SCOTT DETROW, HOST:
The U.S. is now in month two of waging war in Iran. In many ways, it's been unlike any war in memory. President Trump's explanations for why he launched this offensive have been inconsistent and sometimes contradicted by his Cabinet. And the language about the war has also been different than in the past, including references to religion. NPR's Odette Yousef and Quil Lawrence join us to discuss all of this. And, Quil, I want to start with you. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has been giving periodic briefings on this war, including this morning. What's been so different about them?
QUIL LAWRENCE, BYLINE: I don't know where to start. The - for - the cartoon memes that have been released by the White House and the Pentagon, included with videos of destruction of targets in Iran, presumably killing people alongside video game memes, the brazen political jabs in the middle of war briefings, which I don't ever recall seeing in the past 25 years of these sort of briefings, and Hegseth also always says a prayer, like he did this morning.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
PETE HEGSETH: May his Almighty and eternal arms of providence stretch over them and protect them and bring them peace, in the name of Jesus Christ.
LAWRENCE: And just to state the obvious, the U.S. military is not all Christian.
DETROW: All right. And, Odette, you have reported a lot on Hegseth's religious background before. Tell us more about why that might be important in this current moment.
ODETTE YOUSEF, BYLINE: Yeah. So Hegseth is affiliated with the CREC, Scott - the Communion of Reformed Evangelical Churches - which is a fairly small church. But recently, it's gotten more attention because its founder, a man named Doug Wilson, was invited to give a sermon recently at a Pentagon worship service. And I think it's fair to say, Scott, that Wilson holds views that fall well outside the mainstream of American thought. You know, he said that women should not have the right to vote. He's talked about slavery as a benign institution for African Americans, and that's, you know, just some of it.
But when it comes to this war, I think what may be more relevant is actually Hegseth's, you know, personal posture towards Islam, you know, rather than his theological beliefs. Some of Hegseth's tattoos and the title of a book that he wrote, "American Crusade," you know, suggests that he may have some romantic notions about the crusades, you know, wars waged by European Christians against Muslims. He has said Islam is not a religion of peace. And when it comes to this conflict, he's prayed at a Pentagon worship service for, quote, "overwhelming violence of action against those who deserve no mercy."
DETROW: No mercy, and Hegseth has also used phrases like no quarter as well, right? Quil, what specifically does that mean on the battlefield?
LAWRENCE: Yeah. These words have a legal meaning. It's illegal not to give quarter or to take no prisoners. That's a war crime. General Dan Caine, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs, this morning in the briefing was asked about possible strikes on civilian power plants and desalination plants in Iran. And he said that the U.S. military reviews all of these targets to see if they're legal. But that may not have been terribly reassuring to critics who can point in the past year to killings in the Caribbean without any due process, without any trial, or the torpedoing of an Iranian ship off the coast of Sri Lanka, which is one of many instances where survivors have been left to drown, which goes against naval custom going back a hundred and fifty years and the Geneva Convention. One prominent admiral did resign reportedly because of objections about these killings, but many other senior military commanders are executing these orders.
DETROW: And when it comes to the way that officials and prominent politicians are talking about this, Odette, it's not just Hegseth - right? - who's using overt religious language about this war.
YOUSEF: No, you know, some members of Congress are too. North Dakota Senator Kevin Cramer told NPR that the U.S. has, quote, "a shared responsibility to stand with God's chosen people who hold a unique place in his plan," referring there, of course, to the people living in Israel. In a widely circulated video on social media, South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham called this a religious war. NPR reached out to his office for comment but didn't hear back.
But, you know, those kind of statements reflect a Christian Zionist perspective, you know, largely held among evangelicals, and traditionally, that is a view that has supported the preservation of the modern state of Israel to bring about the second coming of Jesus Christ. You know, there have been reports that some military commanders have invoked this kind of language recently in speaking to troops about this conflict, but NPR hasn't been able to verify these claims.
LAWRENCE: Yeah. And if I can just jump in, you know, another thing we've never seen in the past 35 years of American wars in the Middle East is this overt embracing of Israel's cooperation with the U.S. in this war. In this case, it's a full Israeli-U.S. war. So that's another way this conflict feels totally different, with Secretary Hegseth in these briefings talking about working directly with the Israeli air force.
DETROW: And real quick, Quil, one important point about these briefings, it's not just what Hegseth is saying; it's what he's not saying - right? - the dearth of actual information in these briefings.
LAWRENCE: Yeah. I mean, Hegseth said he visited troops over the weekend, and he said morale was high. But - that may be true, but in past wars, I could've gone and asked. There were embeds. We don't have that this time. And in fact, they've kicked out the professional Pentagon press corps, and the people who are asking the questions now are - well, they're asking very different questions.
DETROW: Yeah. That is NPR's Quil Lawrence and Odette Yousef. Thanks so much to both of you.
YOUSEF: Thank you.
LAWRENCE: Thank you. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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