People Power Demands Accountability for Hegseth’s Bombing of a School
Friends,
Pete Hegseth should not get to drown a school bombing in process language and patriotic swagger. A girls’ elementary school in Minab was hit on February 28, and reporting plus a Senate letter show mounting evidence that U.S. forces were responsible, that the school had been visibly separated from the nearby military complex for years, and that the death toll was at least 168 to 175, mostly children. 1Hegseth now says “the truth matters” and has ordered a formal outside investigation.2 Truth does matter. That is exactly why Congress must drag it into the open under oath.
This is not just about one horrific strike. It is about a defense secretary pushing a misleading narrative while lawmakers and the public are counting on accurate information. The available evidence indicates the target coordinates may have been built from obsolete data, even though the building had clear civilian markers and had long functioned as a school.3 Instead of immediate clarity, the country got evasion, delay, and political spin. That kind of deception poisons democratic oversight, and the price of false premises is always paid in shattered families, dead children, and wars that expand faster than the truth can catch up.
This is also a constitutional test. Senators told Hegseth the war against Iran lacked congressional authorization and demanded a swift public investigation plus measures to pursue accountability.4 That matters because democracy cannot survive when executive power wages war first, shrugs at civilian deaths second, and answers to Congress last. Trust is not a side issue here. Trust is the oxygen of self-government, and Hegseth’s conduct is smothering it.
Worse, Hegseth has been talking like a man auditioning for empire, not serving a constitutional republic. Senators noted that he promised “no stupid rules of engagement” and spoke of “death and destruction from the sky all day long.” Those are not slips of the tongue. They are warning flares. Civilian safeguards are not stupid. The laws of war are not optional. When the person running the Pentagon talks as if restraint is weakness, every family under those bombs has reason to fear what comes next.
And his conduct since then has only deepened the alarm. He lashed out at journalists for not being sufficiently positive about the war, floated propaganda-friendly TV banners, and publicly wrapped his authority in appeals to God while describing himself as answerable to a narrow circle of loyalties.5 Congress should investigate whether personal religious mythology, macho posturing, and media intimidation are bleeding into decisions about targeting and civilian harm. Military power in a democracy must answer to law, facts, and the Constitution—not ego, grievance, or holy-war theatrics.
A subpoena is the bare minimum. Congress should demand the targeting records, the intelligence basis for the strike, the chain of command that approved it, the role of any AI tools, the status of no-strike lists, and every precaution that was supposedly in place to protect civilians. Senators have already asked those questions in writing. Now they need to force real answers in public. If the evidence confirms unlawful conduct, reckless disregard for civilian life, or deliberate deception of policymakers, then firing, impeachment, and removal should be on the table.
Hold Hegseth accountable—not someday, not after the outrage fades, and not after another investigation disappears into a filing cabinet. Accountability means testimony under oath. Accountability means consequences. Accountability means refusing to let powerful men turn dead children into a messaging problem. Congress must act like lives depend on it, because they do.
Take action now: Tell Congress to subpoena Hegseth about the Iran school attack
People power is how we hold leaders accountable when they abuse power, evade the truth, and treat human lives as collateral damage. And people power is also where hope lives—because when ordinary people rise together, no officeholder is above accountability and no movement for justice is ever lost before we begin.
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Not to mention his No Quarters statement.
Absolutely, and all the other enablers
It's the arrogance and shameless bluster which gets to me!!