U.S. Secretary of War Hegseth attacked European NATO Members For Their Lack Of Support For Operation Epic Fury

“For clarity, too many allied capitals seem to still miss something in translation.

Too many allies still don’t recognize the historic need that President Trump has made clear to them and to NATO itself to reforge a relevant, powerful military alliance.

As President Trump put it, and rightfully so, he gave our allies a test to support America when we asked for their help, and too many failed it.

The United States has defended Europe for generations, and the President said all he said was that our jets would need to take off from bases in Europe or our ships from ports to strike targets in the Middle East, Iranian targets that threaten European interests even more directly than they threaten us.

But too many of our allies said no, or tried to drown us in arcane legal debates, or criticized us publicly for doing what they aren’t prepared or able to do themselves.

It was shameful.

These allies put America’s sons and daughters, our sons and daughters, at risk by denying them the predictable access and overflight that never should have been in question at all.

In some cases, we had to shift capabilities from one country to another, out of NATO-allied countries altogether.

There’s no excuse for that.”