US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth said in an address to hundreds of generals and admirals<\/a> on Tuesday that there should be no more \u201cpolitically correct\u201d rules of engagement for the US military as he presented his recently rebranded Department of War as a ruthless force that can produce overwhelming violence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe\u2019re training warriors, not defenders. We fight wars to win, not to defend. Defense is something you do all the time, it\u2019s inherently reactionary and can lead to overreach and mission creep. War is something you do sparingly,\u201d Hegseth told the crowd of senior officers at the US Marine Corps Base in Quantico, Virginia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cOn our own terms, and with clear aims, we fight to win. We unleash overwhelming and punishing violence on the enemy. We also don\u2019t fight with stupid rules of engagement. We untie the hands of our warfighters to intimidate, demoralize, hunt, and kill the enemies of our country. No more politically correct and overbearing rules of engagement. Just common sense, maximum lethality, and authority for warfighters,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n After Trump came into office at the beginning of the year, he eased restrictions on US airstrikes and raids, giving lower-level military commanders more freedom of action. As a result of the policy, the US has launched a record number of airstrikes in Somalia this year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Trump administration also conducted a brutal bombing campaign in Yemen, which Hegseth dubbed Operation Rough Rider, from March 15 to May 6, that involved strikes on residential buildings<\/a>, energy infrastructure<\/a>, and a migrant detention facility<\/a>. While the campaign was brutal and killed more than 250 civilians, it failed to stop Yemen\u2019s Houthis from ending their blockade on Israeli shipping and attacks on Israel, which the group has vowed will continue until there\u2019s a ceasefire in Gaza.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Elsewhere in his speech on Tuesday, Hegseth said his message to US \u201cenemies\u201d was \u201cFAFO,\u201d a slang term that stands for \u201cF** around and find out.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cSince waging war is so costly in blood and treasure, we owe our Republic a military that will win any war we choose or any war that is thrust upon us. Should our enemies choose foolishly to challenge us, they will be crushed by the violence, precision, and ferocity of the War Department. In other words, to our enemies: FAFO,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/news.antiwar.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Hegseth-at-Quantico-1024x683.jpeg?resize=1024%2C683&ssl=1\")
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