Hegseth—whose skin speaks fear

Beneath his clothing lies a secret world of mediaeval beliefs. Tattoos on his chest and biceps include a Jerusalem cross—symbol of the Christian crusaders, sword, rifle, a 'Join, or die' rattlesnake from the American revolution and 'Deus vult' or 'God wills it! A millennium ago, this was the rallying cry of Christian knights as they battled to reclaim Jerusalem from Muslims.

- ANITA PRATAP

More recently, 'Deus vult' surfaced on clothing and flags carried by some rioters in the January 6 Capitol attack in Washington. The man with the tattoos is Pete Hegseth, US secretary of war—or war crimes, say his critics, after an American Tomahawk missile killed 168 schoolgirls in Iran. In an earlier avatar as the US army's infantry officer in Iraq, Hegseth told soldiers to ignore legal constraints on killing enemy combatants—a war crime. Hegseth is a born-again crusader—in the mediaeval Christian sense of avenging warriors who fought Muslims.

A 2015 whistleblower complaint described a bar incident in Ohio where Hegseth, allegedly intoxicated, publicly chanted “Kill All Muslims”. Published in 2020, his book is called