众议院弹劾投票前夕，自封国防部长皮特·赫格塞斯罕见出席五角大楼记者会。在半个多小时里，他宣称自己监督的每一项军事行动都“合法”，并称平民伤亡的说法是“诽谤”。他说对伊朗的战争是一场伟大胜利，冲突中只有18名美国人死亡。他还声称，弹劾他的努力只是“一个不满的国会议员”的把戏。这些都不真实。
On the eve of a House impeachment vote, self-styled Secretary of War Pete Hegseth made a rare appearance before the Pentagon press corps. Over half an hour, he declared every military operation he has overseen “lawful” and claims of civilian harm “slander.”He said the Iran war was a great victory and only 18 Americans have died in the conflict. He also claimed that the effort to impeach him was a stunt by just “one disgruntled congressman.”None of it is true.
肯塔基州众议员托马斯·马西（共和党）周一下午在众议院提出弹劾条款，指控赫格塞斯犯有“重大罪行和轻罪”。预计民主党将在中期选举大胜后，压倒性地支持马西的努力。“我对赫格塞斯决议投赞成票，”纽约州众议员哈基姆·杰弗里斯说，他被认为是下一任众议院议长。
Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., introduced articles of impeachment on the House floor Monday afternoon, charging Hegseth with “high crimes and misdemeanors.”Democrats are overwhelmingly expected to join Massie’s effort following their midterm election landslide. “I am a hard yes on the Hegseth resolution,” said Rep. Hakeem Jeffries of New York, the presumed next House speaker.
马西在X上写道，如果他的弹劾决议周二晚上推进，他将要求对八项条款分别进行投票。“我听到几位议员表示，他们同意部分弹劾条款，但并非全部，”马西写道。“如果通过将决议移交委员会来搁杀我的决议的动议失败，我们继续审议条款本身，我将要求对每一项条款分别投票。”随着赫格塞斯为一场可能让他在参议院受审、并毁掉他在特朗普任期内继续任职机会的投票做准备，《拦截者》正在剖析他的自我辩护，并审视他关于自己灾难性战争行为的虚假说法。
Massie wrote on X that if his impeachment resolution advances Tuesday evening, he will request a separate vote on each of the eight articles. “I’ve heard from several members they agree with some of the Articles of Impeachment but not all of them,” Massie wrote. “If the motion to kill my resolution by referring it to committee fails, and we proceed to the Articles themselves, I’ll request a vote on each of the Articles separately.”As Hegseth steels himself for a vote that could see him put on trial in the Senate and sink his chances of serving for the rest of Trump’s term, The Intercept is dissecting his self-defense and examining Hegseth’s false claims about his disastrous war-making.
“伊朗、贩毒集团、马杜罗、也门——每一项都是总司令下令的合法行动，随后由我本人下令，通知了国会，并由尽职尽责的美国军人执行。”战争法专家、一名五角大楼官员以及两党国会议员均表示，赫格塞思针对“贩毒集团”发动的船只打击属于非法法外处决，目前已造成240多人死亡。军方不得故意以不构成迫在眉睫暴力威胁的平民——即便是犯罪嫌疑人——为目标。
“Iran, the cartels, Maduro, Yemen — every one was a lawful operation ordered by the commander-in-chief, then ordered by myself, notified to Congress, and executed by American warriors who did their jobs.”Experts in the laws of war, a Pentagon official, and members of Congress from both parties say Hegseth’s boat strikes against “cartels,” which have now killed upward of 240 people, are illegal extrajudicial killings. The military is not permitted to deliberately target civilians — even suspected criminals — who do not pose an imminent threat of violence.
萨拉·哈里森此前曾就人权和战争法相关问题为五角大楼政策制定者提供建议。她表示，对委内瑞拉的袭击也明显违反国际法，而且政府为此次突袭给出的理由毫无根据。
Sarah Harrison, who previously advised Pentagon policymakers on issues related to human rights and the law of war, said that the attack on Venezuela was also a clear violation of international law and that the administration’s justifications for the raid were baseless.
关于伊朗战争，美国中央司令部前国际法负责人、空军中校雷切尔·范兰丁汉姆表示，首轮打击“明显违反美国宪法和《战争权力法》”，该法在大多数情况下要求总统在发动战争前寻求国会批准。前美国陆军军官、情报官员，现为“无战可赢”组织竞选与政策副主任的哈里森·曼恩特别提到对伊朗桥梁和水库的袭击。他警告说，“让美国军队习惯于执行明显属于战争罪的命令，是相当危险的”。
Of the Iran war, Air Force Lt. Col. Rachel VanLandingham, a former chief of international law at U.S. Central Command, said the opening strike “clearly violates the U.S. Constitution and the War Powers Resolution,” which requires the president to seek congressional approval to start a war in most cases. Harrison Mann, a former U.S. Army officer and intelligence official and now the associate director for campaigns and policy at Win Without War, drew specific attention to the attacks on the bridges and water reservoirs in Iran. It is “quite dangerous to be conditioning the U.S. military to carry out orders that are clearly war crimes,” he warned.
赫格塞思关于通知国会的说法同样站不住脚。国会从未授权对伊朗开战，而前一晚致电国会“八人帮”并非专家所说的法律所要求的正式报告。在1月对委内瑞拉发动袭击后，共和党人私下抱怨他们事先并未被告知。
Hegseth’s claims about notifications are also spurious. Congress never authorized the Iran war, and a call to the congressional “Gang of Eight” the night before is not the formal report experts say the law requires. Following the January attack on Venezuela, Republicans privately complained they were not told in advance.
“至于美军针对平民的说法，那是谎言，是对所有在这些任务中飞行、航行和作战的专业人士的诽谤。唯一针对平民的人，是我们追捕的恐怖分子。”美国的船只打击行动只针对平民。对240多人的即决处决，与长期进行的美国禁毒战争中的标准做法有重大背离，在禁毒战争中，执法机构拘留涉嫌贩毒者，并以刑事指控将其送上法庭。
“As to the claim that the American military targets civilians, well, that is a lie and that is a slander against every professional who flew, sailed, and fought on these missions. The only people who target civilians are the terrorists that we hunt.”The U.S. boat strike campaign has only targeted civilians. The summary executions of more than 240 people are a significant departure from standard practice in the long-running U.S. war on drugs, in which law enforcement agencies detained suspected drug smugglers and brought them to trial on criminal charges.
美国军方的一项调查还发现，美军袭击了伊朗米纳布的一所小学，造成150多人死亡，其中大多数是儿童。一名官员称这是“严重疏忽”。数月来，美国中央司令部一直未回答关于更多平民伤亡的问题，包括一个家庭的八名成员——最年幼的是一名20天大的婴儿——在《拦截者》调查记录的一起袭击中丧生。
A U.S. military investigation also found U.S. forces attacked an elementary school in Minab, Iran, killing more than 150 people, most of them children. One official called it “colossal negligence.”For months, Central Command has failed to answer questions about additional civilian casualties, including eight members of a family — the youngest, a 20-day-old infant — killed in an attack documented in an Intercept investigation.
这些袭击发生在赫格塞斯开展全面运动、破坏预防和减轻平民伤害努力之后。例如，根据报告，五角大楼的平民保护卓越中心的人员从2025年1月的40人削减到年底仅剩9人。
These attacks came after Hegseth conducted a comprehensive campaign to undermine efforts to prevent and mitigate civilian harm. The Pentagon’s Civilian Protection Center of Excellence, for example, slashed its staff from 40 personnel in January 2025 to just nine by the end of the year, according to the report.
“击沉70多艘贩毒船只。218名贩毒恐怖分子死在了该死的地方。海上走私下降至少65%，并还在继续下降。”赫格塞斯歪曲了他自己船只打击行动的伤亡数字。《拦截者》的追踪器统计了72次打击和至少243人死亡。弗吉尼亚州民主党参议员蒂姆·凯恩在审查机密材料后写道，证据表明军方杀害了与贩毒无关的人。五角大楼联合参谋部的一名高级官员在向议员们的机密简报会上表示，人口贩卖受害者可能是第一次打击中死亡者之一。
“More than 70 narco vessels sunk. 218 narco-terrorists dead where they should be. Maritime smuggling down at least 65 percent and dropping even further.”Hegseth misstates the toll of his own boat strike campaign. The Intercept’s tracker counts 72 strikes and at least 243 dead. Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., after reviewing classified material, wrote that the evidence suggests the military killed people not involved in drug trafficking. A top Pentagon Joint Staff official told lawmakers in a classified briefing that victims of human trafficking could be among the dead of the first strike.
该药物声称的效果也并不理想。例如，负责美洲安全事务的战争部副助理部长约瑟夫·休米尔向国会提供了完全不同的数字，他在3月向众议院武装部队委员会表示，加勒比海地区的毒品船只行动“减少了20%，东太平洋地区又减少了25%”。
The drug claims fare no better. Deputy Assistant Secretary of War for Americas Security Affairs Joseph Humire, for example, offered completely different numbers to Congress, telling the House Armed Services Committee in March that there “has been a 20 percent reduction of movements of drug vessels in the Caribbean and an additional 25 percent reduction in the Eastern Pacific.”
与此同时，五角大楼最新的平民伤亡报告声称，船只撞击事件中没有平民丧生。一名美国官员称该报告“完全没有可信度”。
The Pentagon’s latest civilian casualty report, meanwhile, claims no civilians were killed in the boat strikes. One U.S. official said it had “absolutely no credibility.”
“以各项指标衡量，我们取得了历史性的军事胜利。在持续战斗不足40天的时间里……”但以一切客观标准衡量，对伊朗的战争是一场彻底的失败。这场冲突破坏了中东地区长达数十年的美国安全框架，以及美国遍布该地区的基地网络。伊朗找到了压倒美国防空系统的方法，为全球美国的对手提供了一套作战手册。这反过来又损害了美国在全球的军事安全。从约旦到科威特，再到英国，美国的前哨基地现在越来越容易遭到袭击。因此，对伊朗的战争使美军处于“崩溃”的边缘。
“By every measure, we achieved a historic military victory. Under 40 days of sustained combat…”The Iran war, by all objective measures, is an abject failure. The conflict undermined the decades-old U.S. security framework, as well as America’s archipelago of bases, in the Middle East. Iran determined how to overwhelm U.S. air defenses, offering up a playbook for U.S. adversaries around the world. This, in turn, damaged U.S. military security across the globe. From Jordan to Kuwait to the United Kingdom, U.S. outposts are now increasingly vulnerable to attack. As a result, the Iran war has left the military on the brink of a “breakdown.”
特朗普政府试图为其陷入困境的永久战争重新包装，也未能减缓美国伤亡人数的不断上升。虽然赫格塞斯关注的是冲突的头40天，但美国自战争正式结束以来，该国因冲突遭受的伤亡更为惨重，并在7月更名为“海外行动”。
The Trump administration’s attempt to rebrand its faltering forever war hasn’t slowed the mounting toll of U.S. casualties, either. While Hegseth focused on the conflict’s first 40 days, the U.S. has suffered more casualties as a result of the conflict since the war formally ended and, in July, underwent a name change to “Overseas Operations.”
选民同样未看到胜利：约有十分之六的人告诉美联社，这场战争是错误的决定，副总统JD·万斯也表示同意，他在谈到共和党在上周中期选举中惨败时写道：“我们输掉的原因是这场战争。”
Voters did not see a victory either: About 6 in 10 told The Associated Press the war was the wrong decision, and Vice President JD Vance agreed, writing of the GOP’s crushing defeat in last week’s midterms: “The reason we lost is the war.”
“十八名美国人在‘史诗般的怒火’行动中丧生。”赫格塞斯在罕见的新闻发布会上，将其领导下的部队当作盾牌，声称对他本人的起诉实际上就是对他们的起诉。当不将他们当作掩护时，赫格塞斯则赞扬他们。“他们是我们国家的精英。就像总统一样，我将竭尽全力，每天捍卫他们，”他得意地说。
“Eighteen Americans have given their lives in Operation Epic Fury.”Hegseth spent his rare press conference using the troops under his leadership as a shield, claiming that indictments of him were actually indictments of them. When not using them for cover, Hegseth praised them. “They are the best of our nation. Like the president, I will defend them with every fiber of my being every single day,” he crowed.
他却不够在意，去提供战争伤亡的准确数字。五角大楼对“史诗般的怒火”行动期间死亡人数的官方统计是15人，而非18人——但这至多是误导，至坏是谎言。根据五角大楼的官方统计，在“史诗般的怒火”行动及其7月引入的新名称“海外行动”中，至少有23名军事人员死亡。（其中包括11名死于敌方火力的人员。）自战争开始以来，该地区实际的军队死亡人数更高。
What he didn’t care enough to do was offer an accurate count of the war’s toll. The official Pentagon count of deaths during Epic Fury is 15, not 18 — but that’s misdirection at best and a lie at worst. At least 23 military personnel have died in Operation Epic Fury and “Overseas Operations,” the new moniker for the war introduced in July, according to the Pentagon’s official count. (This includes 11 killed by hostile fire.) The actual number of troop deaths in the region since the war began is higher.
“这是一个心怀不满的人，编造了一些非常站不住脚的条款。”在赫格塞斯的说法中，马西发起弹劾是出于怨恨，因为他的肯塔基州国会议席被特朗普支持的极右翼候选人、前海军海豹突击队员埃德·加尔赖恩夺走。但马西的弹劾行动获得了强大的跨党派支持。整个民主党众议院党团预计将投票支持该弹劾行动。除马西外，没有任何共和党众议员公开承诺投赞成票，但这位即将卸任的议员周一表示，他相信“几名”共和党人将投票支持该提案。
“This is one disgruntled guy who drew up some really flimsy articles.”In Hegseth’s telling, Massie is pursuing his impeachment out of resentment over the loss of his Kentucky congressional seat to Trump-backed far-right candidate Ed Gallrein, a former Navy SEAL. But Massie’s impeachment effort has strong bipartisan support. The entire House Democratic caucus is widely expected to vote in favor of the impeachment effort. While no House Republicans aside from Massie have openly committed to voting yes, the outgoing congressman said Monday that he believes “several” Republicans will vote for the measure.
共和党得克萨斯州参议员泰德·克鲁兹也表示同意。亚利桑那州民主党众议员亚萨明·安萨里也是如此，她是推动弹劾赫格塞斯的主要声音之一。“我认为成功的可能性很大，”她在接受《拦截者》采访时谈到马西的努力时说。四月，安萨里针对赫格塞斯提出了六项弹劾条款，包括违反武装冲突法和针对平民、滥用职权以及妨碍国会监督。
Republican Texas Sen. Ted Cruz agreed. So did Rep. Yassamin Ansari, D-Ariz., one of the leading voices for Hegseth’s impeachment. “I think there’s a high chance that it will be successful,” she told The Intercept of Massie’s effort. In April, Ansari filed six articles of impeachment against Hegseth, including violations of the law of armed conflict and targeting of civilians, abuse of power, and obstructing congressional oversight.
军方内部对赫格塞斯的不满也普遍存在。《拦截者》最近采访了六名现任和前任国防官员，他们说赫格塞斯破坏了法治；通过清洗高级指挥官，对美国军队造成了无法弥补的损害；煽动了宗教极端主义；并由于几乎无休止的丑闻和文化战争的荒唐行为，削弱了他所领导的部门。事实上，根据基层退伍军人组织“共同国防”最近进行的一项民调，64%的现役军人、退伍军人和军人家属不赞成赫格塞斯。
Discontent with Hegseth is widespread within the military establishment as well. The Intercept recently spoke with six current and former defense officials who said Hegseth had undermined the rule of law; irreparably harmed the U.S. military through purges of top commanders; spurred religious extremism; and diminished the department he leads due to an almost endless raft of scandals and culture-war clownishness. In fact, 64 percent of active-duty service members, veterans, and military families disapprove of Hegseth, according to a recent poll conducted by Common Defense, a grassroots veterans organization.
就广大美国民众而言，似乎也同意安萨里、马西、美国官员以及军方圈内人士的看法。根据昆尼皮亚克大学九月份的一项民调，只有32%的选民赞成赫格塞斯的工作方式，而57%不赞成。
The American people, writ large, appear to agree with Ansari, Massie, the U.S. officials, and those in the military’s orbit. Just 32 percent of voters approve of the way Hegseth is handling his job, while 57 percent disapprove, according to a Quinnipiac University poll in September.