the first weekend in December.

I don't savor the idea of rewarding Notre Dame and Miami for putting their feet up. Dumping conference championship games for a 13th game would remedy that situation.

SEC boss Greg Sankey will holler that a loss to his conference's champ shouldn't eliminate Alabama, and he'd be right. A single loss to Georgia shouldn't eliminate Alabama. But, how about a loss to a bad ACC team? Should that eliminate Alabama, just as Texas' loss to Florida sinks the Longhorns?

Heavy is the anchor of Alabama's Week 1 flop to Florida State.

Alabama's best case vs. Notre Dame, Miami: Strength of schedule

Consider this microcosm of the SEC Championship: Alabama's first three possessions of the third quarter totaled 7 yards and no first downs. And Alabama's rushing attack? It produced negative yardage. Lord, have mercy. Georgia showed none.

A shutout would've been rocket fuel for the Notre Dame and Miami propaganda campaigns, but Alabama mustered one fourth-quarter score to save a little face.

Since Alabama comfortably beat Tennessee on the Third Saturday in October, the Tide have produced white-knuckle victories against South Carolina and Auburn, two of the SEC's worst teams. They got a mucky win against LSU. They had a turnover meltdown in a loss to Oklahoma. Now, this.

None of that means Alabama doesn't have a playoff case. It does. Even after this debacle, I'd think long and hard before booting the Tide, but not because it reached Atlanta. Remember, tiebreakers influenced this spot. I'm unmoved by tiebreakers. The committee shouldn't be either.

What remains persuasive, though, is that Alabama won as many games as Notre Dame and Miami against a tougher schedule than either of those teams endured.

It's hard to believe now, but Alabama beat Georgia on the road in September. That trumps Miami's win against Notre Dame. It's a much better win than anything on the Irish's resume, even if the Tide's FSU loss is more unsightly than anything Alabama's challengers sustained.

The Tide have a case — but a shaky one, and it's much more wobbly after Georgia smashed it in the mouth for four quarters, while Notre Dame and Miami polished their talking points.

Blake Toppmeyeris the USA TODAY Network's senior national college football columnist. Email him atBToppmeyer@gannett.comand follow him on X@btoppmeyer.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY:Alabama CFP bracket odds take hit as Georgia cruises in SEC Championship