Pete Hegseth, President Trump’s pick for Secretary of Defense, has written two recent books attacking several major U.S. alliances such as NATO, allies such as Turkey, and international organizations such as the United Nations, arguing that the U.S. military is not a treaty. He said he should not be detained. Geneva Convention.
At the same time, the man who will lead America’s vast military has tied American foreign policy almost entirely to Israeli priorities, saying of the country that “If you love America, you should love Israel.” “It is,” he says.
Elsewhere, Hegseth argues that the U.S. military has ignored the Geneva Conventions and international law governing the conduct of war, instead “unleashing them” and “ruthless,” “uncompromising” and “overwhelmingly lethal.” ” He seems to be arguing that it should become an army. We win wars by our own rules. ”
Mr. Hegseth’s policy preferences could raise concerns about the future of NATO, escalating tensions with Israel’s arch-enemy Iran, and impunity for U.S. war criminals, including those whom Mr. Hegseth persuaded to pardon during Mr. Trump’s first term. be.
Tom Hill, executive director of the Center for Peace and Diplomacy (CPD), told the Guardian that Hegseth’s nomination was a sign for Donald Trump that “one of the bases of support he owes is the Christian nationalist evangelical movement”. He said it reflected the facts.
“What he is proposing in Hegseth is a distortion of Israel policy and foreign policy centered around Israel as a reward for this Christian nationalist base,” Hill said.
“Europe has already allowed invasion.”
In the more distant past, Hegseth was a foreign policy hawk aligned with neoconservatism, but since what he called the “Trump turn,” he has become a scathing critic of multilateral institutions.
In American Crusade (AC), published in 2020, Hegseth frankly asks: Why is Islamist Turkey a member of NATO? ”
Elsewhere in the book, Hegseth disparages the International Security Assistance Force, the United Nations Security Council’s peacekeeping force sent to Afghanistan in 2006, with claims based on his own mission there. . The other side had an Isaf patch on it,” he wrote, adding: It was an abbreviation for “I Saw Americans Fighting.” ”
Like Trump, Hegseth characterizes NATO allies as not getting their way. “NATO is not an alliance. NATO is not an alliance. It is a defense agreement for Europe that is paid for and undertaken by the United States.”
He also embeds criticism of NATO within an apocalyptic “Great Replacement” style narrative about European immigration. At one point in AC, Hegseth writes: The United States chose not to rebuild its military and happily sucked away America’s desire to actually fight and win wars. ”
Hegseth is particularly furious about Turkey joining NATO. He claims that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan “openly dreams of restoring the Ottoman Empire” and is “an Islamist with an Islamist vision for the Middle East.”
“Defending Europe is not our problem,” Hegseth wrote. “NATO is a relic that must be scrapped and rebuilt to truly protect freedom.
“This is what Trump is fighting for,” he concluded.
Meanwhile, he calls the United Nations “a fully globalist organization that actively promotes anti-American, anti-Israel, and anti-freedom policies.” This is one set of rules for the US and Israel, and another set of rules for everyone else. ”
Regarding Mr Hegseth’s characterization of Turkey as Islamist (the same term he uses against non-state armed groups such as ISIS), Mr Hill said: “A literal treaty ally is being treated as an illegitimate actor. What they are trying to portray is extremist rhetoric.”
“If you love America, you should also love Israel.”
Hegseth’s belief in the UN’s bias against Israel reflects his deepest and most unequivocal commitment that any vision of international cooperation is rooted in support for Israel, and at times he asserts it in religious terms. I am doing it.
In one memorable passage from AC, he expresses support for Israel as a revival of the medieval Crusades.
“Our present is much like the 11th century,” he wrote to AC, adding: We need an American crusade. ”
He added: “We Christians, along with our Jewish friends and Israel’s great military, must pick up the sword of unrelenting Americanism and defend ourselves.”
Hegseth continued: “For us in the American Crusades, Israel embodies the soul of the American Crusades – from our ‘why’ to our ‘what.’”
Hegseth concludes: If you love them, learn to love the nation of Israel. And find an arena to fight for her. ”
Hill said Hegseth’s Christian nationalism, rooted in Christian fundamentalism, is key to understanding his view of Israel.
“His theology puts Israel at the center of everything,” he said. “There is an eschatology and a prophetic interpretation in Revelation, and the Second Coming, Armageddon, and the Second Coming of Jesus are very important, and Israel is the center of that eschatology.”
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The Guardian previously reported that Hegseth, who has a tattoo of the Crusades’ motto “Deus Vult,” similarly described fighting against “domestic” or “domestic enemies” as a “crusade” or “holy war.”
In AC, he explicitly linked this domestic jihad to support for Israel, saying, “We have domestic enemies and we have international allies…We reach out to those who hold dear the same principles.” , it is time to relearn their lessons and form a stronger organization.” bond. ”
Hegseth writes in AC that Israel is one of the foreign repositories of American values, along with the European far right and Brexit.
“Americanism is alive and well in Israel, where Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stands boldly against international anti-Semitism and Islamism,” he wrote.
Mr. Hegseth continued, “Americanism is alive and well in the hearts of Brexiteers who yearn for national sovereignty.” Rejecting the vision.”
Meanwhile, he writes, Israel “continues to defeat its Islamist enemies thanks to the big, beautiful wall it has built and the big, beautiful army it has built.”
Earlier this week, the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over Israel’s war efforts in Gaza.
“I’m going to rip your arm off and feed it to the pigs.”
In 2024’s War with the Warriors, Hegseth argues at length that the U.S. military should ignore the Geneva Conventions and other elements of international law governing the conduct of war.
In this book, Hegseth asks: “The key question of our generation about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan is much more complex: What if the enemy doesn’t abide by the Geneva Conventions?”
“We’ll never get answers. We’ll just have more wars. More casualties. And no victories.”
Hegseth’s answer is that convention should be ignored.
“What would happen if we treated our enemies the same way they treated us?” he asks. “Wouldn’t that motivate the other side to reconsider their barbarity? Hey, al-Qaeda. If you surrender, we might spare your life. If you don’t, we’ll rip your arm off.” I’ll feed it to the pigs.”
And he writes: “We are only fighting with one hand behind our backs – and our enemies know it… Our fighters are arbitrarily forced to follow the rules and do more to make the international tribunal feel good. If we were asked to sacrifice our lives, wouldn’t we do it? Wouldn’t we rather win the war by our own rules?
He continued: “Who cares what other countries think?”
Hill said Hegseth’s rhetoric attributes military defeats to “liberal ideology” in a manner similar to the narrative that far-right movements have historically used to scapegoat political opponents for military defeats. He said that there is.
Hegseth concluded his discussion by writing: “If you’re going to send boys into battle, it should be boys, but you need to unleash them to win,” he added. “They need to be the most ruthless. The most uncompromising. The most overwhelmingly deadly possible.
“We must break the enemy’s will.”
Hegseth, who persuaded President Trump in 2019 to pardon U.S. soldiers accused or convicted of war crimes, said, “Our military will make mistakes, and when they do, they will be overwhelmed to clear doubts.” “We should get a real benefit,” he wrote.
