A former Army lieutenant general said on Wednesday that he was alarmed by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's speech at West Point's commencement ceremony over the weekend.
Hegseth discussed his usual culture-war topics, such as removing Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion programming from the military, during the speech. But it was the Secretary's comments about the Trump administration's support for military members that alarmed Gen. Mark Hertling, the former commanding general of the U.S. Army in Europe.
"No matter what, President [Donald] Trump and I will have your back when tough decisions are made," Hegseth said during his speech. "Especially decisions made in a split second in the heat of battle. No matter what. No matter if it's the right decision or the wrong decision. If it's made by the right person or the wrong person. For the right reasons or the wrong reasons. Your hands are untied. No matter what, we will have your back."
Hertling reacted to Hegseth's speech during a new episode of the "Bulwark Takes" podcast. He agreed with co-host Ben Parker's assessment that Hegseth had just given the military an "open invitation to commit war crimes."
"When you're talking about just disregarding all legal implications and expecting the president, the commander-in-chief, the secretary of defense, his primary adviser for defense matters to say, 'No matter what, we have your back' — it's just not true," Hertling said. "And we've seen that in a couple of situations so far in this administration, where ... war criminals, people who murdered civilians, were allowed to go free and were paroled."
"That, to me, will create a lack of discipline within the force and will cause problems, which will put our nation at risk," he added.