Two more U.S. Army generals, David Hodne and William Green Jr., were recently dismissed by Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, along with General Randy Green, former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, as part of the Pentagon’s reshuffle amid the Iran-Contra conflict, which is approaching its fifth week, The Washington Post reported yesterday.
Hodne was in charge of the Army’s Training and Transformation Command, a unit tasked with accelerating the development and deployment of technology within the service; while Major General Green Jr. served as Chief of the U.S. Armed Forces Chaplains.
The abrupt dismissal of these high-ranking officers came after the Trump administration deployed thousands of troops to the Middle East while threatening a possible ground operation against the Islamic Republic. The removals took military leaders by surprise and raised concerns among defense officials about the impact of such decisions on the war against Tehran and the long-term adoption of new technologies and tactics, Axios reported.
Officials with decades of experience left or were expelled from the military during Trump’s second term, as the country’s defense apparatus undergoes a profound transformation. According to a count by the outlet, 13 commanders have already been dismissed or retired.
Pope Leo XIV, a native of the United States who also held Peruvian citizenship, asserted that military domination is “completely alien to the path of Jesus Christ,” after Hegseth called on the American people to pray “every day, on their knees” for a military victory in the Middle East “in the name of Jesus Christ.”
“We tend to feel powerful when we dominate, victorious when we destroy our equals, when they fear us,” the Pope remarked during a sermon at the Basilica of St. John Lateran, The New York Times reported.
The newspaper detailed that in late March, Pope Leo XIII warned against invoking the name of Jesus in battle, stating that he “does not listen to the prayers of those who wage war, but rejects them.” “God has given us an example, not of how to dominate, but of how to liberate,” the Pope affirmed.
