The Administration Will Not Put a Timeline on Finding a Rationale for This War
They may be in it for the long haul
It’s Oscar season, so I nominate this Pete Hegseth clip for the Academy Award for Protesting Too Much.
When Hegseth insists that the mission is tethered to “actual, clear objectives,” what I hear is “this mission is not tethered to actual, clear objectives.” His defensiveness is a tell – he sounds like Jerry Lundegaard in Fargo yelling “I’M COOPERATING HERE!!!” Also: I have never in my life seen a man more in need of a drink than Pete Hegseth right there.
Moments earlier, Hegseth had assured us that this is “not a regime change war”. Though he then proceeded to brag about killing the Ayatollah – I guess the political decapitation was just a nice side effect, like when a woman is blessed with the gift of pregnancy and also grows a bodacious rack. But Hegseth was right the first time: This is not a regime change war because the regime is still in power. The Ayatollah was 86, after all – succession plans were very much in place. If a bomb hadn’t taken him out, there’s a decent chance that a slippery staircase or an unswallowable piece of ribbon candy would have.
