Since the Senate confirmed Pete Hegseth as the Secretary of Defense/War, he and the president have been advocating for their version of “might makes right.”
At his post-confirmation hearing press conference, Secretary Hegseth expressed his disdain for the Geneva Convention, which provides specific protections for civilians and their infrastructure during wartime. Asked if the US military would observe the rules, he said that it would have its own rules.
Apparently, he was excluding the Uniform Code of Military Justice, because it states that soldiers have an obligation to disobey unlawful orders. Unlawful orders are those violating the Constitution, U. S. law or the international laws of war.
International Humanitarian Law (in the United Nations Charter) mandates that civilian non-combatants must be protected and treated humanely, and that civilian infrastructure such as schools and hospitals be protected. Secretary Hegseth’s bellicose and inhumane rhetoric revolves around his code of “lethality,” showing ”no mercy,” and showing “no quarter” to the enemy. Hegseth said “The godless deserve no mercy.”
The assertion that the United States does not attack civilian targets is disingenuous. We have witnessed on our television screens residential areas that were reduced to rubble by relentless U.S. and Israeli bombing.
The attack on a girls school, leaving 180 students and teachers dead, is so far the most shocking example of harming civilians. In August 2022, the Pentagon released an action plan to reduce harm to civilians, but Secretary Hegseth has eliminated the department for civilian protection.
When this fragile ceasefire expires, the president may still order Americans to decimate more civilian infrastructure – bridges, power plants, desalination plants. Hegseth has called this illegal, unconstitutional war of choice a “holy war,” which is unconscionable.
Iran, Israel and the United States ignore the fundamental principle of the Geneva Convention: distinguish between military and civilian.
On Palm Sunday, Pope Leo XIV’s message offered a response to the “holy war” claim when he said “no one can use God to justify war.” People around the world are suffering from this atrocious conflict. The Pope speaks with a moral authority that sadly, American leadership has chosen to relinquish.
Priscilla Waggoner