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not be out of character for him to convey the desire to "Kill Them All" in these boat strikes. Hopefully, the American public will be able to see the full, un-edited strike videos and have all involved persons testify under oath as to what transpired...for the entire program.

For those who have trouble clicking on links...here's an excerpt from the Guardian article...This is the real Pete Hegseth...totally at odds with long established American Rules of Engagement...He needs to be investigated and in th opinion of many...prosecuted.
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In the book, The War on Warriors, Hegseth relates a story about a legal briefing at the beginning of his service in Iraq, in which he told the men under his command to ignore guidance from a military judge advocate general’s (JAG) attorney’s guidance about the rules of engagement in the conflict.

Hegseth writes that “upon arrival in Iraq”, the men were briefed “regarding the latest ‘in theater’ rules of engagement”, adding: “Needless to say, no infantrymen like army lawyers – which is why JAG officers are often not so affectionately known as ‘jagoffs’.”

He added of JAG lawyers: “Most spend more time prosecuting our troops than they do putting away bad guys. It’s easier to get promoted that way.”

Hegseth writes that in explaining the rules of engagement, the JAG officer “used the example of an identified enemy holding a rocket-propelled grenade”, asking Hegseth’s platoon: “‘Do you shoot at him?’”

“And my guys were like, ‘Hell, yeah, we light him up,’” Hegseth writes.

According to Hegseth, the JAG officer responded: “‘Wrong answer, men. You are not authorized to fire at that man, until that RPG becomes a threat. It must be pointed at you with the intent to fire. That makes it a legal and proper engagement.’”


Hegseth writes that in response: “We sat in silence, stunned.”

He then instructed his men to ignore the legal advice.

“After this briefing, I pulled my platoon together, huddling amid their confusion to tell them, ‘I will not allow that nonsense to filter into your brains. Men, if you see an enemy who you believe is a threat, you engage and destroy the threat. That’s a bullshit rule that’s going to get people killed. And I will have your back – just like our commander. We are coming home, the enemy will not.’”

The Guardian contacted the Department of Defense for comment.

Prof David M Crane, a former chief prosecutor of the UN special court for Sierra Leone, distinguished scholar in residence at Syracuse University College of Law and an army veteran with 20 years’ service, including stints as a JAG attorney, said obeying rules of engagement was crucial and that those who break them should face sanction.

“After the tragedy of My Lai in 1968, we have tried to avoid another one and prosecute those that do in fact stray. And that happened particularly in Iraq, at Fallujah, and other places in defense, where we had some marines go south and commit war crimes, and they’re prosecuted for it,” he said.

He added: “These rules go all the way up the chain of command. I mean, it goes all the way to the president of the United States, who is the commander-in-chief of the armed forces of the United States.


“So if there’s an illegal order that goes all the way down, then all of them have committed a war crime. It’s not just a single guy in the airplane, the jet aircraft, firing those missiles at the boat. Yes, they are following an illegal order, but it goes all the way up all the way to the president.”

In his book, however, Hegseth called into question the entire edifice of laws of conflict, writing: “If our warriors are forced to follow rules arbitrarily and asked to sacrifice more lives so that international tribunals feel better about themselves, aren’t we just better off winning our wars according to our own rules?! Who cares what other countries think.”

In Trump’s first term, Hegseth successfully campaigned for the pardon of two army officers and the reversal of disciplinary measures on a Navy Seal, each of whom were either charged with or convicted of war crimes. He has expressed admiration for his former commanding officer, the now retired army colonel and, according to Hegseth, “certified badass” Michael Steele, who was reprimanded after reportedly ordering soldiers in 2006 in Iraq to “kill all military-age males” in a raid.
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Link: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/dec/02/hegseth-us-soldiers-iraq-rules-engagement