Dan Steinbock Informed Coment
By DG Staff
Recently, Dr Steinbock has responded to several journalistic questions regarding the impeachment issue of U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. Here are some of the questions.
In November 2024, then-President-elect Trump named Hegseth as his nominee for his secretary of defense. In a Senate Committee on Armed Services hearing right before Trump’s second inauguration, Hegseth faced allegations of sexual misconduct, financial mismanagement, and excessive drinking. Yet, he was confirmed by the Senate that month, but only with the vice president, JD Vance, casting a tie-breaking vote.
Recently, Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Kentucky) introduced articles of impeachment alleging that the defense secretary “abused” his powers and “knowingly executed and implemented unlawful orders.” Although the lame duck House declined to vote for these articles, the incoming House of Representatives will be less ambivalent.
Dr. Steinbock (DS): Hegseth’s term is likely to be seen as one of the most disastrous ones in the Pentagon’s history. The lack of personal integrity and basic executive experience compounds an aggressive, ideologically overdriven campaign that has triggered a chilling effect, tanked military approval ratings and alienated America’s allies, partners and adversaries alike.
“Unwarranted, unconstitutional and illegal Iran war”
What kind of role did Hegseth play in Trump’s launching his war on Iran alongside Israelis?
DS: Hegseth made an unwarranted, unconstitutional and illegal war against Iran worse, driving regular televised briefings to aggressively market the conflict to the public as a campaign of “maximum lethality” to disable Tehran’s nuclear ambitions.
With his apocalyptic Christian-nationalist beliefs, he should have no role in the Pentagon.
How successful has Hegseth been in his conduct against Iranians?
DS: Hegseth claims “historic devastation” against Iranian capabilities. But independent analysts view the grinding, nine-month conflict as a strategic disaster that has failed to control the Strait of Hormuz, depleted American munitions, and wreaked global economic havoc.
It is an unnecessary war that has cost global economy dearly. In the energy-importing Global South, it has sustained devastating energy and food crises, coupled with elevated inflation.
“Sympathy for war crimes and war criminals”
You have argued that Hegseth’s sins include war crimes. Why?
DS: Because he has contributed to or authorized actions amounting to war crimes. These center on several key military operations, institutional decisions, and formal accusations from lawmakers and military veterans.
First, Hegseth has a dark track record of past support and lobbying for service members accused or convicted of war crimes in past foreign conflicts whom he previously championed and lobbied to receive pardons. It is pattern of disregard for military justice and moral authority of the laws of armed conflict.
Early in his tenure, Hegseth also dismissed senior military lawyers (Judge Advocate General/JAG officers) for the Army, Navy, and Air Force, and reassigned hundreds of JAGs away from advising commanders on the laws of war to other duties.
Sidelining or purging military legal advisors removes vital institutional checks designed to prevent war crimes and ensure battlefield compliance with international law. It set the stage for international crimes.
“Extrajudicial killings and waging war outside constitutional bounds”
These questionable activities also feature the war against Iran?
DS: Yes, during the U.S. military campaign in Iran, Hegseth was accused by members of Congress, like Representative Thomas Massie and Representative Seth Moulton, pushing an aggressive strategy that ignored laws and norms designed to minimize civilian casualties, including a deadly strike on an Iranian school.
Conducting strikes with high civilian death tolls without strict adherence to proportionality and distinction under the Geneva Conventions breaches the laws of armed conflict. This is why Massie introduced articles of impeachment charging Hegseth with extrajudicial killings and waging war outside constitutional bounds.
Furthermore, there are the reports, including investigations published by the Washington Post, alleging that during military operations targeting suspected drug-smuggling vessels in the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific, a follow-on strike was ordered against survivors who were clinging to wreckage and no longer posed a threat.
Intentionally killing incapacitated or surviving combatants/non-combatants violates Customary International Humanitarian Law (specifically ICRC Rule 46 prohibiting the denial of “no quarter”) and constitutes extrajudicial murder or war crimes.
“Effort to politicize the military”
What do you think about his purge in the US military? Does it have a merit or it has been a bad idea from the very beginning?
DS: Hegseth’s military purge has no merit and it has been flawed from the beginning. He has forced out over two dozen decorated four-star commanders under the guise of removing “woke” leaders. It has been a disastrous attempt to turn the military into an at-will political playground while gutting combat readiness during active hostilities.
How does the military brass see his actions from the purge inside and his war on Iran outside?
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth exchanges gifts with Israeli Ministe Defense Israel Katz following a bilateral exchange at the Pentagon, Washington, D.C., July 18, 2025. (DoD photo by U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. Madelyn Keech)
DS: For months, Pentagon insiders have reported a toxic climate of “fear and paranoia.” Current and retired leaders warn that replacing irreplaceable warfighters with political “yes-men” has severely damaged strategic cohesion and compromised basic national security.
When ideology replaces military experience, body bags of the innocent follow.
“Wrong man, wrong place, wrong time”
Can Hegseth survive the US mid-term as the war on Iran sees no letup in the short-term?
DS: Following massive Republican midterm losses blamed largely on the deeply unpopular war, Hegseth faces imminent House articles of impeachment and behind-the-facade questioning from President Trump regarding his standing, leaving his political future in severe jeopardy.
It is challenging to see how Hegseth could survive the aftermath of the US midterm. But if that happens, it is the result of immoral political wheeling-and-dealing. His place is not in the upper echelons of the Pentagon.
How will history judge his term?
Not kindly. Hegseth was precisely the wrong man in the wrong place in the wrong time.
Juan Cole’s Informed Comment delivers independent, expert analysis of war, the Middle East, climate change, and U.S. foreign policy. Help sustain this work
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