On Eve of Illegal Venezuelan Invasion, Pete Hegseth Utterly Destroys His Ability to Lead It
I think the trajectory of the last few weeks has been lost in the serial disclosures, so I want to summarize them here.
Mark Kelly and five other Democrats made a video reminding service members they can refuse illegal orders
On November 18, Elissa Slotkin released a video in which she and five other former military or intelligence officers — Mark Kelly, Chris DeLuzio, Maggie Goodlander, Chrissy Houlahan, and Jason Crow — reminding that they can refuse illegal orders.
One of the tactics Republicans chose to use in response was to demand that the members of Congress describe what illegal orders had been given.
An even stupider tactic was to move to prosecute the six, in Kelly’s case (because his retirement makes him susceptible to such a thing), threatening to withdrawn him from retirement to courtmartial him.
Trump and Pete Hegseth chose to give Kelly, a genuine hero, likely presidential candidate, and far more of a man than either of them, a bigger platform and fundraising draw.
WaPo publishes the first double tap story
The video from the six Democrats was likely focused on orders to target Americans, not Venezuelans (or Colombians or Trinis, all of whom have been targeted in the murderboat strikes); it specifically describes that the Trump Administration is pitting the military and intelligence community against American citizens.
But then WaPo described Pete Hegseth — verbally — giving the quintessential illegal order.
The longer the U.S. surveillance aircraft followed the boat, the more confident intelligence analysts watching from command centers became that the 11 people on board were ferrying drugs.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth gave a spoken directive, according to two people with direct knowledge of the operation. “The order was to kill everybody,” one of them said.
A missile screamed off the Trinidad coast, striking the vessel and igniting a blaze from bow to stern. For minutes, commanders watched the boat burning on a live drone feed. As the smoke cleared, they got a jolt: Two survivors were clinging to the smoldering wreck.
The Special Operations commander overseeing the Sept. 2 attack — the opening salvo in the Trump administration’s war on suspected drug traffickers in the Western Hemisphere — ordered a second strike to comply with Hegseth’s instructions, two people familiar with the matter said. The two men were blown apart in the water.
The initial response to this was the same tactic that has gotten Trump where he is: to attack the press, claiming it was fake.
Trump promises to pardon Juan Orlando Hernández, destroying pretext for war
Meanwhile, Trump totally undercut the premise behind over a year of targeting Venezuela.
There were always problems with Trump’s pretense for the murderboats and planned Venezuelan invasion, which is that Venezuela’s government leads a cartel of narcotraffickers that amounts to an invasion of the United States.
At first, Stephen Miller’s bullshit about Venezuela was rooted in false claims about Tren de Aragua. Perhaps because the Intelligence Community publicly debunked those claims (but not before Miller relied on his bullshit to send 200 mostly-innocent men to a concentration camp, where they were tortured), Miller moved onto a new predicate. Nicolás Maduro wasn’t in charge of Tren de Aragua, Miller decided; he was in charge of Cartel de los Soles.
Tren de Aragua at least exists, albeit not in anywhere near the numbers of slumlord residents as Miller has claimed. It’s not at all clear CdlS does. Plus, if it does exist, it traffics in cocaine, not fentanyl, the claimed invading drug that justifies treating drug trafficking as war (almost no right wing Senators understand this problem, which would be hilarious if it weren’t about to become the new Yellowcake).
But then Trump promised to pardon former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández, who actually did what Trump claims Maduro is doing, who was convicted of it, who was sentenced to decades in prison.
You cannot credibly claim to give a fuck about drug trafficking when you’re freeing major traffickers. I mean, Trump doesn’t care, but the men and women risk their lives and their liberty have to attend to the likelihood they’ll be left holding the bag for Trump’s crimes.
White House concedes the double tap but defends Hegseth
Then, as Congress — led by Senate Armed Services Committee Chair Roger Wicker — begins to investigate the operation, demanding the full video of the strike and testimony from those involved, and as legal experts made it clear that this was not just a war crime, but murder, the White House changed tack. Trump knew nothing, wouldn’t have wanted it to happen, but in fact it did happen but Pete Hegseth didn’t give the order.
While NYT was publishing a story laundering Hegseth’s claims (that he did not specifically order the murder), WaPo was back with quotes from service members recognizing that Hegseth had begun underbussing his subordinates, especially Admiral Frank Bradley.
“This is ‘protect Pete’ bulls—,” one military official, who, like others, spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal conversations, told The Post.
Leavitt’s statement “left it up to interpretation” who was responsible for the second strike that killed the two survivors, a separate military official said, imploring the White House to provide clarity on the issue.
One official said of Leavitt’s statement, “It’s throwing us, the service members, under the bus.” Another person said some of Hegseth’s top civilian staff appeared deeply alarmed about the revelations and were contemplating whether to leave the administration.
Hegseth, writing on social media Monday night, said he stands by the admiral “and the combat decisions he has made — on the September 2 mission and all others since.” His statement is likely to deepen the sense of furor among military officials who suspect Hegseth is attempting to insulate himself from any legal recourse and leave Bradley — whom the secretary called “an American hero, a true professional” — to account for the fallout alone.
Whiskey Pete even posted a tweet claiming to have Bradley’s back while emphasizing that Bradley made the decision.
CIA’s disavowal of Rahmanullah Lakanwal
This comes amid several reports that Rahmanullah Lakanwal, the accused killer of two National Guard members last week, had done terrible things for the CIA, but then was abandoned by John Ratcliffe’s CIA before declining into bouts of depression in advance of the attack.
The struggles to start over, leave the war behind, and find work were ever present. Lakanwal was fired from his job at a laundromat because he lacked a work authorization card despite being approved for asylum and authorized to work by the Trump administration, according to his former unit mate, who fought alongside him for more than a decade.
[snip]
About a month ago, Lakanwal told his unit mate that his inability to work due to missing immigration paperwork meant his family couldn’t afford rent or food. He resorted to borrowing money from friends and former unit members, and during the conversation, he broke down in tears from frustration and desperation, his unit mate said.
“Every time, like looking [for] somebody [to] help for documents, somebody [to] help for pay the rent, he’s not going to work,” the Afghan unit mate said.
His unit mate said Lakanwal sought help in June from a CIA program designed to aid Zero Unit veterans with immigration issues. Rolling Stone reviewed a screenshot of the group chat in June where Zero Unit veterans shared information with a CIA representative about ongoing issues. Lakanwal posted messages asking for help. His last post went unanswered and was deleted by the chat’s administrator.
None of this excuses the killing. It just makes clear that Lakanwal is one of thousands of men damaged by America’s war on terror who needs — in this case, needed — help before something terrible happens. Nigel Edge, the former Marine sniper who shot up a club from his boat in Cape Fear in September, is another one.
Mark Kelly models leadership
Meanwhile, precisely because Trump and Hegseth chose to attack Kelly, he was able to stage a press conference for little other reason than to attack Trump and Hegseth’s leadership failures.
That included addressing the double tap, in which he mostly deferred to investigations, but still upheld the import of international law.
We don’t know how all this will end.
What we do know is that, in advance of a likely demand that service members do something patently illegal, Pete Hegseth has made it clear he’ll sacrifice everyone to save himself.
Great article, just an edit needed: “Elissa” Slotkin rather than Elise. Your analysis is spot on, as usual — thanks!
“Pete Hegseth has made it clear he’ll sacrifice everyone to save himself.”
And as well documented here and elsewhere, so will Trump and any other person holding power within his administration. They are a massive circular firing squad, and anyone who complies with any of their requests going forward is either delusional or hoping that they will survive the wreckage with a pardon or in a thousand-year reich, which are also their own forms of delusion.
Pete Hegseth is a coward. He deserves all the ills that can befall a man of such cowardice. Shakespeare said it best, Cowards die many times before their deaths; The valiant never taste of death but once.” The fact that this shell of a man is the SOD, confirmed by the senate, whom have blood on their hands, hopefully will die many deaths before what will be his ultimate public humiliation. He is committing the ultimate act of cowardice known in the military ranks and that is to blame others for his direct command to commit a wanton act murder.
SOW, Secretary of War, some say.
Why add this comment here? Why feed that narrative?
I came by to make sure my fave sites are pushing the full version of the Kelly presser, but I see you’re on it. It’s being excerpted but watch the whole thing–it’s blistering and absolutely nails the messaging on both strategic and tactical levels. The immediate issue is Trump calling for executions, but he ties the PSA to the WaPo double-tap story, then widens out to the whole question of incompetence, including a precis of Trump’s career failures, AND ties it to GOP incompetence and how they’re failing ordinary people at the affordability level, all without losing focus. Mockery of Hegseth as a boy playing soldier–every word in it is priceless. And his manner is authoritative and authentic AF because HE has the credentials and life-experience. I was shouting YES YES YES through the whole thing. This guy is gonna be a **formidable ** prez candidate.
That was a great speech, and it indeed puts him at the front of the ’28 pack pf Dem POTUS candidates (even in front of Newsom, because the guy exudes gravitas as opposed to snark)…if we get there.
I think Harris blew it by not choosing him for VP. Walz’ “Trump is weird” pitch was milquetoast and his performance against Vance was the downturn-point of their candidacy: he had a chance to skewer Vance in real time while blowing the “stolen election” bullshit out of the water, and and instead he missed it entirely:
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2024/10/4/2274658/-The-Bombshell-From-the-Walz-Vance-Debate-That-No-One-Caught
Kelly would have made mince-meat out of Vance, imo.
I also disagree that Kelly should be avoiding the issue of the Carribean Sea/Eastern Pacific Ocean extrajudical killings per se, while just concentrating on this double-tap. It’s *all* illegal and it’s all murder, full stop.
This is Trump/Hegseth Tonkin Gulf-level duplicity, except there’s no attempt at deceit, just outright, videotaped murder for agitprop purposes. The service members ordering and carrying out those strikes are liable for murder charges themselves, for every boat that has been sunk and every person killed.
Ignoring that aspect of the depravity that our FP has descended into is a misdirection, imo. The double-tap was likely a PR decision to avoid what happened with the Columbian fishermen who survived a previous mass killing event and who were rescued and declared to be fishermen by Columbian authorities (which makes it all the more heinous), but each and every one of the (known) 21 boat strikes were mass-murder events as heinous as Mai Lai — the biggest differences being that the current atrocities are under direct orders from the chain of command, and that the troops involved committed the murders without getting so much as a speck of blood on their uniforms.
The Trumpists understand that dynamic, thus their hair-on-fire response. To focus only on the double tap event is to give them a pass on the overall criminality of this Vietnam-redux insanity.
re: The double-tap was likely a PR decision to avoid what happened with the Columbian fishermen who survived a previous mass killing event
The “double tap” happened on 9/2/25…the FIRST known stike.
The fisherman was rescued and ID’d in a 9/15/25 strike.
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/11/26/us/trump-boat-strike-videos.html
re: and that the troops involved committed the murders
without getting so much as a speck of blood on their uniforms.
Yes.
No troops were put in harm’s way”
= their lame excuse for not working with Congress.
Missed that entirely. Thanks for catching it. My bandwidth is shrinking even as the depth of the information flood we’re drowning in rises.
So (again just spitballing) does that likely mean that they allowed the Colombians to be rescued because they grokked to the less photogenic blatant murder aspect of the guys, two weeks earlier, clinging to flotsam while getting obliviated, as opposed to the speedboat>fireball spectacles they publish like soap commercials?
If so, it probably makes marketing sense, in a meta-psychotic way.
IOW, did they actually understand the blatancy of the double tap when or soon after it went down, making them institute a “don’t kill survivors” order going forward, which in turn led to the Colombian survivors two weeks later getting to tell their stories contradicting the Trump War narrative?
Why on earth did Bradley not insist on written, specific, orders?
Committing murder on verbal orders?
I had read but don’t remember where, that the “give no quarter” orders from Hegseth had indeed been changed, as the admin realized the consequences for anyone expecting to travel to ICC-participant countries anytime in the future, aside from the “premeditated murder” POV. Also my understanding is that Senator Kelly can’t be recalled to active duty as both his age category and length of time since military service preclude that retaliation.
I had read but don’t remember where, that the “give no quarter” orders from Hegseth had indeed been changed, as the admin realized the consequences for anyone planning to travel to ICC-participant countries anytime in the future, aside from the “premeditated murder” POV. Also my understanding is that Senator Kelly can’t be recalled to active duty as both his age category and length of time since military service preclude that retaliation.
I had read but don’t remember where, that the “give no quarter” orders from Hegseth had indeed been changed, as the admin realized the consequences for anyone planning to travel to ICC-participant countries anytime in the future, aside from the “premeditated murder'”POV. Also my understanding is that Senator Kelly can’t be recalled to active duty as both his age category and length of time since military service preclude that retaliation.
To Mooserite’s “Why on earth did Bradley not insist on written, specific, orders?” – as I understand it, it’s a violation for a commissioned officer to *issue* illegal orders. The source doesn’t matter, so a CYA wouldn’t help.
Thanks for responding, Mr. Brooks
Another words, Bradley wanted to blow up those boats just as much as Hegseth did. What a fool. When the Coast Guard interdicted boats suspected of carrying drugs, 79% had none.
From the DOD Law of War Manual:
Judgement in Case of Lieutenants Dithmar and Boldt, Hospital Ship “Llandovery Castle” (Second Criminal
Senate of the Imperial Court of Justice, Germany, Jul. 16, 1921), reprinted in 16 AJIL, 708, 721-22 (1922) (“It is
certainly to be urged in favor of the military subordinates, that they are under no obligation to question the order of their superior officer, and they can count upon its legality. But no such confidence can be held to exist, if such an order is universally known to everybody, including also the accused, to be without any doubt whatever against the law. This happens only in rare and exceptional cases. But this case was precisely one of them, for in the present instance, it was perfectly clear to the accused that killing defenceless people in the life-boats could be nothing else but a breach of the law. As naval officers by profession they were well aware, as the naval expert Saalwiachter has strikingly stated, that one is not legally authorized to kill defenceless people. They well knew that this was the case here. They quickly found out the facts by questioning the occupants in the boats when these were stopped. They could only have gathered, from the order given by Patzig, that he wished to make use of his subordinates to carry out a breach of the law. They should, therefore, have refused to obey.”).
https://ogc.osd.mil/Portals/99/department_of_defense_law_of_war_manual.pdf
Wait, typo in headline. If I’m the only one who sees it, I need to get these glasses checked.
Hegseth forgot to put his teeth in ;-)
TY. THe headlines are hardest to find.
whiskey pete ses (‘he’s a man’)
And yet Trump continues to stand by Hegseth. His “I believe him” with its dotard gullibility stands in stark contrast to the (much-reported) imminent shelving of Kash Patel. Patel is a bumbling fool, but not a particularly bloodthirsty one; his main contrast with Hegseth lies in their relative telegenicity. It’s beyond obvious what Trump values most, and it’s not human life.
You’re poking a question that I should have thought about previously – what is it about Kash Patel that appeals to Donald Trump? I mean, complete servility, sure, but Trump is surrounded by minions, most of whom are … white, and many of whom don’t look like frightened deer in the headlights, in their official photos.
There’s something as well to unpack about Kash’s “Valhalla” comments at Charlie Kirk’s funeral.
Patel worked for Nunes and helped coordinate the Russia cover up. He knows where every body is buried.
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Besides the servility, there’s also Patel’s connections to Qanon and to the Grassley Network, which includes Ezra Cohen-Watnick, Nunes, Harvey, Flynn, Solomon, Ellis.
Trump acts if he never knew anything about Qanon and the Q drops, which ended with a push towards January 6.
Ezra Cohen-Watnick acts as if he was against Qanon, but he randomly created an official Twitter account right before the 2020 election, quickly gained tons of followers from Qanon, liking Qanon tweets, including at least one tweet of a Q follower cheering that Trump just promoted Q to command military intelligence, referring to Cohen-Watnick.
Patel has pushed Qanon openly since 2021, often with coded language like the Valhalla comment. Flynn was a big part of the Qanon base. Flynn even took the Qanon oath.
In additional to Kash’s knowledge of Trump’s Russia connection and his QAnon credentials as the others have. Commented on, Kash knows what’s in the FBI Epstein Files.
Yeah Ka$h’s problem was always the cringe. Once that story came out about his oversized challenge coin, his days were numbered. Pete will get more run, if for no other reason than the magical “central casting” look Don so values. Yes, in America in 2025 this is how we as a society make decisions about who is in charge of government. FML.
On Nov 11, CNN broke this story:
Sounds like the UK intelligence community saw the double-tap strike, and said “we’re out.”
And Hegseth probably laughed. “You’re a washed up 19th century power, and we rule the world today. Keep your tiny little secrets, and we’ll do just fine, thankyouverymuch.”
You really think Hegseth has that level of historic knowledge? I’d be more believing of him thinking they still fight in suits of armor and chain mail.
ew: “You cannot credibly claim to give a fuck about drug trafficking
when you’re freeing major traffickers.
Marcy links to this Nov. 29, 2025 NYT article:
The Ex-President Whom Trump Plans to Pardon Flooded America With Cocaine
Juan Orlando Hernández, whom Mr. Trump called a victim of persecution, helped orchestrate
a decades-long trafficking conspiracy. It ravaged his Central American country.
Editor in Chief of Mother Jones, Clara Jeffery, offers a GIFT Link here:
https://bsky.app/profile/clarajeffery.bsky.social/post/3m6tgzes7js2v
Nov 30, 2025, 2:59 AM
A quote at the end of that article shows exactly what TRUMP “give[s] a fuck about”:
“Many friends”? I bet Trump can’t name any of them. And of course, none of his “friends” put it in writing.
ew: “You cannot credibly claim to give a fuck about drug trafficking
when you’re freeing major traffickers.”
when venezuela has the oil our donald wants, it is clear the motive for his his narco-war is a regime change, false flag war.
Perhaps taking a back seat to the bombing-survivors-in-the-water-is-a-war-crime discussion is the fact that the Sept. 2 attack was on a boat with 11 people on board. Two pilots/navigators plus one or two muscle in case of “issues”? Sure. But 11? No way. The extra 7 or 8 people would have weighed at least 1/2 ton, displacing valuable cargo. So it seems that even accepting throwing Bradley under the bus for the second strike, the initial choice of target was deeply flawed. Maybe Hagueseth can blame it on DEI.
On that topic, this quote is from the 11/28/25 WaPo article:
Note “trafficked”, NOT smuggled.
I wondered about that from the get-go. However, according to the WaPo story, they tracked the boat for a while and supposedly became more certain as time went on, that it was carrying drugs.
I’d love some more detail on exactly how that certainty was achieved and who was the one who declared that certainty. Was it one of the drone operators? The analysts in the room? Or one of the other personnel, say, an officer who needed the “certainty” said out loud?
Hmmm, something about the paranoiac seeing enemies everywhere and plain confirmation bias.
Experts tell me on MSNOW that interdiction, interrogation, and putting the puzzle together are superior to murder.
The flex: we can make people we don’t like disappear. Anywhere. Is the model celebrated mafia movies?
Here’s a GIFT Link from George Conway to the 12/1/25 WaPo article:
https://bsky.app/profile/gtconway.bsky.social/post/3m6yjrraxgs2x
Dec 2, 2025, 3:32 AM
Hegseth, with White House help, tries to distance himself from boat strike fallout
As Congress vows accountability, the Trump administration emphasized it was
a top military commander — not the defense secretary — who directed the engagement. https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2025/12/01/hegseth-caine-boat-strikes-caribbean/ December 1, 2025 at 8:31 p.m.
Well, now THAT should reassure everyone. / s
Admiral Bradley & Sec’y Hegseth should both be placed on administrative leave & investigated at the very least. And Bradley can’t blame Hegseth & claim (with the Wehrmacht generals we hanged) that he was just following orders. If the reports are accurate, either he didn’t know it’s a war crime to kill shipwrecked survivors, or was too cowardly to do his duty & say no to Hegseth’s illegal order, or ordered the murder himself.
Hegseth’s motto: “The buck never stops here.” Actually, this might be the motto of the Trump Administration. The more fervently Trump defends Hegseth, the shorter Hegseth’s term in office is. Trump doesn’t want anyone stealing his limelight.
The Jeff Bezos Washington Post has an editorial calling out Hegseth on the boat strike and wondering how pardoning the ex-President of Honduras makes for a coherent drug strategy.
I think Hegseth gets an early Christmas holiday.
Double tap is tap-tap. As fast as the finger moves.
This was tap. Wait 10-15 minutes. Tap. I.e., murder.
The first tap was murder, even giving them the benefit of any conceivable doubt. The second tap just confirms the entire object was premeditated murder for the cameras. Not interdicting drugs.
Both taps were murder. We’re not at war and extrajudicial execution of either Americans or foreign nationals without due process is unlawful in the complete absence of exigent conditions creating immediate threat to human lives.
And this was all done on verbal orders, which are to be reconstructed a couple months later? He said…no. he said…I didn’t mean that.
It seems that many are overlooking a simple fact. The video released by Kelly and the other five Democrats and then the disclosure of the “double-tap” incident cannot be a coincidence. Somebody leaked what happened.
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Another Republican administration, another set of officials unable to leave U.S. soil ever again. Someone needs to throw an embassy party and lick the gates once all the guests arrive. Treaty of Rome time!
I will do that, but not if the temperature is below freezing. I’ve had that experience and it’s no fun.
OMG! BWAHAHAHA!
https://bsky.app/profile/atrupar.com/post/3m6zdz7nyvs22
Dec 2, 2025, 11:21 AM
Photo of…MATT GAETZ!
His name is on his jacket in case he gets lost: “Representative [sic] Matt Gaetz”.
Laura LOOMER, James O’KEEF and Jack POSOBIEC too.
https://bsky.app/profile/atrupar.com/post/3m6ze7vhbko2d
Dec 2, 2025, 11:25 AM
The DOJ Press Release dated March, 2024, of the Hernandez conviction is online at: https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdny/pr/juan-orlando-hernandez-former-president-honduras-convicted-manhattan-federal-court — saying among other things –
“Several of HERNANDEZ’s co-conspirators have already been convicted and sentenced in connection with this investigation. Among others, HERNANDEZ’s brother, Juan Antonio Hernandez Alvarado, a/k/a “Tony Hernandez,” was convicted after trial in October 2019 and sentenced to life in prison, and Geovanny Fuentes Ramirez, a violent cocaine trafficker who met with HERNANDEZ on multiple occasions to discuss their drug trafficking partnership, was convicted after trial in March 2021, and sentenced to life in prison. More recently, Juan Carlos Bonilla Valladares, a/k/a “El Tigre,” the former chief of the Honduran National Police, pled guilty to his participation in the cocaine importation conspiracy and is scheduled to be sentenced on June 25, 2024, and Mauricio Hernandez Pineda, a former member of the Honduran National Police and HERNANDEZ’s cousin, pled guilty to his participation in the cocaine importation conspiracy [ …] In total, HERNANDEZ and his co-conspirators trafficked more than 400 tons of U.S.-bound cocaine through Honduras during HERNANDEZ’s tenure in the Honduran government.”
Three things – 400tons is a lot, so how did it get to Honduras to be trans-shippted; and, several DOJ participants in the investigation/trial are named so that somebody should investigate which are still at DOJ and which not, with details. Third, what’s the story with codefendants still in prison?
That’s the only returned item about the conviction I could locate online. All other returns are about the pardon, without much other detail. The linked item states, “Throughout his time in office, HERNANDEZ publicly promoted legislation and the efforts he purported to undertake in support of anti-narcotics measures in Honduras. At the same time, he protected and enriched the drug traffickers in his inner circle and those who provided him with cocaine-fueled bribes that allowed him to obtain and stay in power in Honduras. For example, HERNANDEZ selectively upheld extraditions by using his executive power to support extraditions to the United States of certain drug traffickers who threatened his grip on power and promising drug traffickers who paid him and followed his instructions that they would remain in Honduras.”
That means to me that monoply efforts were instituted against others – suggesting those others now may be more active after the take-down. Leaving Biden to be blaimed for favoring those others?
Nobody is asking what’s the cocaine traffic now, through Honduras, and it seems an obvious question. Kash Patel should know the answer, or who in government to ask about it. Ditto, Tulsi.
Evidence at the Hernandez trial – 400 tons of cocaine trans-shipped during Hernandez operations. So, how much is now going that route, the same, more, or less; and if it’s not down greatly, why piss around blowing up boats unless it’s, “Look there, not here?” And why might that be?
In a break from normalcy, and possibly to avoid responsibility, Hegseth has routinely given “voice orders” to the military for routine asset movements (e.g. moving intel gathering aircraft and MQ-9 from USCENTCOM to USSOUTHCOM). He has also done this with most things Venezuela. In response, the senior military has often memorialized these voice orders within the written orders that they provide to their subordinates. I wouldn’t be surprised if Admiral Bradley (who has two Bronze Stars) or his command staff did this with each voice ordered strike. They are seasoned enough and aware of the law to see the blame rolling to them (and yes, they followed an illegal order). Even so, operations are carried-out and recorded in real-time via chat, time coded video, and time coded signals intelligence. Bradley would be stupid if he didn’t bring this evidence to the Hill next week. BTW, in all things I’ve seen, Hegseth IS the sole authority for these strikes. Orange dumpling has plenty of organized crime / grift experience to know how to keep the shit stink off of himself.
Thanks, Chris. That makes sense to me.