Pete Hegseth and the Decline of Righteousness

"Caedite eos. Novit enim Dominus qui sunt eius" is a Latin phrase attributed to the commander of the Albigensian Crusade before the massacre at Béziers. The phrase is translated to, "Kill them all, for the Lord knows those that are His." A less formal translation is "Kill them all, let God sort them out."

The phrase has found some influence in modern-day popular culture in music (Kill 'Em All by Metallica), video games such as Duke Nukem, and even film, including Star Wars: Attack of the Clones where Anakin Skywalker loosely borrows the phrase by saying, "I killed them. I killed them all. They're dead... every single one of them. And not just the men. But the women... and the children, too. They're like animals, and I slaughtered them like animals!" Other works have used the phrase in the context of the Iraq War in 2003. Similarly, the phrase has been modified in the popular Daniel Craig adaptation of James Bond, phrased in the form of “Kill first, ask questions later” in a clear justification of incompetent violence.

Funnily enough, the United States of America has long allowed its military forces to use the phrase in many different contexts, particularly in the justification of unnecessary, brutal, and mass killings carried out. There have been several accounts of the phrase being used by the US military in the "unofficial" justification of civilian killings, such as the My Lai massacre that took place in Vietnam on the 16^th of March 1968, where at least 347 civilians were murdered by the United States military.

The translation of the medieval phrase went through several forms of development. Andrew Holt writes about his experience seeing the slogan "kill 'em all" (perhaps following the Metallica album of the same stylistic translation) for the first time on a US Marine’s M-16 when he was nine or ten years old, long before his scholarly work as a historian. The phrase has taken different turns, particularly during the "War on Terror," where allegedly, "Kill them all. Let Allah sort them out" was painted as graffiti in New York and in Miami in 2004.

The justification of using the phrase "kill them all and let the Lord sort his own" and its many, many alternatives borrows from the history of the crusades and a culture of extreme religious devotion and how the crusades were conducted; how the popes, beginning with Pope Urban II, promised a direct path to heaven and remission of sins along with earthly promises.

What is different this time around is not only the use of a language of "us vs. them," but it is also the blatant violation of all modern international norms that have been established over the past century. The rhetoric has dangerously moved from explanations and validations to a much graver rhetoric of might and strength. According to journalist Fareed Zakaria, the trust in America as a global superpower has shifted from trust to fear as America under Trump has abandoned most of the reasons that made it trustworthy. Zakaria claims that America has changed from what is right to the threat of might, about which he is only partly correct. A more accurate statement would be that while American foreign policy used to appear as if it was rooted in doing what is right, it has now abandoned this pretence in exchange for blatant use of force and the abandonment of diplomatic norms.

Trump’s policy this time around does not attempt to adhere to any diplomatic norms, which became clear during the abduction of the Venezuelan President, Maduro, and more recently, the war against Iran. The clearest shift in the policy is personified in Secretary of "War" Pete Hegseth. The shift from "Secretary of Defense" to "Secretary of War" under Trump stands in stark contrast to his claims of being the "peace candidate" and his desire to obtain the coveted Nobel Peace Prize that Obama won during his first year as president.

Hegseth’s general demeanor and threatening language marked a dramatic shift in how the US has abandoned the narrative that has shaped it as the lawful power of the West. Hegseth’s motto of "fuck around and find out" not only exposed the harsh reality that has been dormant for so long, but it has also perhaps marked the moment of collapse from order to chaos. The "double tap" strikes on Venezuelan boats marked a dangerous shift in the way the US conducts its military operations. According to The Guardian, Hegseth commanded, "kill them all" in committing the war crime of double-tap strikes. However, Hegseth has since denied issuing the order. The contested case provides evidence that there is no transparency.

The Secretary of War, who has been accused of being intoxicated on the job, of sharing war secrets in a group chat with a reporter, and following that, reportedly sharing war secrets in another group chat that included his family, has proven time and time again that his agenda is not one of justice or protection, but one of hatred. Hegseth has followed Trump's and Netanyahu's hate speech and separation between the civilized and the other to an extent that it is part of his body. On his skin, inked is the word Kafir, which translates to "infidel." The tattoo is not only offensive to Muslims as a clear mark of Islamophobia, but it also represents a ridiculous level of ignorance, as the term "kafir" refers to a person who is generally a nonbeliever in any of the Abrahamic religions, including Hegseth's own Christian faith.

The narrative shifts from intelligible, justifiable, or even extreme religiosity to an idiotic and laughable narrative. Along with a war that the US does not seem to be winning, surges in oil prices, and an unclear objective in the “excursion” that Trump and Netanyahu led in Iran, the US finds itself appearing as a power of unorganized and stupid villainy that is unmatched even by George W. Bush’s erratic and ridiculous foreign policy. The US president, who has vowed to be a candidate of peace, along with his Secretary of War, along with the Israeli Prime Minister, has made the world a much more dangerous place, in which foreign policy appears to adhere to the motto "Just kill them all."

Written by Amr Abbas.

Cover image: Combat deuxième croisade (Wikimedia Commons, Public Domain)