In this episode, Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-GAZETTE) talks about the need to withdraw all U.S. forces from Somalia and the impact of drone strikes in the country. He also discusses why the United States has been involved in an advise and assist mission in Somalia for years.
00:01:20.000So in Congress, a war powers resolution is a privileged motion and privileged motions were restored under the House rules package that I and a handful of other Republicans demanded as a feature of allowing Kevin McCarthy to ascend to the speakership.
00:01:38.000So the whole reason we're able to do this is because we're actually back to empowering the members.
00:01:43.000This means that the resolution on whether to withdraw U.S. troops from Somalia will skip committee and be brought to the House floor within 18 legislative days.
00:01:53.000That is how my legislation to withdraw troops from Syria was able to make it to the floor so quickly as well.
00:02:01.000I am going to make these neocons in both parties vote to defend each and every place where we have troops, where we should not, where the goals are unclear, and where we are largely wasting the efforts of our military families and our service members,
00:02:21.000not because of anything they're doing wrong, but because the decision makers in Washington have far too often just delegated authority to the executive to decide where we engage in these misadventures and skirmishes all over the world.
00:02:38.000Well, the situation in Somalia is actually quite familiar.
00:02:41.000It's one more front in the globalist American empire's lineup of forever wars.
00:02:47.000For the past 16 years, think about that, 16 years in Somalia, but for a little break with President Trump, but I'll get to that.
00:02:56.000So for 16 years, the United States has been involved in an advise and assist mission in Somalia.
00:03:02.000And throughout the mission that we've carried out, we've seen numerous operations and airstrikes within the country.
00:03:09.000Staying on brand for the warmongers of our time, former President Barack Obama utilized the 2001 authorization for force against Afghanistan to target al-Shabaab in Somalia.
00:03:24.000These strikes have been quietly conducted under the nose of the American public.
00:03:28.000By August 2022, a civilian harm watchdog group estimated that between 78 and 153 civilians had been killed by U.S. airstrikes in Somalia since 2007.
00:03:42.000The problem is, even under the best of intentions and the most focused of work of our brave service members, when we are killing civilians, we are not fighting terrorism.
00:03:55.000I noticed there's some disagreement with my perspective on Somalia on Facebook.
00:04:00.000Jeffrey said, well, there's ISIS in Somalia, so we have to be there.
00:04:04.000The reality is, it's really an unsettled question whether or not us being there creates a downward pressure on terrorism or whether it is a recruiting tool for more terrorists.
00:04:15.000The hundreds of people we may have killed in Somalia who are innocent probably had family members, and I certainly hope we didn't radicalize those through misadventures.
00:04:23.000So sadly, our country's involvement in this war-torn country is not new.
00:04:29.000The lives of our troops have been carelessly gambled in Somalia for close to 30 years now, actually.
00:04:36.000If the average person heard the term, the Battle of Mogadishu, it might conjure up images of warring nomadic tribes throwing spears at each other.
00:04:46.000But if you say Black Hawk Down, then people likely will know what you're talking about.
00:04:52.000In 1992, U.S. soldiers were tasked with restoring order in Somalia during one of the many seemingly ongoing endless Somali civil wars.
00:05:02.000The Battle of Mogadishu, also known as the Black Hawk Down Incident, was a U.S. military operation that took place there on October 3, 1993.
00:05:10.000The mission was to capture two top lieutenants for some warlord, Mohammed Farah Adid.
00:05:17.000The troops, including Army Rangers and Delta Force operators, were attacked by Adid's militia and other Somali fighters during their mission.
00:05:25.000This resulted in the deaths of 18 U.S. soldiers.
00:05:30.000Two Black Hawk helicopters were shot down by rocket-propelled grenades in the attack.
00:05:36.000And an American pilot was captured and publicly executed.
00:05:41.000It seems we may not have learned from the past.
00:05:44.000The U.S. military war machine continues to throw troops and money into dangerous situations for unclear gain.
00:05:52.000I'm all about using our military to protect our country, but do we really fear some activity in Somalia as a threat to our homeland?
00:06:03.000If you think that was long ago, let's return to the present.
00:06:06.000Those who subscribe to Firebrand and, in fact, have notifications turned on, which you should all do,
00:06:11.000were the first to know last week that the House Armed Services Committee invited General Michael Langley, the commander of U.S. forces in Africa, to testify on, quote,
00:06:22.000the U.S. military posture and national security challenges in the greater Middle East and Africa, close quote.
00:06:28.000Among others, I asked a simple question.
00:06:31.000What percentage of African soldiers trained by the U.S. military have later led coups against their own governments?
00:06:39.000Because Colonel Mamadei Dambouya, pictured here at the U.S. Embassy, posing with our service members,
00:06:46.000led a coup in Guinea in 2001, just months after this photo was taken.
00:06:51.000He was, in fact, trained by the U.S. military.
00:06:54.000But General Langley had no clue who Colonel Dambouya was when I showed him that photo.
00:07:01.000Colonel Dambouya runs the country now.
00:07:04.000You would think that the commander of AFRICOM would know that Dambouya was in charge of the country, that he's there because he was trained by America and led a military coup, and that we were involved.
00:07:19.000So take a listen to my line of questioning here.
00:07:25.000This is Colonel Mamadei Dambouya, and this is a photo of him.
00:07:39.000Well, that guy in the middle with the big red hat, Colonel Mamadei Dambouya, that's him with a bunch of U.S. service members outside of our embassy.
00:07:47.000And just months after this photo was taken in 2021, he led a coup in Guinea and threw out the leader.
00:08:22.000Citizen D on Getter asks why there is no oversight into these missions.
00:08:27.000And frankly, the limited time we get to question these generals is part of the oversight structure.
00:08:32.000Also, what we authorize, what we spend money on, and the wars that we authorize.
00:08:37.000And so to me, forcing a vote on Somalia is central to the oversight strategy because if people don't vote for or against each of these individual conflicts, they're not necessarily vested in the risks associated with them.
00:08:50.000At times, I feel like I have to remind listeners that was a four-star general you just heard hired by Joe Biden.
00:08:57.000The American people have extremely low confidence in our military leaders and their ability to assess their own efficacy.
00:09:04.000How do they expect Americans to believe their justification for occupying Somalia when they can't even determine who in their own training programs will lead a violent coup afterwards?
00:09:19.000Instead of distancing ourselves from Somalia, we have decided to continue to add fuel to that fire.
00:09:25.000It was reported earlier this year that on February 27th, 346 recruits will join a Somali military unit that was trained by our very own government.
00:09:45.000And neither does Lloyd Austin, by the way.
00:09:48.000What I do know is that one U.S. service member has already been injured by an attack inspired by al-Shabaab.
00:09:55.000That was in 2020 while U.S. and Somali forces were conducting one of these advise and assist and accompany missions.
00:10:03.000Al-Shabaab attacked using a vehicle employed as an IED and mortar fire.
00:10:10.000Maybe if we weren't distracted with proxy wars in foreign countries, then our service members wouldn't sustain such injuries.
00:10:18.000President Trump tried to fix this problem when President Trump pulled our 700 troops out of Somalia.
00:10:26.000But Joe Biden, in his infinite wisdom or whatever state of decline he's in, he decided to put 500 back in Somalia.
00:10:35.000So we're back in at higher levels because of Joe Biden when Trump was moving the other direction.
00:10:41.000I wonder who House Republicans will side with, the Biden view on Somalia or the Trump view.
00:10:50.000So the executive clearly isn't planning on doing anything about this issue.
00:10:54.000But frankly, I'm not all that optimistic that Congress will fix it either.
00:10:59.000Sadly, even the progressives in Congress don't have the stomach to vote to end many of these forever wars.
00:11:07.000I called them out during a House Armed Services Committee hearing recently. Take a listen.
00:11:14.000We learned through a New York Times leak last night that America is going to re-engage in the war in Somalia.
00:11:22.000This as we are sleepwalking into a war with Ukraine.
00:11:26.000And the authorization to go into Somalia is presumably linked back to the 2001 AUMF.
00:11:34.000And it just seems crazy to me that we would have a re-engagement of hostilities in Somalia after the Trump administration withdrew us from that conflict.
00:11:44.000Not just without a congressional vote, but without even really a clear statement from the administration as to our goals.
00:11:50.000But through New York Times leaks now, are we starting wars through New York Times leaks?
00:11:55.000I think there are fewer members of Al-Shabaab than there were like viewers of CNN Plus.
00:14:55.000And we hear Democrats tell us that somehow we've got a post-up in Africa, in Somalia, as a deterrent to China.
00:15:03.000We've got a first family that's compromised by China.
00:15:06.000And it's just an excuse to keep U.S. troops where we're funding the war machine and we're not doing what's right for our country and our interests.
00:15:16.000And the Democrat dove has actually proven to be an endangered species in this paradigm.
00:15:22.000Our military involvement in Somalia has resulted in deaths of innocent civilians, has not been successful in addressing any ongoing terrorist threat, and has no clear objective.
00:15:35.000We cannot continue to put American lives at risk for an uncertain cause.
00:15:39.000Somalia may never have peace, but if it does, it will be won by the Somali people.
00:15:46.000And the best thing we can do in some cases is get out of the way.
00:15:51.000Now, as Americans at home become more aware of our country's military misadventures abroad, the calls to end forever wars and forever occupations are growing.
00:16:02.000While the congressional war machine has decided to rage on in Syria after I forced them to take a vote on that,
00:16:08.000they will now have to explain continuing presence in Somalia and how that best serves the interests of our country.
00:16:16.000And if they can't, it is incumbent upon Congress to bring our troops home from Somalia.
00:16:25.000And that is exactly the vote that I intend to force.
00:16:28.000Now, speaking of votes that are coming up that will be forced, you all know we're dealing with this debt limit issue and budget issues and appropriations issues.
00:16:37.000So for the rest of the show, I want to talk about fiscal policy.
00:16:40.000There was a press conference today in the House of Representatives regarding a new plan that takes 507 pieces of legislation to cut the woke and weaponized government.
00:17:05.000The message from House Republicans to President Biden is clear.
00:17:12.000There will be no increase in the debt limit in the absence of significant and meaningful spending cuts.
00:17:19.000I am very proud that House Republicans ran against the inflation that has crushed American families.
00:17:28.000And this today represents the most specific detail in our plan to stop that inflation.
00:17:35.000The American people know that inflation is often induced by excessive government spending.
00:17:41.000And so we have laid out a plan represented in this body of legislative work that doesn't cut Social Security, that doesn't cut Medicare, but that attacks a woke and weaponized government that the American people should not continue to have to fund at the expense of their own economic security and the economic security of future generations.
00:18:11.000It seems like a perfect time to assess the things that are no longer necessary for us to spend funds on.
00:18:17.000I am particularly pleased that in this plan, in the messaging from the House Freedom Caucus, and even in Speaker McCarthy's letter to President Biden today, I see reflected my call for work requirements on Medicaid and on a number of the social safety net programs where we have able-bodied, childless adults who could go to work and they choose not to.
00:18:40.000Well, I don't think hardworking Americans should be paying for all of the social services for people who could make a broader contribution and instead are couch potatoes.
00:18:50.000So thank you, Chairman Biggs, for this exquisite detail.
00:18:53.000Thank you to my colleagues for laying out these cuts.
00:18:56.000And I would turn the mic over to my colleague, Eli Crane from Arizona.
00:18:59.000Before we get to Eli's comments, and we will, my colleague Chip Roy of Texas made really good points regarding the overall spending levels, right?
00:19:10.000So the way the appropriations process works is that you set a budget cap.
00:19:14.000And within that, the appropriations committees go in and allocate funds based on what's been authorized.
00:19:20.000So Chip Roy talked about what it would mean to bring our government back to pre-COVID spending levels.
00:19:40.000Is that what you want for yourself, for your kids, your grandkids, 0.6% economic growth?
00:19:45.000Or do you want the 3.5%, 4%, 4.5% kind of growth we had under Reagan and, frankly, under Clinton when you had a Republican House and they were all working together to figure out how to do their jobs?
00:19:56.000We're here to say that the time for continuing business as usual in Washington is over.
00:20:01.000We believe we should shrink Washington and grow America.
00:20:04.000We should return the bureaucratic spending to pre-COVID levels.
00:20:07.000We're not asking for anything wild-eyed.
00:20:09.000We're just simply asking to take that spending back to pre-COVID levels.
00:20:12.000You let the president come out and say, oh, the wailing and gnashing of teeth about what that means.
00:20:17.000Do you think the government was really efficient and effective in 2019?
00:20:21.000You don't think we can survive on the 2019 sides of government?
00:20:43.000Congressman Bob Good of Virginia also is a part of this group.
00:20:47.000And the reason we brought this team together to make this point is it's a lot of the McCarthy holdouts.
00:20:52.000It's a lot of the people who made specific demands on spending.
00:20:56.000And McCarthy is really adhering to a lot of the direction that he is receiving from the conference, and particularly this group of folks who you saw so active at the beginning of January.
00:21:07.000One of those great patriots, Bob Good of Virginia.
00:21:13.000I'm on the budget committee, and I had the opportunity this past week to talk to the Biden budget director, Ms. Shalonda Young.
00:21:22.000And it's funny to think about the Biden administration if it weren't so sad having a budget director, because the budget director doesn't understand anything about spending our national debt or our budget.
00:21:32.000I asked Director Young if he knew how much the national debt was.
00:21:36.000She tried to say it was $24 trillion instead of $32 trillion.
00:21:40.000I corrected her that it was actually $32 trillion.
00:21:42.000I asked her if she understood how much that was per American citizen.
00:21:46.000She had no idea, so I helped her with the math.
00:21:48.000Again, the budget director, that it was about $100,000 per citizen.
00:21:52.000I asked her if she knew what the debt to GDP was.
00:21:55.000She tried to say it was 90-something percent.
00:22:19.000I said, how could we ever handle or absorb a crisis on the level of World War II when we came into it with the same amount of debt to percent to GDP that we exited World War II some 80 years ago?
00:22:33.000Dean on Rumble says, we need to stop spending money on foreign countries.
00:22:40.000The establishment politicians skim the proceeds to line their pockets while pulling more money out of the pockets of hardworking Americans.
00:25:04.000We're going to give them an opportunity to redeem themselves because you know for a fact you don't make cuts in this town without there being some retribution.
00:25:14.000You don't make cuts to some of these programs without a lot of crying and gnashing of teeth.
00:25:41.000But we need your help because half of this is messaging to the American people who have jobs, who have kids, who have lives, who are busy.
00:25:49.000And oftentimes this town and the media here finds a way to spend it to make Republicans and conservatives who are actually trying to be fiscally responsible for our kids and our grandkids boogeymen.
00:26:13.000You have a chance to redeem yourself and help us out so that we can make sure that our kids and our grandkids have a chance at some of the economic opportunities that we grew up with.
00:26:27.000Mahana on Instagram says we love Eli Crane.
00:26:34.000There is a sense of moral clarity with his vision that I hope will bring more and more of our colleagues along to the correct way of thinking to save the country.
00:26:45.000Doing the necessary work to save the country is going to be really hard.
00:26:49.000And Eli Crane has done hard work in the past and he knows what he's doing.
00:26:52.000And he's already a big time leader in the House of Representatives.