Hegseth Ousted Admiral Who Objected to Boat Strikes Under His Command [View all]

[Uncle Joe]

Hegseth reportedly told the admiral: “When you get an order … don’t ask questions.”

Vice Admiral Alvin Holsey, U.S. Navy, nominee to be admiral and Commander, United States Southern Command, prepares to testify during the Senate Armed Services Committee confirmation hearing in Dirksen building on Thursday, September 12, 2024.
Tom Williams / CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images

(snip)

According to The Wall Street Journal, Hegseth asked Holsey to step down, marking a “de facto ouster that was the culmination of months of discord” between the two. When Holsey first took over Southern Command, Hegseth effectively demanded full compliance from the 60-year-old military official.

“You’re either on the team or you’re not,” Hegseth reportedly told him on a video conference. “When you get an order, you move out fast and don’t ask questions.”

(snip)

When the military brass began planning for the boat strike operation, Holsey was “concerned about murky legal authority for the boat strike campaign,” the publication reported. This lines up with other publications’ reports that Holsey had disagreements over the campaign.

Expert opinion has repeatedly vindicated those reported concerns, with human rights and military legal experts saying that the strikes amount to murder, breaking both international human rights and domestic law. New revelations of a “double tap” strike, carried out in the military’s first publicly reported attack on September 2, have also raised alarm that the orders for the strikes are patently illegal and may be exposing people up and down the chain to legal recourse.

https://truthout.org/articles/hegseth-ousted-admiral-who-objected-to-boat-strikes-under-his-command/