A post on social media by US defense secretary Pete Hegseth, depicting a beloved children’s character aiming a rocket launcher at a cluster of boats, has elicited condemnation from the book’s Canadian publisher.
Hegseth’s post of the mocked cover of a Franklin the Turtle book titled Franklin Targets Narco Terrorists prompted disbelief and outrage. The image shows a smiling anthropomorphic turtle in military helmet and vest, with a US flag on his arm and a drug-laden boat exploding in the background. “For your Christmas wish list,” Hegseth wrote as the caption.
Hegseth’s post came amid growing outrage over a string of deadly US strikes on boats in the Caribbean and the Pacific, which have killed at least 80 people.
The extrajudicial killings received fresh attention last week after Hegseth was reported to have commanded military personnel to “kill everybody” on board vessels after two survivors were spotted following a 2 September strike. The survivors were killed during a second strike.
Hegseth’s post, which seemingly mocks a practice that experts have condemned as illegal, was met with frustration by the publisher of Canadian children’s book series over his “unauthorized” depictions of its main character.
“Franklin the Turtle is a beloved Canadian icon who has inspired generations of children and stands for kindness, empathy, and inclusivity,” the publisher Kids Can Press wrote in a statement on Twitter/X.
“We strongly condemn any denigrating, violent, or unauthorized use of Franklin’s name or image, which directly contradicts these values,” the publishing house added.
But Hegseth’s post also spawned a series of other mock covers, including one that questioned the results of the 2020 presidential election. Others were more critical of the defense secretary, including one post that said: Book two is Franklin Goes to the Hague.
With more than 50 titles and 20m copies sold, the Canadian series has eschewed politics, instead pursuing gentle, moral-lessons nestled within stories for children – including Franklin Says Sorry, Franklin Forgives and Franklin is Lost.
A television adaptation featured a theme song by Canadian folk singer Bruce Cockburn, whose first explicitly political song If I Had a Rocket Launcher was written after visiting Guatemalan refugee camps during a civil war in which US-backed forces commited a genocide on the country’s Indigenous people.
The Pentagon’s Law of War Manual says that people who are “wounded, sick, or shipwrecked” should be “respected and protected in all circumstances” by US forces- and that “making them the object of attack is strictly prohibited”. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the strikes on alleged drug-smuggling boats were “conducted in international waters and in accordance with the law of armed conflict”.
