Jason Crow Asks Pete Hegseth About What Separates The US From Its Enemies

6 months ago

At a House Armed Services Committee hearing on Thursday, Rep. Jason Crow (D-CO) questioned Defense Sec. Pete Hegseth about his morals.

Transcript

00:00We are now recognized as a gentleman from Colorado, Mr. Crowe.

00:03Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you, Chairman Cain, Secretary Hegseth, and Mrs. McDonnell.

00:09You're doing a great job today, Mrs. McDonnell.

00:13Secretary Hegseth, we have a lot of things in common. In fact, our careers started the same way.

00:19We were both infantry officers. We were both platoon leaders.

00:24We both deployed our platoons to combat in a counter-surgency environment.

00:29There are very few better leadership training grounds than that experience,

00:33and it's that experience that I want to transport us back into, back to Lieutenant Hegseth and Lieutenant Crowe.

00:42There are a lot of things that make a leader and that make a unit effective.

00:46Would you say that unit cohesion is important?

00:52Unit cohesion, amongst many, is very important, yes, sir.

00:55It's an important element.

00:56And part of that is making sure that all members of your unit felt included in that team, correct?

01:03Far more important that every member of that unit felt capable to do the mission and united in that mission.

01:08But that they were included and felt part of the team as well.

01:11I wouldn't use the word inclusion, sir, but yes, they were cohering as a team, yes.

01:15And that you reduce tension and infighting and points of tension between your platoon members

01:20so that you can focus on the mission.

01:22That was a part of the regular job.

01:23Absolutely.

01:25That's why I've said that our diversity is our strength is the single dumbest phrase in military history.

01:30And words, words are important.

01:32Because our unity is our strength.

01:33And so unity amongst members, despite differences of backgrounds, race, whatever that is.

01:38And I agree with you on that.

01:40We are together on a mission.

01:40And words, part of that is words are important and setting the tone is important, correct?

01:46When you're a leader.

01:47All aspects of leadership.

01:49Mostly leading by example.

01:50Did you ever tell them your political affiliation?

01:53Did you ever tell your platoon members your political affiliation?

01:57We certainly discussed lots of topics and I'm sure my political affiliation.

02:00Did you ever ask them theirs?

02:02No, their political affiliation was never a concern to me.

02:09Because it's important that everybody feel included and that people weren't excluded, correct?

02:15That would be antithetical to me.

02:17I'm sure my platoon contained Republicans, Democrats, and Independents,

02:21and I had no idea what their affiliation was.

02:23Okay, that was actually my next question, so I appreciate you answering that.

02:26You led your unit in a counterinsurgency environment and you interacted with civilians, correct?

02:34Interacted with members of the civilian population in Iraq, sure.

02:37And you were in fact a COIN instructor, a counterinsurgency instructor, correct?

02:41In Afghanistan in 2011 and 2012, I was the senior counterinsurgency instructor.

02:46And you signed off on a manual.

02:47There's actually a counterinsurgency manual that you signed off on and helped create.

02:51And your name is on that manual, correct?

02:53We were a part of creating a lot of content at the COIN Academy, yes.

02:57Do you remember this portion of the manual?

03:01It says, if you've killed two innocents, you've set yourself back more than you've moved forward.

03:07Do you still agree with that?

03:10I would have to take a look at the manual, but obviously no one in warfare is seeking to kill innocents.

03:15Okay.

03:17Because it's important to show why we're different from the enemy.

03:21Because we're not the enemy.

03:23Right?

03:23We're different from our adversary.

03:24Would you agree with that?

03:25We have different morals and different values.

03:28We are not the enemy, sir.

03:30We have different morals and we have different values than the enemy.

03:33We have a code, a uniform code of military justice.

03:36The answer to that is yes.

03:37You're not trying to compare us to al-Qaeda and ISIS, are you?

03:40We're different.

03:41I know the code of the United States military and army that I signed up for.

03:46You can't tell me whether we're different?

03:48I raise my right hand.

03:48You're not willing to say we're different?

03:49Of course we're different.

03:50Okay.

03:51It's absurd.

03:51That's why I'm trying to reconcile the fact that we learned many of the same lessons as

03:58platoon leaders.

04:00About unicohesion, making sure that people were included, that we didn't ask people's

04:05political affiliation, that we interacted respectfully with civilian populations, that what a leader

04:11says matters, that the tone you set matters, that we are not the enemy, that we are different

04:18from them, we lead differently, we have different morals.

04:21How can I reconcile that experience and those lessons learned from Lieutenant Hegseth to now

04:27Secretary Hegseth, where you say things like what you just saw here, making us equivalent

04:35on the same standards as our adversaries, doing the same things that ISIS and al-Qaeda would

04:41do.

04:42How can you possibly reconcile that?

04:45I can't.

04:46And just the other day, down at Fort Bragg, in our beloved 82nd Airborne Division, sitting

04:51there, while we politicize the military and pull our paratroopers into politics, booing

04:57elected officials, booing politicians with whom you disagree, it's antithetical to our values

05:02and you, sir, have changed.

05:04The gentleman's time is expired.

05:05Chair, now I recognize the gentleman.

Jason Crow Asks Pete Hegseth About What Separates The US From Its Enemies

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