I listened to Pete Hegseth’s military infomercial masquerading as a press conference. If ever you wondered why the world laughs at the U.S. these days, you need look no further than the poster boy for diplomatic absurdity.

I’ve not included a clip of his remarks because I don’t want to add to the embarrassment of Americans when it comes to their fake Bond villain wannabe.

In the UK we would term his remarks as what we would call ‘football thuggery style’ messaging. This whole ‘nobody does it bigger and better than US’ coming from a country that has not won a war on its own EVER, is amusing to say the least.

It’s like he was reading from a GI Joe comic, when speaking of US forced led by Netanyahu the indicted war criminal into battle. He describes it as

“.. a devastatingly capable force, the combination is sheer destruction for our radical Islamist Iranian adversaries. They are toast and they know it, or at least soon enough they will know it.”

I am of course still struggling with what’s radical about 165 schoolgirls armed with pens and books, but fear not, Pete in his words is ‘looking into it’

Anyway, moving on :

“Our rules of engagement are bold, precise and designated to unleash American power, not shackle it.”

Yada yada

“This was never meant to be a fair fight (that would explain its illegality), we are punching them while they are down which is exactly as it should be.”

Yada yada

“Iran’s capabilities are evaporating by the hour while America’s strength grows fiercer, smarter and utterly dominant.”

Yada yada

“America fights to win and in Operation Epic Fury may God’s providence cover and protect our troops always.”

This campaign is being framed as a holy war by both Trump and Netanyahu. Troops have complained to The Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF) that their commander had “urged us to tell our troops that this was ‘all part of God’s divine plan’, referencing quotes from the Book of Revelation referring to Armageddon and the imminent return of Jesus Christ”.

Soldiers were told ‘President Trump has been anointed by Jesus to light the signal fire in Iran to cause Armageddon and mark his return to Earth’

This is deeply disturbing, but absolutely in line with what apprised to be the deliberate injection of Christian Nationalism into military ethics.

The suggestion is that Trump is God’s agent on earth and is giving consent to treat Muslims as the enemy This is clearly implicit in Hegseth’s words and this reporting.

It also aligns with the dehumanizing of Palestinians by the IDF. The implication is that this is a righteous Christian alliance waging war against Islam.

I appreciate that this is very real and deeply troubling, but I’m afraid every time I hear Hegseth give one of his propaganda statements all I see is Captain Flashheart.

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