Schwab: War is serious and deadly; Trump, Hegseth aren't serious
By Sid Schwab / Herald Columnist
Five-star Gen. Omar Bradley, hero of WWII, first chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, wrote: “Wars can be prevented just as surely as they can be provoked, and we who fail to prevent them, must share the guilt for the dead.”
When it was learned that 168 Iranian schoolgirls and 14 teachers were killed in the initial bombing attacks in Iran, Donald Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth lied. They kept lying until video revealed a Tomahawk missile, used there only by the U.S., hitting adjacent buildings, pieces of it found in the schoolyard. “I didn’t know enough about it,” explained the commander-in-chief.
John Neely Kennedy, MAGA senator from Louisiana whose questioning of Kristi Noem may have led to her firing, didn’t lie, saying “We made a mistake.” Good for him. He’s self-importantly smug, but “blind squirrels” and all that.
Trump and Hegseth don’t guilt. They gloat. Said Hegseth: “We are punching them while they’re down, which is exactly how it should be.” And: “The only ones that need to be worried right now are Iranians that think they’re going to live.” When Trump finished announcing his war, unpresidential in a white “USA” baseball cap, he went golfing. Since then he’s made manly remarks like, “It’s fun to sink ships.” And, about casualties, “Before it ends, that’s the way it is.” The human costs of war mean nothing to them; it’s all about flaunting power. As proof, Trump essentially ended a Pentagon program studying ways to prevent civilian casualties. His wars don’t accept accountability. Nothing in his administration does.
https://www.heraldnet.com/2026/03/13/schwab-war-is-serious-and-deadly-trump-hegseth-arent-serious/