Hegseth faces growing revolt as Pentagon leaders sickened by 'dismissive attitude': analyst
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is not making any new friends at the Pentagon, as the whole department is facing scrutiny over his attacks on so-called narco-terrorists while giving department intel officials the cold shoulder.
That is according to longtime Washington Post columnist David Ignatius who reported on MS NOW Monday that the Donald Trump appointee’s tenure at the Pentagon, where he has fired people left and right, is now coming back to haunt him during the latest crisis.
Asked by “Morning Joe” co-host Jonathan Lemire what the mood is like at the Pentagon as questions about war crimes hang over Hegseth, a grim-faced Ignatius responded, “So, Jonathan, what I hear from retired military and intelligence officers in particular is a sense of deep unhappiness about what they're hearing about and what we may see the details of. I think, in this terrible crisis over the September 2nd shootings, we forget that the vast majority of American soldiers and intelligence officers have worked hard, especially these last two decades, to follow the rules in the most difficult armed conflict situations imaginable.”
“And I think it offends a lot of them to see this essentially dismissive attitude from Secretary Hegseth about the issues that have been raised here,” he offered. “People want to see the laws of war, the rules that commanders have to live by and need to live by to avoid making mistakes drawn clearly here. The only way you can do that is public hearings that lay out what happened and make clear where responsibilities are, where mistakes may have been made.
“But I think above all, there's a feeling that this crisis could produce greater clarity that this generation of commanders needs. It could strengthen the hand of lawyers in the military who were essentially purged by Pete Hegseth in the first months that he was Secretary of Defense, so that they have a stronger role. Their advice, which is needed, can be listened to,” he added hopefully.
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