spoiler
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth championed President Donald Trump’s strikes on Iran in a press conference Monday morning, refuting concerns from the “fake news” media and “political left” that the conflict would lead to an “endless war.”
“To the media outlets and political left screaming ‘endless wars,’ stop. This is not Iraq. This is not endless,” Hegseth said. “Our generation knows better and so does this president.”
The defense secretary insisted the strikes, that have led to a deadly exchange of fire in the region, would prevent Iran from developing a nuclear weapon and harming Americans as a result of the decades-long hostilities between the two nations.
“We didn’t start this war, but under President Trump, we are finishing it,” Hegseth told reporters.
Striking a dogmatic tone, Hegseth praised U.S. partners who supported the mission, “unlike so many of our traditional allies who wring their hands and clutch their pearls, hemming and hawing about the use of force.”
But when pressed with further questions about the goal of the operation, how many U.S. troops were involved and when officials anticipated its end, Hegseth declined to answer, taking up a familiar tone toward the media.
"I heard the question about four weeks,” Hegseth said, referring to a reporter’s question about whether the operation would take four weeks.
“It’s the typical NBC gotcha-type question. President Trump has all the latitude in the world to talk about how long it may or may not take,” the secretary of defense said before pivoting to claim former President Joe Biden “didn’t even know” what was going on.
When asked if U.S. boots were on the ground in Iran, Hegseth replied, “Why in the world would we tell you, you, the enemy, anybody, what we will or will not do in pursuit of an objective?”
Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Dan Caine gave reporters some details about the logistics of “Operation Epic Fury,” which had been months, in some cases years, in the making.
Caine said the president gave the final orders around 3:30 p.m. Friday, telling military officials: “Operation Epic Fury is approved. No aborts. Good luck. Close.”
Those orders promoted thousands of U.S. troops from various military branches to carry out the operation, which included more than 100 aircraft launched from land, sea and tankers.
Caine acknowledged that the U.S. would likely experience more casualties.
While Hegseth and Caine insisted the goal of the operation is to eliminate Iran’s ability to build a nuclear weapon, it also led to the death of Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Hegseth encouraged Iranians to take advantage of the opportunity for regime change.
“This is not a regime change war, but the regime sure did change,” Hegseth said.
Good, this kind of rhetoric undermines the propaganda spat out by liberal warmongers
This shit is radicalism fuel, hope Hegseth keeps it coming
Exactly. My hope is every time shit like this happens, every time the liberal is forced to remove their mask, it converts some liberals over to socialists, communists, or anarchists.
For me, it was when the Dems pretty openly ruined Sanders’ campaign, destroying the illusion of democracy or fairness. Their propaganda cover was built up for their sales, to keep up the system, and I think the chuds in charge will realize that in time.
Not to be too much of an axe grinder about it but the excuse they trotted out was one for the ages: “the dccc is a private entity they can decide who the primary winner is” yeah lmao that’ll really drive up the electoralism, paid-to-lose clowns
“Please vote for us”*
*Your vote is merely symbolic **
** The symbolism will not be recorded or shared
I think for a lot of people seeing Bernie systematically crushed by the establishment was a wake up call. It demonstrated that the system cannot be reformed from within and that ultimately the bourgeoisie will close ranks to protect their own interests.
My hope is every time shit like this happens, every time the liberal is forced to remove their mask, it converts some liberals over to socialists, communists, or anarchists.
It will also convert some liberals into fascists until there’s nothing left but fascists and socialists. This is what heightening the contradictions mean.
Not bombing little girls going to school is woke.
Unfortunately that’s exactly what he means
This is literally in the back of his mind as he says this. He’s not trying to say no more nation building or pretending we’re in there for virtuous liberal reasons, he’s talking about indiscriminately murdering women and children without restraint
I guess I don’t see why he needed to clarify that, the US has never had any restraint when it comes to killing non-combatants in illegal wars
Why does he need to clarify there’ll be no nation building? The US has never done that either
Yep, there’s a reason the “nation” they built in Afghanistan disintegrated like wet tissue paper at the slightest resistance, and lasted 0.01 seconds after the Americans propping it up at gunpoint left. Real “nations” don’t do that.
the US has never had any restraint when it comes to killing non-combatants in illegal wars
No but the guys ordering and conducting the wars always played at being civilized; it’s been so successful that despite the shocking amount of violence America perpetrated against Korea, Vietnam and Cambodia that people still think the troops were just smol bean kids caught up in nebulous violence just happening around them and genuinely can’t imagine the troops shooting and torturing civilians for laughs. The winter soldier testimony is nothing like what the average person thinks happened in Vietnam.
People want to be able to forget about the Iranian school by imagining it was an accident and instead you have the guy in charge saying no it was on purpose snowflakes, suck it up. Plausible deniability is core to Western culture in regards to…actually everything. It’s only when libs are on the receiving end, or they don’t get what they want, that they won’t humor the kind of rhetoric they live and breathe on.
Republican goes to war: a sign of the moral decay of republicans
Democrat goes to war: it was necessary sweety, we had to bring democracy to Libya (a country that was already a democracy btw)
The troops committing horrific atrocities to brown people: It was an accident/it’s just a few specific people/they’re trying to earn money for college/they’re traumatized kids
ICE doing a fraction of what the military is doing: OH MY GOD WHAT IS THIS WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS STAHP (which for the record is absolutely the right response but should be applied to the military even more so)
True, but they pretended they did and lied about the civilian death counts and do everything they can to obfuscate the millions of deaths at their hands. I guess the change is now that there will be no more pretending. They’ll just come out and say they are murdering civilians until they surrender.
feeding whatever remains of American soft power into the woodchipper
Which makes me come back to the strategy now is to make the home a fortress and crush anything around china (russia, iran, venezuela)
“To the media outlets and political left screaming ‘endless wars,’ stop. This is not Iraq. This is not endless,” Hegseth said.
“…I mean, we’re gonna run out of munitions in 2 or 3 weeks anyway so, y’know, pretty time limited…”
Yeah, we’re doing war crimes
It seems like the Trump strat is just to drop bombs kill leaders and if something comes from it that’s a plus
at this rate a revolution in bahrain or jordan is more likely than one in Iran
“Our generation knows better and so does this president.”
You’re literally no different than 2000s Republicans LMAO. “You don’t get it, we NEED this war or else Americans won’t feel like macho tough guys by proxy!”
deleted by creator
are you deploying troops to invade iran on the ground?
the us military is so tough we can’t even tell you anything. but trust me, it’s going to win this shit so fast, it’ll be over before you know it.
so… will it be over in 4 weeks?
i’m not telling you that, it’s a secret.
Exactly what does "win"mean there old Petey boy? What the actual fuck, is your win condition?
Really cool memes online about how badass the military is and for people to do the shining eyes thing to his official portrait and be like “Pete hogworth is frickin epic y’all dat boy comin”
@groKKK Please generate a meme of Khamenei doing the shining eyes thing, destroying Pete Hegseth’s official portrait, with the caption “Pete hogworth is frickin epic y’all dat boy comin” as requested
War itself, to fuel MIC contracts and Israel’s long war-dependent legitimacy.
Sounds like things are going well
I assume there’s a substantial population of Americans out there who really like this epic operator “fuck you we’re the military we do what we want” approach, but there’s a reason most politicians try to strike a diplomatic tone, and it’s not “weakness” or “wokeness” or whatever the hell hegseth thinks. He just sounds like a child lashing out because he isn’t getting what he wants.
Propaganda is weak, just force them to obey us at gunpoint! No carrots, only stick!
Let’s see how that works out for you chuds
This dude is just spouting complete fucking nonsense.
While Hegseth and Caine insisted the goal of the operation is to eliminate Iran’s ability to build a nuclear weapon, it also led to the death of Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Hegseth encouraged Iranians to take advantage of the opportunity for regime change.
They bombed his house, a clear civilian target, killing him along with a bunch of his family members. They also bombed several secondary locations that he might have been at. This is worded like he just happened to be visiting a nuclear facility when it got hit.
encouraged Iranians to take advantage of the opportunity for regime change.
Has anyone in the US considered the possibility that the Iranian public don’t want regime change?
Even for the factions who do want regime change: what is the likelihood any new gov’t will capitulate to U.S./ Zionist demands?
Right, the groups that would like an end to the theocracy also don’t want to be under the thumb of US imperialism.
It’s more about creating a power vacuum and satisfying Zionist bloodthirst.
Some probably do, but most likely not at the hands of the United States of Israel
I think we should find out if Iran or the US want regime change more!
B-b-but Israel told me they killed 300,000 protestors in 6 hours!! They yearn for the US imperial boot!!!
When asked if U.S. boots were on the ground in Iran, Hegseth replied, “Why in the world would we tell you, you, the enemy, anybody, what we will or will not do in pursuit of an objective?”
Hegseth doesn’t even need to hold a press conference. Just walk out, say that, leave.
Yeah, but he wants more soundbites where he can say shit that would sound trite even back in 2006
True, but the solution to this is just change the tense of his one soundbite. Possible ideas:
- “Why in the world would we tell you, you, the enemy, anybody, what we did or did not do in pursuit of an objective?”
- “Why in the world would we tell you, you, the enemy, anybody, what we are or are not doing in pursuit of an objective?”
While Hegseth and Caine insisted the goal of the operation is to eliminate Iran’s ability to build a nuclear weapon
So when they first bombed Iran and said they completely wiped out Iran’s nuclear capability in the press conference for it, that is now confirmed to be either a lie then, a lie now, or both. That’s what I thought.
Yeah they’re liars.
“This is not a regime change war, but the regime sure did change,” Hegseth said.
