- by Peter Farmer
- The Guardian
- Issue #2166
Photo: FORT HUACHUCA – flickr.com (CC BY-NC 2.0)
US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth welcomed the 800 military leaders assembled in Quantico to the “War Department” last month saying, “the era of the Department of Defense is over. You see, the motto of my first platoon was those who long for peace must prepare for war. To ensure peace, we must prepare for war.”
“It’s called peace through strength,” bellowed Hegseth.
“We have to be prepared for war, not for defence. We’re training warriors, not defenders. We fight wars to win, not to defend.”
His speech complemented Trump’s (see page 16) with greater focus on purging the military of “wokeness.” building a stronger, more lethal force, and purging those who do not subscribe to Hegseth’s version of God, and Trump’s fascistic agenda.
Hegseth stressed that the US military should match his ideal of aggression, saying that “Should our enemies choose foolishly to challenge us, they will be crushed by the violence, precision and ferocity of the War Department. In other words, to our enemies, FAFO.” (F**** Around, Find Out)”
“This is a moment of urgency, mounting urgency. Enemies gather. Threats grow. There is no time for games.” Hegseth told a roomful of stony faced generals.
After spruiking the War Department’s need for more of everything, Hegseth gave a plug for Trump’s idea of making US vassal states or “allies and partners” pay more to “share the burden” of US military supremacy.
“America cannot do everything,” he added, with some understatement.
‘WOKE DEPARTMENT’
Hegseth put some time into explaining how not-woke he was about to make the military, saying he would remove “social justice, politically correct and toxic ideological garbage.” Hegseth called identity months and other “woke” events “debris.” Since a lot of Hegseth’s efforts since becoming Defense/War Secretary have been devoted to dismissing Black and female officers and erasing any records of their achievements, so it’s not hard to see what being the “woke department” means for him. It means restrictions on racism and misogyny.
Hegseth also showed respect to anti-vaxxers and people who hate renewable energy – all this after telling the generals he was going to “rip out the politics.” He signalled a coming purge on the basis of MAGA ideology, saying that his job would be to distinguish leaders who “simply did what they must to answer the prerogatives of civilian leadership” from leaders who “are truly invested in the woke department.”
MISOGYNY
Hegseth put a lot of energy into berating the generals about physical fitness, complaining about “females who can’t meet the same combat arms physical standards as men.” “Standards must be uniform, gender neutral and high,” he declared. There have never been the “male fitness standards” Hegseth mentioned, just fitness standards which women in the US military have met.
Hegseth, sharing a stage with Donald Trump, also complained that seeing fat generals and admirals in the halls of the Pentagon was “a bad look.”
Real men are apparently clean-shaven as well as fit, the Secretary of War mentioned that he didn’t like beards.
RULE OF TERROR
With a fascist’s love of cruelty, Hegseth also promised to restore “toxic leadership,” calling efforts to stamp out bullying, hazing “an anathema to the Constitution and the laws of nature and nature’s God.”
He said he would “empower leaders to enforce standards without fear of retribution or second guessing.” Drill sergeants will be “empowered” to “instil healthy fear” as well as swearing and “shark attacks” (yelling at recruits in packs to induce stress), and generally act like unhinged sadists. They can even “put their hands on recruits.” If anything goes wrong with the reign of terror, Hegseth promised not to keep “adverse information” on personnel records.
So bullies and sadists will get away with it, which is supposed to make the US military better at what it does. Nations oppressed by that military won’t shed many tears for future recruits.
Hegseth really leaned into the idea of an unrestricted military, telling the assembled generals that they “kill people and break things for a living. You are not politically correct and don’t necessarily belong always in polite society.”
The violence, of course, applies to anyone the War Department meets in combat. “We also don’t fight with stupid rules of engagement.” In other words, ignore the 1949 Geneva Convention and human rights.
Many on the left have mocked Hegseth’s adolescent yet dangerous view of the business of military force, although his audience of professional military leaders didn’t find it funny. Overall though, it’s very ‘mask off’ for the US War Department. Under supposedly progressive Presidents like Biden, Obama, and Clinton, the US armed forces used lethal force, regime change and occupation to maintain hegemony. Under President George W Bush, torture was reintroduced. Under Obama the US killed innocent civilians in drone strikes.
No President, however much more civilised than Trump they seemed, allowed their troops to be tried by the International Criminal Court, or recognised the world ban on land mines. The US armed forces might be more or less diverse or respectful than before, but they always work for imperialism.
Hegseth’s plan to “untie the hands of our war-fighters” met with silence from his audience. There was no applause.
