The Intercept’s Nick Turse, a long-time harsh critic of U.S. military policy, asserts at the beginning of an article posted last night, that Trump “has imperiled civilians across the globe in an unprecedented fashion, outpacing his record of civilian harm during his first term in just the first 15 months of his second, according to experts. The spike in civilian casualties comes as Trump wages wars across the world from Africa to South America and as Secretary of War Pete Hegseth repeatedly brushed off questions by members of Congress on Wednesday [April 29] about civilian casualties, the U.S. military’s adherence to the laws of war, and the Pentagon’s coordinated campaign to erode civilian harm mitigation efforts.”
Turse limits himself to the direct effects of military violence, not taking up the second and third order effects of the destruction of infrastructure and the disruption of vital services and economic activity, which, arguably, can wind up killing more civilians than bombs and bullets. But what he does report is bad enough.
In testimony before the House Armed Services committee on April 29, Turse writes, Hegseth repeatedly dismissed Congressional concerns about civilian harm and respect for the laws of war. “The Department of War fights to win,” Hegseth replied when asked if he stood by his statement that the U.S. would afford enemies “no quarter”—a war crime.
