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The Washington Post planted a sensational claim last week that Secretary of War Pete Hegseth personally shouted an order to “kill everybody” during a September strike on an alleged narco-boat — a lurid allegation that set off a predictable tidal wave of outrage from the left-wing press. That story leaned on anonymous sources and a dramatic paraphrase, the kind of reporting that seeks to inflame rather than inform everyday Americans worried about fentanyl and border violence.
But even some outlets on the left couldn’t fully stomach the Post’s version of events: reporting from other news organizations shows a very different sequence, with officials telling reporters that Hegseth authorized a lethal strike but did not explicitly order the killing of survivors. That correction is important — it exposes how quickly the media will run with the most damning interpretation when it fits their narrative.
Hegseth himself has pushed back hard, invoking the fog of war and saying he did not see survivors amid smoke and fire after the initial blast, a detail that matters when seconds matter and lives hang in the balance during combat operations. The secretary has defended the broader mission to stop narco-terrorists from poisoning American communities, and he has stood by the operational commanders who made split-second decisions.
Meanwhile the Pentagon and White House were right to push back on lazy, anonymous-source-driven smears that aim to demoralize our troops and hamstring lawful action against criminal networks. Administration spokespeople have publicly rejected the claim that Hegseth ordered wanton killings and made clear these strikes are part of an aggressive campaign against designated narco-terror groups. The press should stop playing courtroom drama and start reporting facts.
Let’s be blunt: Americans are sick of narcotics flooding our towns and killing our kids, and they want a government that acts decisively. The strikes being carried out in the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific are described by officials as precision efforts to dismantle trafficking networks, and the political class and media elites should explain how they prefer to stop fentanyl without using force when necessary. If the cost of action is headlines from the Washington Post, so be it — do the job.
Too many in the mainstream press treat every tough decision as a scandal to be weaponized against a popular, law-and-order administration. Rather than reflexive outrage, Americans deserve sober oversight that respects both the rule of law and the imperative to defend our communities from cartels that traffic death into our neighborhoods. Congress can and should demand answers, but the first duty is to support commanders on the ground and get fentanyl out of circulation — not to cower before a media circus.
