Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth made a jaw-dropping claim about prisoners in Guantanamo Bay that has left onlookers shocked.
Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, also known as Gitmo, holds prisoners accused of terrorism, including the jihadists who perpetrated the 9/11 attacks. While speaking outside Guantanamo Bay, Hegseth told reporters, “These Gitmo detainees should have been executed in my mind personally a long time ago.”
On Bluesky, commentators shared their dismay at hearing the comments. Joe Stieb, a history professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, wrote, “It’s staggering to think what these people would have done if they had been in power on 911,” and “How does one make Dick Cheney look humane?”
Alan Elrod, the president and CEO of the Pulaski Institution, described Hegseth as “an ogre, a barbarian,” for the comments. “Just a vulgar wretch of a man.”
University of Kansas law professor Corey Rayburn Yung noted, “Of the 15 remaining Gitmo detainees, only 2 have been convicted of crimes through military tribunals, none of which are death penalty eligible. But sure, let’s just execute all of them.”
Kyle Mizokami, who writes about defense and security issues, posted, “If you’re Secretary of Defense in charge of the most powerful military on Earth, you should avoid talking about what you can’t do. But more important to brag about how bloodthirsty you are, I guess.”
Writer Jason Karsh said the exchange between Hegseth and reporters amounted to asking, “Why don’t you kill anyone still detained at Gitmo?” in his response. “This is the country we are now, I guess.”
American University professor David Ryan Miller wrote that Hegseth is “not beating the ‘we don’t commit war crimes’ allegations with statements like these, phew.”
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