There no legit blaming of some general for the summary executions Hegseth ordered and later supported

...there's not dispute over whether Hegseth ordered the military to destroy boats they claim are smuggling drugs.

According to the administration and Hegseth, the military in the field are operating under the orders and direction of the Secretary of Defense and the commander-in-chief to destroy boats they claim are carrying drugs; ostensibly smuggling them to the U.S from some 1000 miles away where they're being destroyed.

They not only claim they have the authority to murder people instead of interdict them as we've done for decades, but they're asserting those orders are delegated to whoever is directing those actions; and by extension, the ones carrying them out.

Why is anyone paying attention to Hegseth trying to squirm out from under his own orders; or the president, for that matter who directed the Secretary of Defense to carry it all out, affirming his intentions in numerous public statements?

No one in the WH or the DoD is claiming the generals operated under their own authority, or acted independently from them or in contradiction of their intentions or directives.

The buck for the strikes originates and stops with Donald Trump who could order them stopped anytime. It's a specious and nonsensical process to even name the troops and their command as the essential instigators of the attacks.

Responsibility for how those attacks are carried out ultimately rests with the president and his SoD; something that was made obvious by the shift in policy to rescue survivors of their attacks, sending some to Costa Rica, for example, after the survivor killing took place. It's easily within his reach to halt any of what he himself has initiated and has been cheering on from his safe perch in the WH.

What are they going to do? Take punitive action against the troops they themselves ordered to kill nameless people in international waters?

Why do we even know the sorry general's name who gave the command? The only names that matter here are Hegseth's and Trump's; the duo responsible for this barbaric policy that they're propping up with sophistry, scapegoating, and appeals to what they must believe is a desire in the American people for them to act in our presumed defense with cruelly, fear, and cowardice.