War Crime or Murder?

Posted: December 2, 2025 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

An AI generated cartoon from Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth that he posted on “X” in response to war crime accusations. Franklin is a character from books and an animated TV series for young children . Apparently, the Secretary has nothing better to do than to “own the libs.”

The United States continues to attack unarmed boats at sea under the guise of stopping alleged narco-terrorists operating in international waters in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean. To date they have attacked at least 23 boats and killed over 80 people. The president and his cabinet allege that the boats carry drugs that are killing tens of thousands of Americans. As I have explained in previous posts, such claims are baloney. The administration has yet to present any concrete evidence that the boats are being used in the drug trade or to explain exactly how this is a direct threat to the United States since the boats are too small with too little fuel to directly reach the United States. The president wrongly asserts that he can declare anyone a terrorist and thus they can be legally killed by the U.S. Armed Forces.

In the last few days, the Washington Post published an article asserting that the Secretary of Defense ordered the destruction of the first boat attacked on 2 September this year, with the order to “kill everybody.” There were eleven people onboard, which to those of us that have participated in stopping the drug trade, means it is unlikely that there were significant, if any, drugs on board because the number of people limits the cargo space. There are usually only three people on drug boats like these. After the first weapon hit the boat — the only video released to the public — two people were observed in the water clinging to the wreckage. A second attack followed to kill the unarmed, helpless survivors. This is in direct contrast to everything that the United States holds near and dear and is a crime under U.S. law, international law, and the Department of Defense Law of War Manual which in section 18.3.2.1 describing clearly illegal orders and violations says, “for example, orders to fire upon the shipwrecked would be clearly illegal.” It is the same as the German U-boat commanders machine gunning survivors in lifeboats after hitting a ship with torpedoes.

Most legal experts, former military officers and national security officials understand that the entire operation is illegal. It is not a military problem, it is a legal problem. Even if the people in those boats are drug runners, they are criminals, not terrorists and not a direct threat to Americans. If the attacks are illegal, then the United States is murdering people on the high seas. Even if one believes that the entire operation is legal, then a war crime was committed. Trump and his administration claim that this is to stop the illegal drug trade, which would be humorous even if it were true. The people in the boats are not cartel members or anything but mostly poor fishermen that have been coerced into transporting the cargo or paid a few hundred dollars to help feed their family. This is not to say that anyone condones such activity, but no one is going after the real drug lords or manufacturing plants or distribution centers. Instead we have a Secretary of Defense acting like a 12 year old with new toys to play with. After the first video went public, the Secretary was on Fox News bragging about how he ordered the operation and watched the whole thing “live.” Clearly he knew what happened and observing his personality, he probably thought it was really cool to kill people.

There is now a concerted effort to pin the whole thing on the operational commander Admiral Frank M. “Mitch” Bradley, USN. At the time he was the Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) commander in Fort Bragg North Carolina. Trump and Hegseth are publicly washing their hands of the whole thing by claiming “support” for the Admiral who they say ordered the strikes. In fact, Admiral Bradley should be held accountable. Whether or not Hegseth ordered the second strike, the Admiral should have known it was an illegal order. But clearly, by his own statements, Hegseth was involved as the senior person in the chain of command that conducted the attack. Therefore he is liable for a war crime. Or murder.

I suspect that there has been push-back from the military about the anti-fishing boat operation. As I wrote earlier, Admiral Alvin Holsey, USN is resigning two years early from his post in charge of the military’s U.S. Southern Command responsible for the Caribbean and Latin America. Widespread reporting indicates that he is leaving after arguing with Hegseth over these operations. Additional reporting indicates that military Judge Advocates General (JAG) did not clear these operations. They decided that they were illegal. The final opinion on the matter — claiming that the U.S. was in ” non-international armed conflict” with “designated terrorist organizations” — came from the Department of Justice (DOJ) Office of Legal Counsel. In other words, non-military people that are coopted in Pam Bondi’s DOJ that is running amok.

Remember that one of Hegseths first moves when voted into office (by one vote — the Vice President’s) was to fire scores of JAGs. Additionally, I warned back in September that Hegseth’s speech to all flag and general officers and senior enlisted at Quantico Virginia had some very disturbing words in it. It turns out that he was signaling that war crimes were just fine with him. As a reminder, here is what he said about the Rules of Engagement (ROE) — essentially what is legal or illegal during a particular operation.

“We also don’t fight with stupid rules of engagement. We untie the hands of our warfighters to intimidate, demoralize, hunt and kill the enemies of our country. No more politically correct and overbearing rules of engagement, just common sense, maximum lethality and authority for warfighters.” (emphasis added)

Apparently telling people not to kill unarmed survivors that pose no threat is stupid. What a great patriot!

Only an unserious person would think that all of this is about stopping drugs and killing terrorists. There are several “tells.” First, that they did not want any survivors in the first attack. Second, they actually returned two other surviving “narco-terrorists” from another attack on a “go-fast” boat to their native countries where they were allowed to go home. Why? If these are the worst of the worst why not take them prisoner, bring them to the U.S. and put them on trial? In my opinion they did not do that because they would have had to produce actual evidence of their crimes and the survivors would have a chance to tell the world what they were really doing. It would not hold up to public scrutiny. If you want further evidence that this is not a serious counter-drug operation Trump just pardoned and released the former president of Honduras Juan Orlando Hernandez who had been convicted of drug trafficking and sentenced to 45 years in prison. He was at the center of an enormous drug ring that brought tons of cocaine into the United States, tortured informants and is believed to be responsible for more than 50 murders. Trump said it was a political “witch hunt” by President Joe Biden and set him free. So much for the war on drugs.

So what is really going on? I do not know but I have an idea.

Besides the cosplay by Hegseth — have you noticed he is not in on any serious national issues such as the war in Ukraine, solving the Middle East crisis, working on China issues, procuring future weapons systems or anything else that a real Secretary of Defense would have in his portfolio? — there is something else going on.

I think that Trump sees the world as dominated by three people — himself, Putin and Xi. Each has, or should have, their own spheres of influence where they can pretty much do as they want. Trump’s domain is the Western Hemisphere. Putting 15,000 uniformed Americans in the Caribbean area of operations is a demonstration to the rest of the hemisphere that he has the power and the will to use it against anyone that gets in his way. Blowing up fishing boats is a manifestation of that power. He is showing that he can do anything that he wants. In Venezuela, it is to get oil for his billionaire oil buddies that are paying him what are, in essence, bribes by buying his crypto, bitcoins and “contributing” to his various vanity projects.

For Putin, Ukraine is his for the taking. Trump probably believes that Putin deserves to control Ukraine because Russia is a power and Ukraine is not. If one looks closely at the 28 point peace plan — experts can tell it was originally written in Russian and then translated into stilted English — it is really a surrender plan. It gives Russia everything they want with no guarantees of Ukrainian sovereignty. Note also that the prime negotiators for the Russians and the U.S. are billionaire businessmen. Included in the negotiations are many U.S.-Russian business deals ranging from oil to precious minerals to development projects. Ukrainian concerns are not Trump’s concerns. He has also offered to broker a “deal” between NATO and Russia. Wait. What? The U.S. is part of NATO, how could he do that? Because he does not believe in NATO and would leave it at the drop of a hat if it meant a deal with Russia where he benefits. (I have no idea, but some people speculate that the Russian intelligence agencies have copies or at least know what is in the Epstein files.)

Xi gets to have the western Pacific. Specifically he can take Taiwan without the U.S. offering any real resistance. China is big and powerful, Taiwan is not. Japan is not. China deserves it.

Note how Trump talks with such admiration about Putin and Xi. He thinks he is in their league and that they adore him as much as he adores them. So, lets divvy up the world and all its riches. Trump will make himself rich (he has already accumulated billions since he came into office) and he will make all of his billionaire buddies even richer. Same with Putin and Xi. Regional alliances and the rule of law are old fashioned. Plutocrats rule! We, the rich and powerful will run everything. If other people were as smart and savvy as we are they wouldn’t be poor and weak.

With that perspective, a lot of what this administration is doing makes sense. What’s a war crime against some peasants in a boat when we own the world?

Six Senators and Representatives with military and national security backgrounds released a video reminding the military that not only does one not have to obey an illegal order, it is the law as established in the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ) that they must not obey an illegal order. The six are 100 percent correct as any individual that has been in the military more than two months knows. Hegseth is clearly threatened as he is making a lot of noise about bringing Captain Mark Kelly, USN (ret) (now a Senator from Arizona) up before a court martial. (Officers serve at the pleasure of the president. Retired officers can be recalled to active duty at any time — even if it is extremely unusual.) The others are being threatened by the FBI. It is ridiculous and without any legal grounding to do so, but the intent is not to actually convict anyone. The intent is in the harassment, expenses and time involved in defending oneself. It is meant to instill fear and to inhibit criticism. The exercise of power against the powerless. The message is that if we can come after these high ranking people we can come for you. He also thinks that the military should be loyal to him, not to the Constitution. They should do whatever he orders them to do and the six are getting in his way. He even threatened to execute them.

Each of those participating in the video ended their explanation the same way that we should all be thinking — from “No Kings” demonstrations to quiet support for those in need. We should all remember their words which are the foundational motto of the United States Navy:

DON’T GIVE UP THE SHIP!

Bizarre. Embarrassing. Scary.

Posted: October 1, 2025 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Yesterday Secretary of Defense (SECDEF) Pete Hegseth ordered roughly eight hundred Admirals, Generals and Senior Enlisted Advisers to Quantico, Virginia so that he could heckle, humiliate, and embarrass them while giving a totally political speech. Not to be out done, Trump showed up 26 minutes late to give a 73 minute campaign speech that was barely coherent. This was the best use of the time and money (estimated to be in the millions of dollars) of our most senior military leaders from around the world?

The good news? Those present demonstrated to the American people that our military leaders can remain apolitical in the face of brazen attempts to use them as props for some harebrained tirade against a “woke” military. They were polite but Hegseth’s and Trump’s applause lines fell flat. No applause. Or any other reaction. Trump in particular seemed nonplussed that his usual antics had no impact.

Hegseth’s speech (transcript here) and delivery reminded me, as one commentator noted, of Major Frank Burns of M.A.S.H. fame (the television version. I know. I am old.) He came across as the totally unaware disgruntled junior officer that is pissed that he cannot do what he thinks he should be doing rather than what he is told to do. Lots of talk about “woke” (apparently the military started down the woke path in 1947 when the Department of War was replaced by the name National Military Establishment which in 1949 became the Department of Defense). He railed that women in combat roles ruined the “warrior ethos” by lowering standards (and plugged his book on the subject — a true Trump Administration member, never miss a chance to make a buck). Of course, he forgot to mention that the standards have been the same for men and women since the beginning of integrating women into combat positions. He denigrated minorities. He talked about pushups and haircuts. He stated that many of the officers he fired and most still in the services were only there because they were women and minorities, saying “for too long, we’ve promoted too many uniformed leaders for the wrong reasons, based on their race, based on gender quotas, based on historic so-called firsts.” Of course. How could they possibly be qualified to lead when they did everything every white male did to get where they are?

You know what he did not talk about? Strategy. Equipping the force. Relations with allies. Regional threats. The future of warfare. Countering our adversaries around the world. Or any other national level policies that a SECDEF is supposed to focus on and help to formulate. Instead he is focused on redefining hazing and bullying. “We’re talking about words like bullying and hazing and toxic. They’ve been weaponized and bastardized inside our formations, undercutting commanders and NCOs [Non-commissioned Officers — enlisted leaders]. No more. Setting, achieving and maintaining high standards is what you all do. And if that makes me toxic, then so be it.” He added that physically and verbally abusing recruits will be okay again because these are the “tried and true methods” that turn new recruits into “warriors.”

As a twenty-eight year Navy veteran I was appalled, embarrassed and angry at the way that he spoke about my, our, military. Apparently, no one since World War II knew how to run America’s first line of defense at all. Only he and Trump know how. He was insulting.

Underneath the in-house blather about pushups and “dudes in dresses” one thing caught my eye because it is totally reckless. He already fired Inspectors General, Judge Advocate General (JAG) officers and civilian attorneys trained in the laws of warfare, the Constitution, the Geneva Convention and ethics. He intends to change the Rules of Engagement (ROE). This should worry us all. (Keep this in mind when I address Trump’s speech below.) As Hegseth put it, “we also don’t fight with stupid rules of engagement. We untie the hands of our warfighters to intimidate, demoralize, hunt and kill the enemies of our country. No more politically correct and overbearing rules of engagement, just common sense, maximum lethality and authority for warfighters.” This spells TROUBLE. Visions of Lt. William Calley who led the Mai Lai massacre of civilian men, women and children in Viet Nam in 1968 come to many people’s minds. These words of Hegseth’s are repugnant to today’s military. The U.S. Armed Forces take pride in being the best in the world at fighting hard while doing their best to protect civilians — of any country. I am sure that our professional military officers and enlisted were insulted when he said in this same context that today is the “liberation of America’s warriors, in name, in deed and in authorities. You kill people and break things for a living. You are not politically correct and don’t necessarily belong always in polite society.” So says the Fox News weekend host about our highly educated officer corps that has as their foremost mission being prepared to fight in order to deter conflict. (As we used to say “Deter. Defend. Defeat.”)

Clearly Hegseth has no concept of what the modern military does, of the people that are in it, what modern warfare is about, or where and how our enemies are taking advantage of new technologies. He wants to refight World War II using the same training and tactics that won the Big One. Embarrassing.

I thought it was the worst speech I have ever heard in the context of understanding the audience, their ethos, their values and their profession. At least until I heard the Commander-in-Chief’s speech. (You can find it here. As of this writing there is no official White House transcript. The administration stopped providing verbatim transcripts some months ago because it only highlighted how incoherent Trump is in his public remarks.)

Clearly thrown off guard by the lack of response to his “greatest hits” Trump mumbled through a monologue of lies, exaggerations, political attacks, whining and self-congratulatory remarks with a rambling seventy-three minute stream of consciousness. I’ll spare you the details (although there is a classic bit in there about steps — clearly Trump is afraid of falling, but Obama was great at steps — as well as a reference to Victory At Sea the old 1950’s television show about World War II which prompted him to say “it’s something we’re actually considering, the concept of battleship.”) Unfortunately, thrown into the mix were some really scary ideas. I can only imagine what his audience thought about the competence, knowledge and mental health of our Commander-in-Chief.

About halfway into his talk, Trump started ruminating about the state of our cities and how immigrants have made them unsafe. “You know, the Democrats run most of the cities that are in bad shape. We have many cities in great shape, too, by the way. I want you to know that. But it seems that the ones that are run by the radical-left Democrats — what they’ve done to San Francisco, Chicago, New York, Los Angeles — they’re very unsafe places, and we’re going to straighten them out one by one.” Pretty much standard fare for the MAGA crowd. But then, it became threatening. “And this is going to be a major part for some of the people in this room. That’s a war, too. It’s a war from within.” In other words, all of you combatant commanders listening to my speech, “now hear this!” We are going to be using the United States military to fight a war in our own cities.

Too far-fetched? Maybe I misunderstood the intent? I don’t think so since he then went on to say “And I told Pete [Hegseth] we should use some of these dangerous cities as training grounds for our military — National Guard, but military — because we’re going into Chicago very soon. That’s a big city with an incompetent governor. Stupid governor.” Remember that he continually talks about his political critics as “radical left lunatics.” In a speech he conceded that “I hate my opponents and I don’t want the best for them.” He also calls Democrats “terrorists”. And there we go. He wants troops in Portland, Oregon to use “Full Force” against American citizens. He already has ICE agents in military gear wearing masks and little to no identification “disappearing” folks off of our nation’s streets. Now take another look at Hegseth’s remarks about ROE.

And this from Trump to the military leaders at Quantico, “last month, I signed an executive order to provide training for a quick reaction force that can help quell civil disturbances. This is going to be a big thing for the people in this room because it’s the enemy from within, and we have to handle it before it gets out of control. It won’t get out of control.“

One positive thing that may have happened yesterday is that our military leaders saw with their own eyes how unhinged our president actually is and the dangerous ideas he has about how to consolidate his power over our country. Everything that he and his minion at the Pentagon said yesterday flies fully in the face of our military’s traditions, values, ethics and their oath to uphold the Constitution — with no trace of loyalty to one man. I hope that they can hold fast.