U.S. Military Features Surprising Detail In Post On Caribbean Missile Strikes Operation

In a social media post about the operation involving missile strikes that have killed scores of people in the Caribbean Sea, a U.S. military account featured no American flags ― but a large cross was plainly visible.

Many consider the Jerusalem Cross, as the ornate design is known, to be a simple profession of Christian faith. Some use it to specifically celebrate the Christian Crusades’ domination of Muslims nearly a millennia ago. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth was not allowed to work security at the 2021 inauguration of President Joe Biden because he has a large Jerusalem Cross tattooed on his chest, as HuffPost previously reported.

Hegseth, recounting that experience, described the Jerusalem Cross as “just a Christian symbol.”

U.S. Southern Command, which oversees U.S. military activity in South America and the Caribbean, on Monday posted an image prominently featuring that Christian symbol.

SouthCom has been behind a series of at least 22 strikes ― resulting in some 87 killings ― in the Eastern Pacific and the Caribbean, according to a CBS News tally last week. The strikes fall under what the administration calls Operation Southern Spear.

“U.S. military forces are deployed to the #SOUTHCOM area of responsibility in support of #OpSouthernSpear, @DeptofWar-directed operations, and @POTUS’ priorities to disrupt illicit drug trafficking and protect the homeland,” SouthCom’s post read on X. Similar versions were shared on Facebook and Instagram.

“The graphic was an illustration of service members in a ready posture during Operation SOUTHERN SPEAR,” Col. Emanuel Ortiz, U.S. Southern Command spokesperson, told HuffPost in an email. “There is no other communication intent for this image.”

The administration alleges the boats it is targeting are bringing drugs to the United States, a claim for which it has not provided concrete evidence, and that the supposed drugrunners are in fact members of a designated terrorist group. This, the administration says, makes them fair game for military strikes, as opposed to Coast Guard drug interdiction, which typically does not involve lethal force at all.

On top of killing alleged drug smugglers on the grounds that they are actually militant terrorists, the administration is coming under additional heat for a so-called “double tap” strike that involved killing the survivors of an initial strike with yet more fire. Hegseth has defended that strike.