It didn’t take much imagination to anticipate that a television news host with a flair for the performative, a disdain for restraints on military action and who is enthralled with “the warrior” ethos would plunge the U.S. Department of Defense into crisis.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is now doing his best to distance himself from what appear to be war crimes that were either authorized by him or committed in his name. This latest embarrassment is proof that he is not a serious secretary of defense. His actions are doing great damage to the reputation of his country.
This sordid episode occurred on Sept. 2, when U.S. forces launched missiles against a boat suspected of carrying drug traffickers in waters off the coast of Trinidad. The Trump administration calls these individuals “narco-terrorists” and charges that they are waging war against the U.S. by bringing drugs into the country. The administration has said that this was the first of 21 such strikes, which have killed 83 people.
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