Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is facing fury online after he attempted to make light of U.S. military assaults on suspected drug-smuggling vessels in the Caribbean.
The Washington Post last week reported that Hegseth ordered a U.S. strike force to kill everyone on board one vessel in September. When two survivors were seen in the wreckage, commanders launched a second “double tap” strike to kill them.
Critics have called that a violation of international law, with some saying the report, if true, could be evidence of war crimes or murder.
Hegseth has denied the allegations and on Sunday, posted a mock “Franklin the Turtle” children’s book cover referencing the operation:
“I think it’s very possible there was a war crime committed,” Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said on ABC’s “This Week” on Sunday.
Democrats and Republicans alike have called for a congressional review of the allegations.
Senate Armed Services Committee Chair Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) and ranking member Sen. Jack Reed (D-R.I.) said in a press release that their committee “will be conducting vigorous oversight to determine the facts related to these circumstances.”
Hegseth last week dismissed the Post report as “fabricated, inflammatory, and derogatory reporting” from “the fake news.”
But given the serious nature of the allegations, critics were in no mood for him using memes to make a mockery of the situation: