It was hardly an ‘above the fold’ story in mid-October when Admiral Alvin Holsey, head of the U.S. military’s Southern Command, announced he would be leaving. The flag officer had been in the normally three-year command for just a single year when the news broke. Not a big story but the truth was hidden between the lines.
Holsey, one of the few African American four-star officers in the Navy, will officially retire December 12th. But his retirement will continue to be a part of the administration’s ‘hit’ storm in the Caribbean Sea.
Holsey had been at odds with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth about the aerial campaign of targeting and destroying suspected drug carrying speed boats in the Caribbean. To date, nearly a dozen boats have been destroyed, and more than eighty occupants have been killed by American military aircraft. But one strike has resonated above all others, and the official reaction is causing the administration ‘agita.’
That strike destroyed the boat but left two survivors clinging to the wreckage. While they were later killed, Hegseth has distanced himself from responsibility and pointed to the mission’s commander, Admiral Mitch Bradley, as the final call.
Hegseth’s cover, a pass-the-buck response, has been met with calls for his immediate resignation from Colorado Congressman and combat veteran Jason Crow and Colorado Senator Michael Bennet, both Democrats.
“The facts, as they have been laid out here,” Crow told CNN’s Erin Burnett, “look pretty horrible.” The two survivors, he said, had been hours in the water and helpless to do anything after the attack before the order to kill them was given. “I can’t think of any justification given those facts as I know them for taking that second strike.”
Crow and Bennet have both called for Hegseth’s resignation or for the President to fire him. They have also called the killings a violation of the laws of war.
The military has been using F-35 jets, lethally modified C-130’s and drones fitted with forty-pound rockets striking at more than 1,000 mph. Using these or any weapons on ocean-stranded, say critics, is murder.
Crow’s CNN appearance, as well as others he has made on cable news outlets, comes only days after a video of he and five congressional colleagues made reminding military members to “refuse illegal orders.”
The six include Senators Elissa Slotkin and Mark Kelly, Representatives Chris Deluzio, Maggie Goodlander, Chrissy Houlahan and Crow. Each has experience in the military or intelligence service. All are Democrats.
Their position aligns with the military’s Uniform Code of Military Justice which specifically states in Article 92, “Service members are required to obey lawful orders but have a duty to refuse manifestly illegal orders…despite the legal risks.”
In recent American military engagements, a number of American service members have violated this edict, including in Afghanistan where soldiers posed for pictures with dead enemy combatants and, in the Iraq War, again posing for pictures with hooded and shackled prisoners was deemed dehumanizing. That instance became known as ‘Abu Ghraib.’ A number of military members, including officers, were later court martialed, found guilty and given dishonorable discharges for the incident.
But another contemporary example occurred in the Viet Nam War when in March 1968 more than 300 Vietnamese men, women and children were gunned down on orders given by Captain Ernest Medina. Medina was not convicted but his subordinate and mission officer in charge, Lieutenant William Calley, was. Calley was found guilty in a court martial and sentenced to three years home confinement. The incident is known as the My Lai Massacre.
Current calls for Hegseth’s resignation or firing are just the latest frustrations over his leadership, though there is still widespread incredulity over his selection to run America’s most complex department.
Hegseth joined the Cabinet from a weekend hosting job at Fox News. Following a contentious confirmation, decided by a tie-breaking vote by Vice President Vance, took the position. But his tenure has been scorched by high profile scandals.
A just released Inspector General (IG) report stated Hegseth had endangered U.S. troops by sharing secret battle plans on the open-source Signal app, often referred to as ‘Signalgate.’ The information on the attack went out to a number of those with a ‘need to know’ but also included The Atlantic’s Jeffrey Goldberg.
The magazine, after consideration, printed it. The Signalgate gaffe also included Hegseth’s wife and brother, both unauthorized to receive the information. The hits keep coming.
The latest spotlight on Hegseth, the official IG report, elicited a similar response saying it “only further demonstrates his recklessness and incompetence…he is unfit to lead.”
Hegseth has distinguished his ten months on the job with a number of controversial moves. He has pared Pentagon journalists down to a select crew of right leaning reporters, including the ultra-right OAN and exiled other news organizations including legacy print and electronic papers and networks.
The New York Times, Washington Post, ABC, NBC, CBS and CNN have also been removed. Even the president’s network of choice, Fox News, walked out rather than follow the new restrictive dictums.
While Hegseth has attracted attention for Signalgate and the current Caribbean assaults, one instance of his often-unpredictable judgment riled even flag officers whose duty nearly always forbids discussing sensitive matters with reporters.
In September, Hegseth called every star officer, no matter where they were serving, on just a few days’ notice, to Quantico, Virginia. There, he browbeat them about their weight, including calling a number of them ‘fat,’ stressed his stridency about ‘warrior ethos,’ and warned that if they did not agree they should resign.
Hegseth’s new military doctrine was met with pin-drop silence and not, as he expected based on strategic pauses in his address, applause. One general characterized Hegseth’s address as akin to a “junior officer’s.” Another was more direct. He said he came to Quantico to hear about strategy or doctrine shift and “not about f***ing haircuts.”
While there has been scuttlebutt across Washington about Hegseth’s tenure in the job and his litany of mistakes and missteps, the President has steadfastly, at least publicly, endorsed his keeping the job.
Nearly all Republicans have said they applaud what the president is doing with the Venezuelan boat bombings, Democrats have called for hearings on the administration’s current Caribbean campaign. No word yet on if or when they will be called.
