Columbo meme responds:
"“Ah, just one more thing, sir. You’re blowing up those boats, saying they’re filled with drugs headed for the US. But then you go and pardon the guy who brought in 400 tons of cocaine. That’s billions of doses. Help me understand that.”
It was never about the drugs
-
Rideback
- Posts: 3829
- Joined: Fri Nov 12, 2021 5:53 am
- Contact:
-
mister_coffee
- Posts: 2482
- Joined: Thu Jul 16, 2020 7:35 pm
- Location: Winthrop, WA
- Contact:
Re: It was never about the drugs
In truth what we are dealing with is very fragile people who need to appear strong and think the only way to do that is to harm others they perceive as weak. All in spite of their hideous evil I find them pitiable individuals.
David Bonn 
-
Rideback
- Posts: 3829
- Joined: Fri Nov 12, 2021 5:53 am
- Contact:
It was never about the drugs
The Four-Star Who Walked Away Mid-War
Admiral Holsey and the Breaking Point Inside the Pentagon
White Rose USA (November(
Admiral Alvin Holsey didn’t storm out of SOUTHCOM. He didn’t plead his case on cable news or leak to friendly reporters. He did something far more unsettling. He left quietly, early, and in the middle of an active lethal campaign that carried his signature on every operational line. That’s the kind of silence Washington should actually fear, because it’s the kind that means the institution itself has started to feel the floor shift.
The timeline is the part the White House hopes you never look at too closely. The boat-strike campaign began on September 2, 2025. The first engagement killed eleven people, including the remaining survivors who were hit by a controversial follow-up missile. By mid-November there had been twenty-one strikes and eighty-three deaths. These weren’t cartel gunboats. Many were fishing skiffs and migrant craft — civilian vessels under international law — and that distinction matters to anyone who still cares about the difference between counter-narcotics operations and war crimes.
Every one of these strikes ran through Holsey’s area of responsibility. Each target packet, each justification, each battle damage assessment passed somewhere across his desk. When you’re a four-star running a combatant command, you don’t get to claim ignorance. If the law is solid, you defend the operation. If the law starts to shimmer, you feel it.
By October 6, that shimmer had become a crack. CNN later confirmed a tense Pentagon meeting involving Holsey, War Secretary Pete Hegseth, and Joint Chiefs Chairman Dan Caine. SOUTHCOM’s legal advisers raised concerns: the combatant status of the people being killed, the authority for lethal force, the question of proportionality, and whether these missions could withstand scrutiny from the courts or the world. The meeting didn’t resolve the concerns. It hardened them.
Ten days later, Holsey announced he would retire. No explanation. No justification. Just a perfectly crafted statement about duty, honor, and the Constitution after nearly four decades of service. Admirals like Holsey don’t churn out of command after eleven months unless something fundamental has shifted underneath them. He wasn’t the type to grandstand. Holsey was known for running cold, steady, exact. When precise people leave early, the problem isn’t temperament. It’s the terrain.
This is where the story leaves the Pentagon and enters the political bloodstream. A group of six Democratic lawmakers — led by Senator Mark Kelly, a retired Navy captain still under the UCMJ — released a video reminding service members that their oath is to the Constitution and that illegal orders must be refused. This wasn’t a civics lesson. It was a signal directed at command. And it came at a moment when the officer corps had already felt the internal strain.
The White House responded the only way insecure administrations respond: with intimidation. Instead of explaining the legal theory behind the strikes, instead of addressing the casualties, instead of defending the doctrine, they sent the FBI’s Counterterrorism Division to “contact” the lawmakers for interviews. You don’t deploy counterterrorism agents against elected officials unless you think the chain of command is wobbling. The public may not have noticed the tremor yet. The political operators did.
Add one more layer. On September 23, Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro stood before the UN and formally asked the International Criminal Court to investigate the United States for these strikes. That was unprecedented. And while the UK hasn’t issued any formal withdrawal, reporting indicates that some allies were quietly distancing themselves from the operation. You don’t need a coalition memo to know when partners are backing away from your battlefield.
Some will say Holsey simply retired. That this is coincidence. Sure. Coincidences happen. But they usually don’t arrive bundled with internal legal objections, escalating civilian casualties, ICC pressure, and the FBI leaning on lawmakers for quoting the oath every E-1 memorizes in basic training. Patterns are patterns.
What Holsey did wasn’t dramatic. But it was decisive. A combatant commander stepping out mid-mission isn’t just changing jobs. He’s removing his name from the legal trail investigators will follow later. He’s refusing to be the hinge between an unlawful order and the officer who carried it out. He’s stepping aside before the history books start taking attendance.
Democracies don’t collapse all at once. They fray at the edges first — in quiet rooms, in strained meetings, in polite statements from people who know exactly which line has just been crossed. Holsey didn’t shout. He didn’t need to. His silence is the loudest evidence in the whole affair. And the louder the White House screams at lawmakers instead of explaining the law, the clearer it becomes who actually feels threatened.
Holsey walked because he saw the edge. And he wasn’t about to go over it with the people giving the orders.
Annotated Sources
Boat-strike timeline, casualties, and follow-up missile
• CNN: First strike on September 2, 2025 kills eleven; survivors hit by follow-up missile.
• Wikipedia aggregate: Twenty-one strikes, eighty-three deaths by mid-November.
October 6 Pentagon meeting and legal concerns
• CNN: Tense meeting involving Hegseth, Holsey, and Chairman Dan Caine; SOUTHCOM lawyers question legality, combatant status, proportionality.
Holsey’s October 16 resignation
• Reuters: Holsey announces retirement after less than a year in command.
• AP/Guardian: Early departure noted as unusual for a combatant commander.
Lawmakers’ oath video
• CNN: Video by Senator Kelly, Rep. Slotkin, and four other Democratic House members; explicit invocation of refusal of illegal orders; Kelly under UCMJ.
FBI Counterterrorism Division inquiry
• New York Times: CTD agents contact lawmakers for interviews after the video.
Colombia’s ICC request
• President Gustavo Petro’s September 23, 2025 UN General Assembly speech formally requesting an ICC investigation.
Ally distancing
• Contextual reporting indicating quiet unease among partners; no formal UK withdrawal confirmed.
#Holsey #SOUTHCOM #Pentagon #BoatStrikes #WarCrimes #UCMJ #MarkKelly #Hegseth #ICC #Colombia #RuleOfLaw #ChainOfCommand #WhiteRoseUSA #Accountability #MilitaryEthics"
Bruce Fanger
Admiral Holsey and the Breaking Point Inside the Pentagon
White Rose USA (November(
Admiral Alvin Holsey didn’t storm out of SOUTHCOM. He didn’t plead his case on cable news or leak to friendly reporters. He did something far more unsettling. He left quietly, early, and in the middle of an active lethal campaign that carried his signature on every operational line. That’s the kind of silence Washington should actually fear, because it’s the kind that means the institution itself has started to feel the floor shift.
The timeline is the part the White House hopes you never look at too closely. The boat-strike campaign began on September 2, 2025. The first engagement killed eleven people, including the remaining survivors who were hit by a controversial follow-up missile. By mid-November there had been twenty-one strikes and eighty-three deaths. These weren’t cartel gunboats. Many were fishing skiffs and migrant craft — civilian vessels under international law — and that distinction matters to anyone who still cares about the difference between counter-narcotics operations and war crimes.
Every one of these strikes ran through Holsey’s area of responsibility. Each target packet, each justification, each battle damage assessment passed somewhere across his desk. When you’re a four-star running a combatant command, you don’t get to claim ignorance. If the law is solid, you defend the operation. If the law starts to shimmer, you feel it.
By October 6, that shimmer had become a crack. CNN later confirmed a tense Pentagon meeting involving Holsey, War Secretary Pete Hegseth, and Joint Chiefs Chairman Dan Caine. SOUTHCOM’s legal advisers raised concerns: the combatant status of the people being killed, the authority for lethal force, the question of proportionality, and whether these missions could withstand scrutiny from the courts or the world. The meeting didn’t resolve the concerns. It hardened them.
Ten days later, Holsey announced he would retire. No explanation. No justification. Just a perfectly crafted statement about duty, honor, and the Constitution after nearly four decades of service. Admirals like Holsey don’t churn out of command after eleven months unless something fundamental has shifted underneath them. He wasn’t the type to grandstand. Holsey was known for running cold, steady, exact. When precise people leave early, the problem isn’t temperament. It’s the terrain.
This is where the story leaves the Pentagon and enters the political bloodstream. A group of six Democratic lawmakers — led by Senator Mark Kelly, a retired Navy captain still under the UCMJ — released a video reminding service members that their oath is to the Constitution and that illegal orders must be refused. This wasn’t a civics lesson. It was a signal directed at command. And it came at a moment when the officer corps had already felt the internal strain.
The White House responded the only way insecure administrations respond: with intimidation. Instead of explaining the legal theory behind the strikes, instead of addressing the casualties, instead of defending the doctrine, they sent the FBI’s Counterterrorism Division to “contact” the lawmakers for interviews. You don’t deploy counterterrorism agents against elected officials unless you think the chain of command is wobbling. The public may not have noticed the tremor yet. The political operators did.
Add one more layer. On September 23, Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro stood before the UN and formally asked the International Criminal Court to investigate the United States for these strikes. That was unprecedented. And while the UK hasn’t issued any formal withdrawal, reporting indicates that some allies were quietly distancing themselves from the operation. You don’t need a coalition memo to know when partners are backing away from your battlefield.
Some will say Holsey simply retired. That this is coincidence. Sure. Coincidences happen. But they usually don’t arrive bundled with internal legal objections, escalating civilian casualties, ICC pressure, and the FBI leaning on lawmakers for quoting the oath every E-1 memorizes in basic training. Patterns are patterns.
What Holsey did wasn’t dramatic. But it was decisive. A combatant commander stepping out mid-mission isn’t just changing jobs. He’s removing his name from the legal trail investigators will follow later. He’s refusing to be the hinge between an unlawful order and the officer who carried it out. He’s stepping aside before the history books start taking attendance.
Democracies don’t collapse all at once. They fray at the edges first — in quiet rooms, in strained meetings, in polite statements from people who know exactly which line has just been crossed. Holsey didn’t shout. He didn’t need to. His silence is the loudest evidence in the whole affair. And the louder the White House screams at lawmakers instead of explaining the law, the clearer it becomes who actually feels threatened.
Holsey walked because he saw the edge. And he wasn’t about to go over it with the people giving the orders.
Annotated Sources
Boat-strike timeline, casualties, and follow-up missile
• CNN: First strike on September 2, 2025 kills eleven; survivors hit by follow-up missile.
• Wikipedia aggregate: Twenty-one strikes, eighty-three deaths by mid-November.
October 6 Pentagon meeting and legal concerns
• CNN: Tense meeting involving Hegseth, Holsey, and Chairman Dan Caine; SOUTHCOM lawyers question legality, combatant status, proportionality.
Holsey’s October 16 resignation
• Reuters: Holsey announces retirement after less than a year in command.
• AP/Guardian: Early departure noted as unusual for a combatant commander.
Lawmakers’ oath video
• CNN: Video by Senator Kelly, Rep. Slotkin, and four other Democratic House members; explicit invocation of refusal of illegal orders; Kelly under UCMJ.
FBI Counterterrorism Division inquiry
• New York Times: CTD agents contact lawmakers for interviews after the video.
Colombia’s ICC request
• President Gustavo Petro’s September 23, 2025 UN General Assembly speech formally requesting an ICC investigation.
Ally distancing
• Contextual reporting indicating quiet unease among partners; no formal UK withdrawal confirmed.
#Holsey #SOUTHCOM #Pentagon #BoatStrikes #WarCrimes #UCMJ #MarkKelly #Hegseth #ICC #Colombia #RuleOfLaw #ChainOfCommand #WhiteRoseUSA #Accountability #MilitaryEthics"
Bruce Fanger
Who is online
Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 0 guests