Overview
- At a March 13 Pentagon briefing, the defense secretary said the U.S. would “keep advancing, no quarter, no mercy for our enemies.”
- International humanitarian law and the Pentagon’s Law of War Manual forbid declaring that no quarter will be given, treating such threats as war crimes.
- Legal analysts including Ryan Goodman warned the remark risks a lawless command climate and urged Hegseth to say he misspoke and retract it.
- Lawmakers such as Sen. Mark Kelly condemned the language as dangerous and said any order to give no quarter would be illegal and endanger U.S. troops.
- The criticism follows weeks of rhetoric about “maximum lethality” and comes after reports of high civilian casualties in Iran, including a strike on a girls’ school; the Pentagon offered no immediate comment.