<
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/mar/08/pete-hegseth-pentagon-trump-iran>
"Brash and bellicose, he sounded more like a cartoon bully than a sombre
statesman. “Death and destruction from the sky all day long,” Pete Hegseth,
wearing a red, white and and blue tie and pocket square, bragged to reporters
at the Pentagon near Washington. “This was never meant to be a fair fight, and
it is not a fair fight. We are punching them while they’re down, which is
exactly how it should be.”
Hegseth, 45, a former
Fox News TV host who now commands the world’s most
powerful military, has this week become the face of Donald Trump’s war in Iran.
That has set off alarm bells for critics who warn that the Secretary of Defense
– pointedly rebranded “Secretary of War” – has rapidly transformed the Pentagon
into the staging ground for an ideological and religious crusade.
With machismo, Christian nationalism and callousness toward the lives of US
troops, they say, Hegseth’s puerile displays on TV are aimed at sating Trump’s
desire for a warmonger worthy of the manosphere. This was reinforced by a lurid
social media video that intersperses clips from Hollywood blockbusters such as
Braveheart,
Gladiator,
Superman and
Top Gun with Hegseth and real
kill-shot footage of the attacks in Iran.
Janessa Goldbeck, chief executive of Vet Voice Foundation, a nonprofit advocacy
organisation, said: “Pete Hegseth is a very dangerous person. He’s a white
Christian nationalist and has the arsenal of the United States government at
his disposal and a permission slip from President Trump to deploy carnage
wherever he wishes against whomever he wishes.”"
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
