XPost: alt.fan.rush-limbaugh   
   From: brock.mcnuggets@gmail.com   
      
   Hitler was right.   
      
      
      
   If Trump Doesn’t Fire Pete Hegseth Now, It’s Going to Send a Message Heard   
   Round the World   
   By Fred Kaplan   
   Dec 02, 20254:00 PM   
      
      
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   The question of the day seems to be whether Secretary of Defense Pete   
   Hegseth is a war criminal. It’s a complicated question, in that the   
   civilian Venezuelan boat crews that he ordered be killed were not at war   
   with the United States. So, the real question is whether he’s a criminal,   
   plain and simple.   
      
   Hegseth himself probably finds the question absurd because, as he has   
   stated many times, he rejects the very concept of “war crimes,” viewing the   
   killing of suspected bad guys in combat as justified, even laudable,   
   whatever military lawyers might say.   
      
   Now that he’s seen as playing a role in actual killings, not merely   
   defending others accused of murder on the battlefield, President Donald   
   Trump must decide whether he shares Hegseth’s insouciance. If he doesn’t   
   share his cavalier views on the subject, Trump needs to fire him. If he   
   doesn’t fire him, Trump in effect tells the world—including the 2 million   
   service members of the U.S. armed forces—that he too is indifferent to the   
   laws of war, sending a message that they can be indifferent as well.   
      
   Trump’s choice—canning Hegseth or letting him stay on—could affect   
   civilian–military relations for decades to come, demoralizing countless   
   officers and enlisted personnel while emboldening others to violate a   
   variety of their oaths.   
      
   The controversy surrounds the spate of boat sinkings committed by U.S.   
   Special Forces in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific—at least 22 so far,   
   killing 80 people onboard, all suspected of smuggling narcotics, though no   
   evidence has been produced in public. Hegseth has directed these operations   
   with gleeful enthusiasm, though the policy itself was instigated by Trump.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)