War Secretary Pete Hegseth didn’t hold back during today’s House Armed Services Committee hearing.
When Rep. John Garamendi (D-CA) slammed the U.S. military operation in Iran as a “quagmire” and accused the Trump administration of misleading the public, Hegseth fired back with both barrels.
“You sit there on CNN handing propaganda straight to our enemies,” Hegseth shot back. “Shame on you for calling this a quagmire two months in!”
Hegseth, a combat veteran, drew a sharp line between past “forever wars” in Iraq and Afghanistan, which he called years of “nebulous missions and utopian nation-building” - and the current targeted campaign against Iran.
“Congressman, you should know better,” he said. “My generation served in a quagmire… This is not that.”
Garamendi had earlier told the committee: “This war of choice is a political and economic disaster… The President has got himself and America stuck in the quagmire of another war in the Middle East.”
Hegseth accused the California Democrat of undermining troop morale and giving aid and comfort to adversaries with defeatist talk so early in the operation. “Who are you cheering for here?” he demanded. “Your hatred for President Trump blinds you to the truth of the success of this mission.”
