I want to begin with an interview that really stopped me in my tracks because it's not every day that you hear a retired commanding general of the United States

Army speak the way that General Mark Hurtling spoke. It was a fascinating interview. And when a man

like that chooses his words carefully, when he slows down, when he takes a moment, takes a time,

and he lifts his eyebrows, you know, just a little. If you watch him, he's a very moderated guy

all the time. but he was particularly

moderated on this interview when he says that what happened he believes in September on those boats

in Venezuela and in the waters there, that it was illegal, that it was a moral, that it is dangerous.

You see the weight of his career behind him and a career behind it.

And you see a man who has commanded soldiers in life and death situations, he even talks,

you know, in this interview about some of the situations that he's been in,

a man who has taught the law of armed conflict and a man who understands not just what war is,

but what war requires.

Here's General Hurling.

Not a lawyer, but I will tell you that if a senior official urged someone else, a military

person, to conduct such a strike, then we are morally bound to ask

additional questions that any democracy should be asking. Were these unlawful orders, it

appears they were, were they issued or were they implied? We don't know that. That's part of an investigation.

Did the service member feel pressured to act unlawfully?

We don't know that either.

Were there the attempts to suppress the supporting?

Was additional guidance provided?

These aren't political questions, Joe's.

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