Summary

Concerns have emerged over Trump’s defense secretary nominee, Pete Hegseth, who has criticized the Geneva Conventions and U.S. military rules of engagement as overly restrictive.

Critics, including retired military officers, argue his rhetoric could undermine the military’s commitment to lawful conduct and accountability.

Hegseth has supported pardons for service members convicted of war crimes and questioned the application of international laws to extremist adversaries.

While Hegseth claims he does not condone war crimes, experts worry his stance could confuse troops and erode core military principles.

  • Deceptichum@quokk.au
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    15 hours ago

    What fucking scum is only concerned now? The US has been war criming with impunity my whole life and long before it.

    Your official policy is to invade the fucking UN if a solder gets charged with a war crime. Who fucking cares if he pardons someone.

  • unexposedhazard@discuss.tchncs.de
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    17 hours ago

    As opposed to every other US government in the history of US governments? Dont get me wrong it can always be worse, but still, odd headline. They literally have laws to make sure that nobody can touch their war criminals even if caught red handed.

    • Porto881@lemmy.world
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      16 hours ago

      The US has it codified into law to invade The Hague if any US soldier is indicted by the UN.

  • WatDabney@sopuli.xyz
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    17 hours ago

    I’d pretty much guarantee that “willing to turn a blind eye to U.S. war crimes” was a prerequisite as far as Trump and his handlers were concerned.

  • OutlierBlue@lemmy.ca
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    17 hours ago

    Some military officers worry that Pete Hegseth could turn a blind eye to U.S. war crimes

    Of course he will! All of these appointees are hand-picked to dismantle the thing they’re put in charge of.

  • SarcasticMan@lemmy.world
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    16 hours ago

    The US response to Israel’s actions in Gaza and the rest of the region should be a straightforward example of what the “Defender of Democracy” is okay with. I imagine war crimes will just be the tip of the spear.

    • jonne@infosec.pub
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      15 hours ago

      Yeah, if anyone still believed that ‘international law’ and ‘rules based world order’ were real, the war in Gaza should prove that those laws only existed to enforce colonialism, and weren’t ever meant to apply to the US or its allies.

  • justOnePersistentKbinPlease@fedia.io
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    16 hours ago

    Yeah, thats a real concern.

    After all, the trials over the Bush administration legalizing Torture went on for so long and went a long way to helping the rest of the world trust the US.

  • gravitas_deficiency@sh.itjust.works
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    16 hours ago

    I feel like he probably listed that as a proposed stance when he submitted his CV. For the circles he’s going to be working with: that’s a feature, not a bug.