News snippet: WASHINGTON (AP) — Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth cited the “fog of war” in defending a follow-up strike on an alleged drug-carrying boat in the Caribbean Sea earlier this year.
During Tuesday’s cabinet meeting at the White House, Hegseth said that he did not see that there were survivors in the water when the second strike was ordered and launched in early September, saying that “the thing was on fire” and citing the “fog of war” in defending the strike. Hegseth also said he “didn’t stick around” for the remainder of the mission following the first strike, and said that the admiral in charge had “made the right call” in ordering it, which he “had complete authority to do.”
The Washington Post first reported that Hegseth issued a verbal order for the second strike that killed survivors on the boat. On Monday, the White House said that Navy Vice Adm. Frank “Mitch” Bradley acted “within his authority and the law” when he ordered the second strike.
Bigweld_Ind on
The only fog is between his ears
Internal_Swing_2743 on
I’m sure that’ll hold up in court. /s
stillavoidingthejvm on
Wtf does he think he’s doing? This isn’t a vidya game!
TreeofLibertyFood on
What a LARPer.
Creative-Package6213 on
Fog of liquor…
Nervous-Jump-144 on
Is anybody else surprised about how incredibly stupid this man is? He’s as dumb as Trump. Honestly, I’ve not yet seen anybody as dumb as Trump. But Hegseth is clearly a total moron. He’s *obviously* panicked, and he’s changing his story by the hour.
He’s cooked, of course. But I’m just surprised about how he is totally unable to act in his own self interest. He’s literally too dumb to lie.
Internal-Nothing-488 on
Why would a second strike be ordered if they didn’t see any survivors?
Redditress428 on
Nobody was firing back, so there was no war.
Minimum-Style-1411 on
Peed Kegsbreath has brainfog
MariosBrother1 on
This isn’t StarCraft, dumbass.
Special-Mushroom-884 on
There is no war. The fog is just bullshit and it’s pouring out of every one of his orifices.
Subarctic_Monkey on
While Hegseth and Bradley need to be held accountable, service members pulled the trigger.
kneeco28 on
> During Tuesday’s cabinet meeting at the White House, Hegseth said that he did not see that there were survivors in the water when the second strike was ordered and launched in early September, saying that “the thing was on fire” and citing the “fog of war” in defending the strike. Hegseth also said he “didn’t stick around” for the remainder of the mission following the first strike, and said that the admiral in charge had “made the right call” in ordering it, which he “had complete authority to do.”
This is an interesting test of just how lawless, dangerously incompetent, and shameless this administration is.
The answer currently, of course, is, infinity. But it’s infinity+1 tomorrow if Hegseth is still employed.
Significant_Cup_238 on
1) There’s no war.
2) There’s no reason to strike first, no attempt was made to interdict the boat.
3) There’s never a reason to kill sailors who abandoned ship.
Hot_Ambition_6457 on
“I didnt stick around to oversee the mission after we bombed them the first time” is **not am excuse** when you had 0 justification for *bombing them the first time*.
Tokie-Dokie on
>Hegseth also said he “didn’t stick around” for the remainder of the mission following the first strike, and said that **the admiral in charge had “made the right call”** in ordering it, which he “had complete authority to do.”
Hegseth distancing himself from all responsibility and placing it on “the admiral in charge.”
RiffRaffCatillacCat on
This is a typical Republican. Willing to blatantly lie, gaslight, shirk accountability for their actions and blame shift to deceive the public at all times. I might add, happily, with zero remorse, and a unending smug sense of superiority.
They are actual cancer.
CockBrother on
Ah yes, through the thick shelling and complex landscape of the open ocean-where the only “fog” was the plume from a single, flaming drug‑runner that never even fired a shot-Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth invoked the timeless military cliché “fog of war.” History shows the term usually blankets genuine confusion in multi‑theater conflicts, not the bewildering opacity of a televised strike on a solitary civilian craft.
The pattern is clear: leaders tasked with orchestrating dozens of theaters, cyber‑domains, supply chains, and nuclear postures sometimes reduce their own immense portfolio to a single, easily dramatized episode. By foregrounding the “fog” here, Hegseth momentarily swaps the weight of overseeing the Pentagon’s trillion‑dollar apparatus for the far lighter burden of explaining why a second missile was fired when the first had already ignited the boat.
If the same logic were applied to the broader SECDEF docket, one might expect a cascade of “fog” excuses for every misstep-from erroneous drone strikes in distant valleys to budget overruns on aircraft carriers-essentially converting a complex bureaucracy into a series of isolated, defensible “mistakes in the mist.” The satire, then, lies not in the tragic loss of life on that little boat, but in the absurdity of using a grandiose war metaphor to mask a momentary lapse in situational awareness that any senior officer in a command center should have avoided.
SAJ-13 on
Fog of War… we aren’t at war, and how far was the missile actually fired from? Were they really that scared that 2 men dogpaddling to stay afloat were that dangerous?
HoneyNutCheerios78 on
Um, we’re not at war. Unless it’s with the truth.
chrispy_exe on
Congress should have a field day with this because Pete is effectively saying the nation is at war. But they won’t, because they’re spineless.
BarCompetitive7220 on
Then how would he know that there were 2 survivors?
RJ5R on
So the SecDef claims he was unable to tell if there were survivors in the water post strike #1 on the boat before ordering strike #2, citing “Fog of War”, then went on a rant about the media having an easy time judging while sitting behind desks in air conditioned offices
..But the Washington Post was clearly able to tell from the footage when the story was released.
How gullible does this administration think people are? Mark Kelly was correct with both making that video and the press briefing yesterday. In fact he was spot on correct.
Big_Celery2725 on
To have a “fog of war”, doesn’t there need to be a war?
m1j2p3 on
These Trump sycophants are some of the dumbest people. Trump will throw Hegseth under the bus as soon as serious heat comes their way over this.
MiddleAgedSponger on
Is Fog of War a new double IPA or something?
wedgie-p on
Motherfucker, what!? The fog of war!? When you’re sitting in a completely safe and secure room at the pentagon watching on tv as unsuspecting people on a single small boat get executed in real time, thousands of miles away from you, per your orders? The “fog of war”!!?? I think what he means is “the thrill of murder”. Also, “I didn’t stick around”… (to watch them execute the survivors, per my orders) is a fucking wild, wild thing to say. Like, oh really? You had something better to do?
How in the actual fuck is this any kind of a defense!? Who told him to say this absurd shit!? “Oh it’s chill, bro, I didn’t stick around. Plus, you know, the fog of war and all that. Anyway, will you hold my legs while I do a kegstand?”
Smaynard6000 on
What fucking war? Dumbass.
capnfoo on
Fog of war refers to the confusing chaos of battle. A massacre of unarmed civilians is not a battle. He either got carried away with his murder boner, was too lazy to deal with survivors, or just wanted to look tough after finding out that everyone in the military thinks he’s a joke. Probably all three.
jcouball on
This just proves that Hegseth has no clue what he is talking about and is desperate to lay the blame on someone other than himself.
How can you claim “fog of war” when you are sitting in a control room coldly murdering people with huge missiles when those people pose no threat to you.
Get the fuck out. He thinks we are stupid.
zurlocke on
Fog of war…
War crime…
Very poor choice of words.
ToNoMoCo on
Fog of War, 110 proof, Aged 12 years, Drink Responsibly
IpeeEhh_Phanatic on
That isn’t fog of war and fog of war really isn’t a thing with modern militaries. I cannot wait till he goes to prison.
TheDarkHelmet1985 on
WE ARE NOT AT WAR. Attacking boats with suspected but not proven drug lords is not a war. Doing so from thousands of miles away is not that stressful. Even their excuses don’t make sense. I’ll be forever happy when these low IQ bad actors are voted out of office and we can start to heal as a country.
Im_gumby_damnit on
So many lame excuses being dug out of history books by these nincompoops.
He was *well aware* of what he was doing when he did it. This is why you didn’t hire a pathetic Fox “news” anchor for such an important job.
luv2fit on
Except we aren’t at war. This is unmitigated aggression and significant international war crimes.
SnowboardSyd on
First it didn’t happen. Then it happened, but a senior Admiral gave the order. Then it’s “fog of war” (aka mistakes were made).
How many times is this joker going to move the goalposts before there is no clear goal left?
BTW, how is a second strike called fog of war? Everything was in plain site by the end of the first strike. It’s like backing over someone you just ran over.
38 Comments
News snippet: WASHINGTON (AP) — Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth cited the “fog of war” in defending a follow-up strike on an alleged drug-carrying boat in the Caribbean Sea earlier this year.
During Tuesday’s cabinet meeting at the White House, Hegseth said that he did not see that there were survivors in the water when the second strike was ordered and launched in early September, saying that “the thing was on fire” and citing the “fog of war” in defending the strike. Hegseth also said he “didn’t stick around” for the remainder of the mission following the first strike, and said that the admiral in charge had “made the right call” in ordering it, which he “had complete authority to do.”
The Washington Post first reported that Hegseth issued a verbal order for the second strike that killed survivors on the boat. On Monday, the White House said that Navy Vice Adm. Frank “Mitch” Bradley acted “within his authority and the law” when he ordered the second strike.
The only fog is between his ears
I’m sure that’ll hold up in court. /s
Wtf does he think he’s doing? This isn’t a vidya game!
What a LARPer.
Fog of liquor…
Is anybody else surprised about how incredibly stupid this man is? He’s as dumb as Trump. Honestly, I’ve not yet seen anybody as dumb as Trump. But Hegseth is clearly a total moron. He’s *obviously* panicked, and he’s changing his story by the hour.
He’s cooked, of course. But I’m just surprised about how he is totally unable to act in his own self interest. He’s literally too dumb to lie.
Why would a second strike be ordered if they didn’t see any survivors?
Nobody was firing back, so there was no war.
Peed Kegsbreath has brainfog
This isn’t StarCraft, dumbass.
There is no war. The fog is just bullshit and it’s pouring out of every one of his orifices.
While Hegseth and Bradley need to be held accountable, service members pulled the trigger.
> During Tuesday’s cabinet meeting at the White House, Hegseth said that he did not see that there were survivors in the water when the second strike was ordered and launched in early September, saying that “the thing was on fire” and citing the “fog of war” in defending the strike. Hegseth also said he “didn’t stick around” for the remainder of the mission following the first strike, and said that the admiral in charge had “made the right call” in ordering it, which he “had complete authority to do.”
This is an interesting test of just how lawless, dangerously incompetent, and shameless this administration is.
The answer currently, of course, is, infinity. But it’s infinity+1 tomorrow if Hegseth is still employed.
1) There’s no war.
2) There’s no reason to strike first, no attempt was made to interdict the boat.
3) There’s never a reason to kill sailors who abandoned ship.
“I didnt stick around to oversee the mission after we bombed them the first time” is **not am excuse** when you had 0 justification for *bombing them the first time*.
>Hegseth also said he “didn’t stick around” for the remainder of the mission following the first strike, and said that **the admiral in charge had “made the right call”** in ordering it, which he “had complete authority to do.”
Hegseth distancing himself from all responsibility and placing it on “the admiral in charge.”
This is a typical Republican. Willing to blatantly lie, gaslight, shirk accountability for their actions and blame shift to deceive the public at all times. I might add, happily, with zero remorse, and a unending smug sense of superiority.
They are actual cancer.
Ah yes, through the thick shelling and complex landscape of the open ocean-where the only “fog” was the plume from a single, flaming drug‑runner that never even fired a shot-Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth invoked the timeless military cliché “fog of war.” History shows the term usually blankets genuine confusion in multi‑theater conflicts, not the bewildering opacity of a televised strike on a solitary civilian craft.
The pattern is clear: leaders tasked with orchestrating dozens of theaters, cyber‑domains, supply chains, and nuclear postures sometimes reduce their own immense portfolio to a single, easily dramatized episode. By foregrounding the “fog” here, Hegseth momentarily swaps the weight of overseeing the Pentagon’s trillion‑dollar apparatus for the far lighter burden of explaining why a second missile was fired when the first had already ignited the boat.
If the same logic were applied to the broader SECDEF docket, one might expect a cascade of “fog” excuses for every misstep-from erroneous drone strikes in distant valleys to budget overruns on aircraft carriers-essentially converting a complex bureaucracy into a series of isolated, defensible “mistakes in the mist.” The satire, then, lies not in the tragic loss of life on that little boat, but in the absurdity of using a grandiose war metaphor to mask a momentary lapse in situational awareness that any senior officer in a command center should have avoided.
Fog of War… we aren’t at war, and how far was the missile actually fired from? Were they really that scared that 2 men dogpaddling to stay afloat were that dangerous?
Um, we’re not at war. Unless it’s with the truth.
Congress should have a field day with this because Pete is effectively saying the nation is at war. But they won’t, because they’re spineless.
Then how would he know that there were 2 survivors?
So the SecDef claims he was unable to tell if there were survivors in the water post strike #1 on the boat before ordering strike #2, citing “Fog of War”, then went on a rant about the media having an easy time judging while sitting behind desks in air conditioned offices
..But the Washington Post was clearly able to tell from the footage when the story was released.
How gullible does this administration think people are? Mark Kelly was correct with both making that video and the press briefing yesterday. In fact he was spot on correct.
To have a “fog of war”, doesn’t there need to be a war?
These Trump sycophants are some of the dumbest people. Trump will throw Hegseth under the bus as soon as serious heat comes their way over this.
Is Fog of War a new double IPA or something?
Motherfucker, what!? The fog of war!? When you’re sitting in a completely safe and secure room at the pentagon watching on tv as unsuspecting people on a single small boat get executed in real time, thousands of miles away from you, per your orders? The “fog of war”!!?? I think what he means is “the thrill of murder”. Also, “I didn’t stick around”… (to watch them execute the survivors, per my orders) is a fucking wild, wild thing to say. Like, oh really? You had something better to do?
How in the actual fuck is this any kind of a defense!? Who told him to say this absurd shit!? “Oh it’s chill, bro, I didn’t stick around. Plus, you know, the fog of war and all that. Anyway, will you hold my legs while I do a kegstand?”
What fucking war? Dumbass.
Fog of war refers to the confusing chaos of battle. A massacre of unarmed civilians is not a battle. He either got carried away with his murder boner, was too lazy to deal with survivors, or just wanted to look tough after finding out that everyone in the military thinks he’s a joke. Probably all three.
This just proves that Hegseth has no clue what he is talking about and is desperate to lay the blame on someone other than himself.
How can you claim “fog of war” when you are sitting in a control room coldly murdering people with huge missiles when those people pose no threat to you.
Get the fuck out. He thinks we are stupid.
Fog of war…
War crime…
Very poor choice of words.
Fog of War, 110 proof, Aged 12 years, Drink Responsibly
That isn’t fog of war and fog of war really isn’t a thing with modern militaries. I cannot wait till he goes to prison.
WE ARE NOT AT WAR. Attacking boats with suspected but not proven drug lords is not a war. Doing so from thousands of miles away is not that stressful. Even their excuses don’t make sense. I’ll be forever happy when these low IQ bad actors are voted out of office and we can start to heal as a country.
So many lame excuses being dug out of history books by these nincompoops.
He was *well aware* of what he was doing when he did it. This is why you didn’t hire a pathetic Fox “news” anchor for such an important job.
Except we aren’t at war. This is unmitigated aggression and significant international war crimes.
First it didn’t happen. Then it happened, but a senior Admiral gave the order. Then it’s “fog of war” (aka mistakes were made).
How many times is this joker going to move the goalposts before there is no clear goal left?
BTW, how is a second strike called fog of war? Everything was in plain site by the end of the first strike. It’s like backing over someone you just ran over.