Iowa’s senators must not confirm Hegseth

Senators Ernst and Grassley must not confirm the appointment of Peter Hegseth to the office of Defense Secretary. Any candidate for that office who cites the Christian crusades as a reasonable guiding policy for making military decisions and executing military actions, as Hegseth advocates, is bizarrely incompetent for the position.

The U.S. does NOT conduct religious military campaigns. They are the activities of fanatic jihadists. The U.S. government has consistently condemned such religious military ventures and has repeatedly fought against those engaged in them, whether in Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria or Yemen, and has enabled Israel in its fight against Iranian jihadist proxies.

Furthermore, the many credible reports of Mr. Hegseth's years-long abuse of alcohol consumption interfering with his ability to perform his job responsibilities is reason enough for our Iowa senators not to support Hegseth's confirmation.

Americans don't deserve anyone in a government job, let alone as the principal leader at the Pentagon, who can't stand on his/her own feet because of being intoxicated. Mr. Hegseth told interviewer Megyn Kelly that "I've never had a drinking problem." Anyone who knows an alcoholic knows that a denial of this sort is almost assuredly an admission of the opposite. Even a number of Hegseth's former Fox News colleagues have acknowledged that his frequent intoxication on the job was a problem. Can one give a stronger indictment of Hegseth's unsuitability for Defense Secretary than Fox News itself?

Steven Pokorny

Urbandale