Hegseth Didn't 'Personally See' Survivors, Reassures Public
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, the man picked to lead the Pentagon, just clarified he 'personally' didn't see any survivors after a strike on an 'alleged drug vessel' that killed 82 people. Axios reports he watched the initial attack live, but only later learned of a follow-up order to 'ensure the boat was destroyed and the threat eliminated.' One must wonder what exactly he was watching if not
the human consequences. This echoes the decades of 'fog of war' rhetoric used to whitewash military actions, from My Lai to drone strikes, where the humanity of the victims is conveniently obscured or simply deemed irrelevant. The UN's Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights flagged these actions as violating international law months ago, yet Pentagon press secretary Kingsley Wilson
insists operations are 'lawful.' This is the same playbook used when the U.S. supports 'counter-terrorism' operations that lead to disproportionate civilian casualties elsewhere. It’s not 'fog of war' when human rights organizations are screaming from the rooftops; it's a deliberate erasure of accountability. Hegseth's 'I didn't see it' defense is less about optics and more about the institutional
culture that allows 82 deaths against 'alleged' threats to be deemed acceptable collateral damage.