This is definitely an “OUCH”. The people under Hegseth, as well as the military, are having issues with Hegseth and his behavior. When nicknames start showing up, such as Dumb McNamara, you have to know things are bad. He may have had some respect when it started, but that’s slipping away faster and faster in the raging flood of his stupidity. My compliments to Raw Story:
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth is being mocked behind his back by servicemembers, who have come up with a devastating new nickname for the Pentagon under his leadership, according to The Daily Beast. Per the report, Rep. Seth Moulton (D-MA), a Marine combat veteran, confirmed to MS NOW reporters that, “I know active-duty Marines who now refer to Pete Hegseth’s department as the Department of War Crimes. That’s because they do things like this, destroy civilian infrastructure, which, just to be clear, is a war crime.”
It’s getting really tempting to go look up what is considered a war crime. Earlier today (or yesterday, since it’s now oh dark hundred), I looked up the definition of such, but didn’t go into the details. Now I have, and oh my goodness gracious! Here’s a partial list:
- atrocities or offences against persons or property, constituting violations of the laws or customs of war
- murder, ill treatment or deportation to slave labour or for any other purpose of the civilian population in occupied territory
- murder or ill treatment of prisoners of war or persons on the seas
- killing of hostages
- torture or inhuman treatment, including biological experiments
- breaches of the Geneva Conventions
- plunder of public or private property
- wanton destruction of cities, towns or villages
- devastation not justified by military necessity
- destruction of property that is of particular cultural significance
Yowza! I grabbed this information from a UK website, which doesn’t matter, because they’re the same across the world. The link to the Geneva Conventions is *very* interesting. Notice there are a couple of things from the above that both Putin and the United States have done. There are rules regarding the treatment of civilians. Since I’ve already given you something long, I’ll move on.
“Department of War Crimes” is a reference to President Donald Trump’s executive order declaring the Department of Defense the “Department of War” — which carries no official weight without an act of Congress — and to the fact that the administration is threatening explicit war crimes in the conflict with Iran. Hegseth himself recently proclaimed “no quarter” will be given with Iran, which is against international law and the U.S. military handbook to even threaten to do.
No quarter? We are not pirates or robbers. We don’t kill for the sake of doing so. Apparently, Hegseth didn’t get the memo. He has already threatened. So there’s one. Remember when they were bombing *civilian* boats and said it was against narco terrorism? He had no proof, but he killed them anyhow. He blew up survivors from one of those boats. I’m still irked about that. His bloodlust has gotten exponentially worse.
Meanwhile, Trump has threatened to take out civilian energy infrastructure in Iran, which would also constitute a war crime since the only purpose is to worsen the living conditions of regular Iranian civilians. “Legal experts have also questioned the constitutionality of Hegseth’s strikes against Iranian nuclear facilities, which Trump ordered last June,
as well as the legality under both domestic and international law of multiple strikes against alleged narco-trafficking vessels in the Caribbean, during which Hegseth is accused of issuing an illegal no-survivors attack order,” the report added. This comes at a moment when Hegseth is also under fire for an unprecedented purge of leadership at the Pentagon.
Pete is out of control, and apparently, Trump likes what he’s doing. Are we done yet? Can we stop the insanity? Please?
See you soon!
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What’s interesting to me, is that he has never to my knowledge, shot or killed a person. Yet he expresses such eagerness for killing and violence. I have not done these things either, but from what I have seen when others do so, it affects them mentally. Taking a life is not something to do lightly and I’m sure it has a big effect on the mind. I don’t know if he would be so eager if he had actually experienced such a thing.
He probably wouldn’t “demean” himself to actually learn to shoot, let alone point it at a person. He treats violence like a video game and he loves watching it.
I wonder how it affected the people who shot and killed Renee Good and Alex Pretti. Did it affect them at all? The little we know says they didn’t. But there could have been a lot more happening behind the scenes that we *don’t* know about. I suppose it’s a little too cynical and harsh and rude to think it didn’t affect them. The first agent disappeared *really* fast. They are so self-righteous that we can’t even make a guess. These killings haunt me.
I hope that Democrats holding firm about the ICE funding have really thought it through. No one is willing to compromise, and that makes it rough on the people who aren’t getting paid. Why Congress can’t see the reasoning behind either position does not bode well. ICE needs to get back under control and Mullin is the wrong person to do it. But ICE is still getting paid.
Susan, I have difficulty believing that Pete Hegseth did not learn how to shoot since he was an infantry officer. Here is AI’s summary of its answer to my question about Hegseth’s military service:
AI Overview
Yes, Pete Hegseth served in the military as an infantry officer in the Army National Guard from 2002 to 2021, deploying to Iraq, Afghanistan, and Guantanamo Bay. A decorated veteran who achieved the rank of Major, he earned two Bronze Star Medals and the Combat Infantryman Badge.
Source: Center for American Progress