(Dobbs) Suddenly, Those Videos Of A Second Strike Might Not Be RevealedWe already know that with dubious reasoning the United States has been killing narcotics suspects without due process.
This is about two things that happened yesterday, one of them weighty and one, not so much. But they both speak to the integrity— more like the lack of integrity— of our nation’s leaders. The weighty one is, the secretary of defense is fudging on the release of the video that the nation needs to see, the video from that contentious second strike on a suspected narco-trafficking boat in the Caribbean that killed two survivors apparently hanging on to the wreckage after a first strike killed nine others about an hour earlier. We need to see it because we need to determine whether our military forces, ultimately under the command of the secretary of defense, did or did not, under the Pentagon’s own rules about the laws of war, commit murder. When asked about releasing the video, President Trump himself made a commitment last week: “Whatever they have, we’d certainly release, no problem.” Of course his commitments are about as solid as the East Wing of the White House, but still, he did publicly say the video should be released. But not Secretary Pete Hegseth. Saturday, and again yesterday, he equivocated. At a forum in the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, he put conditions on releasing the video: “We’re reviewing it right now to make sure sources, methods, I mean it’s an ongoing operation, we’ve got operators out there doing this right now, so whatever we were to decide to release we’d have to be very responsible about. We’re reviewing that right now.” On the face of it, that makes sense. But look behind the face, look at all the videos and photographs the White House and the Pentagon have released of every single strike— there have been more than twenty so far— sometimes within hours of the strike itself. The very first that we saw was of this September 2nd attack, but it was only half the story. We were shown the initial strike, but not the one that killed the two defenseless men in the water. If “sources, methods,” and anything else about these strikes need to be protected, then why did Trump and Hegseth happily, and judging by their statements, ecstatically release all the videos they released up until now? Nothing seemed to matter then, but now, with accusations of war crimes leveled against them, they sing a different tune. They want to be “responsible.” When did that start? By the way, at that defense forum yesterday, Hegseth doubled down on his personal support for that second strike: “I would have made the same call myself. Those who were involved in 20 years of conflict, Iraq and Afghanistan or elsewhere, know that reattacks and restrikes of combatants on the battlefield happen often.” What he fails to distinguish though is the difference between going back to finish the job on a battlefield where enemy combatants are still armed and might get away, and going back to finish the job against men in the water, with no radios and no arms, clinging to a boat already half sunk. That’s the weighty one. The other is about last night’s Kennedy Center Honors at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, which Donald Trump— who never even attended the program during his first four years as president— hosted. You’ll recall, Trump has taken the place over and is reshaping it, and its programs, in his image. So much so that some reporters say their sources tell them that he has even taken to calling the Kennedy Center the “Trump Kennedy Center for Performing Arts.” On his watch, he vows, it’s “not going to be woke.” Earlier this year he even fired most of the board of directors. He wrote that they “do not share our Vision for a Golden Age in Arts and Culture.” Then he followed that with a shot of espresso heavily laced with ego: “We will soon announce a new Board, with an amazing Chairman, DONALD J. TRUMP!” So when the time came in August to announce this year’s Kennedy Center Honors nominees, after saying he was “about 98% involved” in choosing them, the question came up about who would host the ceremony. And you’ve got to read this one to believe it: “I’ve been asked to host. I said ‘I’m the president of the United States. Are you fools asking me to do that?’ ‘Sir, you’ll get much higher ratings.’ I said ‘I don’t care. I’m president of the United States. I won’t do it.’ They said ‘Please,’ and I said, ‘OK, I’ll do it.’ So, I have a great host. Do you believe what I have to do? I didn’t want to do it. They’ll say he insisted. I did not insist, but I think it will be quite successful, actually. It’s been a long time. I used to host The Apprentice finales and we did rather well with that. So, I think we’re going to do very well.” Leave a comment Yes, he did do that. So raise your hand if you believe that when last night’s host was being decided, he “didn’t want to do it.” This is a man who craves the spotlight, who craves adulation, who craves headlines, who craves attention. Share This story will disappear. Trump’s puerile ego won’t, but the story will. However, the Hegseth story won’t. We already know that with dubious reasoning the United States has been killing narcotics suspects without due process. If we have been flat-out murdering them, the public needs to react. The video would help. Upgrade to paid Over more than five decades Greg Dobbs has been a correspondent for two television networks including ABC News, a political columnist for The Denver Post and syndicated columnist for Scripps newspapers, a moderator on Rocky Mountain PBS, and author of two books, including one about the life of a foreign correspondent called “Life in the Wrong Lane.” He also co-authored a book about the seminal year for baby boomers, called “1969: Are You Still Listening?” He has covered presidencies, politics, and the U.S. space program at home, and wars, natural disasters, and other crises around the globe, from Afghanistan to South Africa, from Iran to Egypt, from the Soviet Union to Saudi Arabia, from Nicaragua to Namibia, from Vietnam to Venezuela, from Libya to Liberia, from Panama to Poland. Dobbs has won three Emmys, the Distinguished Service Award from the Society of Professional Journalists, and as a 39-year resident of Colorado, a place in the Denver Press Club Hall of Fame. He also has been a consultant for the Counterterrorism Education Learning Lab. You can learn more at GregDobbs.net |