The Great America Show - November 17, 2021


FACE TOWARD ENEMY


Episode Stats

Length

50 minutes

Words per Minute

168.71233

Word Count

8,591

Sentence Count

506

Misogynist Sentences

3

Hate Speech Sentences

49


Summary

Former Navy SEAL Robert O'Neill joins the Great America Show with Lou Dobbs to discuss the growing threat to the United States from Russia, Iran, China, and other potential flashpoints around the globe. He also talks about the lack of diversity in the U.S. military and the need for more women in uniform.


Transcript

00:00:00.000 Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Great America Podcast with Lou Dobbs,
00:00:04.200 always in the fight for truth, justice, and yes, our American way of life.
00:00:09.140 And now, here he is, the Peabody award-winning voice of truth, the great Lou Dobbs.
00:00:14.560 Hello, everybody, and welcome back to the Great America Show.
00:00:18.500 The world isn't any less dangerous than when we last got together,
00:00:22.720 and there are signs that danger levels are rising at potential flashpoints around the globe,
00:00:28.400 whether inspired by Iran, Russia, or China.
00:00:32.600 And we do have to give some considerable credit to the enfeebled Biden White House
00:00:37.760 and the factless Euro pacifists who want to buy much of their oil and natural gas from Russia
00:00:43.520 and who obviously believe that they'll only have to pay for that energy in euros, Russian rubles, and dollars.
00:00:51.580 That price will certainly go much higher in what has been for years a Cold War standoff
00:00:57.540 between Russia and Europe could well, in a flash, break into a very hot confrontation.
00:01:04.200 Only now is it occurring, seemingly, to the NATO nations, whose militaries are underfunded,
00:01:09.780 undermanned, and under-equipped, that they could easily be overwhelmed by Russian forces
00:01:15.180 now massed on the western border of Russia.
00:01:18.800 Satellite imagery convincingly supports Ukraine claims of 100,000 Russian troops
00:01:24.200 concentrated on the eastern border of Ukraine.
00:01:28.800 NATO Secretary Stoltenberg sounds vaguely delusional as he warns Russia that they must be,
00:01:34.240 are you ready for this word?
00:01:35.780 They must be transparent about their military activities, whatever that means.
00:01:41.120 It doesn't sound like a red line, does it?
00:01:43.500 Or an ultimatum.
00:01:44.580 It sounds more like Stoltenberg can't stand the suspense
00:01:48.400 as we await Putin's next move.
00:01:51.720 All the innervated Europeans can muster is a cry for transparency
00:01:56.020 as Russian tanks warm up their diesel engines ready to rumble toward eastern Europe.
00:02:02.440 And NATO naval ships, including those of the U.S., have so far avoided confrontation
00:02:08.700 with the Russian Navy on the Black Sea.
00:02:11.460 But it's clear all sides are engaged in a high-risk exercise that could result in an explosive conflict
00:02:17.400 whether on the Black Sea or in the skies above it.
00:02:21.920 We'll take up the rising number of national security threats to the United States
00:02:26.140 with Robert O'Neill, former Navy SEAL.
00:02:28.340 Yes, that Robert O'Neill, who shot and killed Osama bin Laden just over 10 years ago.
00:02:35.420 He is a great American hero.
00:02:37.960 He served with SEAL Team 2 and the storied SEAL Team 6.
00:02:41.920 The Navy awarded O'Neill two silver stars, four bronze star medals,
00:02:45.800 a remarkable number of commendation medals for valor.
00:02:49.400 He works as a motivational speaker, appears frequently on Newsmax television,
00:02:54.060 and there is talk of strong support for O'Neill to run for political office.
00:02:59.300 O'Neill is also a graduate of Butte Central High School,
00:03:03.220 attended Montana Technological University.
00:03:06.120 He is without question a great American, as I said, a national hero,
00:03:09.920 and, by the way, a gifted author of witty, incisive tweets.
00:03:15.520 Rob, great to have you with us.
00:03:17.180 Welcome to the Great America Show.
00:03:19.360 It is great to talk to you.
00:03:20.300 Thank you for the invitation.
00:03:22.180 Anytime.
00:03:23.320 You got a deal.
00:03:24.260 We'll impose on you by taking you up on that generous offer.
00:03:27.960 Okay, cool.
00:03:28.320 I'd like to have your thoughts, first of all, on what you know about right now,
00:03:33.500 the readiness of our military.
00:03:34.860 It's going through immense changes, as I think most Americans know,
00:03:40.700 but the readiness of our military across all branches,
00:03:43.620 in particular the quality of this country's leadership,
00:03:46.440 whether military or civilian.
00:03:48.740 The readiness, I like to think, is always there because of the not so much
00:03:55.940 junior leadership, but definitely not the senior leadership.
00:03:59.220 I wouldn't say they're junior, just the middle-level officers
00:04:01.380 and then the semi-senior enlisted, because a lot of them have had their boots
00:04:07.120 on the ground in combat in Iraq and Afghanistan, and they get it.
00:04:10.180 The problem is the senior leadership who's in charge,
00:04:12.780 they're either going to get out and get into a political life
00:04:15.280 or get appointed to their next star by someone in politics right now,
00:04:18.960 so they need to toe the line as far as being woke right now
00:04:22.300 is where they're at.
00:04:23.280 The Marine Corps just recently came out.
00:04:25.140 The Commandant of the Marine Corps just came out and said
00:04:27.000 they're really going to overhaul the entire Marine Corps.
00:04:29.800 In the same sentence, it was so we can concentrate on diversity
00:04:32.800 and then find out about retention.
00:04:36.240 Why can't we keep people in?
00:04:37.280 And I was thinking, well, the question and answer are right there
00:04:40.940 in the headline, because the diversity thing, the woke thing,
00:04:46.000 only matters to the senior leadership because of the political division.
00:04:48.480 The men and women in the military, they're not thinking about diversity.
00:04:53.140 They're thinking about why am I taking this online course
00:04:56.040 about stuff when I should be on the range shooting,
00:05:00.080 when I should be in the gym lifting,
00:05:01.160 when we should be shooting, moving, and communicating.
00:05:03.560 And they're not doing that, and the reason people are getting out
00:05:05.720 is Navy SEALs are leaving in droves right now.
00:05:09.460 And I've been told it's because of this ridiculous readiness.
00:05:13.800 They call it readiness, but there's nothing to do with it.
00:05:15.520 When I was in the military, my last deployment,
00:05:18.420 probably about eight months after we killed Osama bin Laden,
00:05:21.080 I did go back overseas.
00:05:22.660 And the big thing was repealing of don't ask, don't tell.
00:05:25.680 And the media is talking about it.
00:05:27.980 Politicians are talking about it.
00:05:29.480 And we're looking around the room in Afghanistan with Navy SEALs.
00:05:32.160 Does anybody care if anyone's gay?
00:05:34.720 No, all we care about is the standards.
00:05:37.100 If you're good enough to be here, you should be here.
00:05:38.940 That's it.
00:05:39.620 But they just spin this into politics.
00:05:42.200 And we're seeing it right now, like I said,
00:05:43.880 with the Marine Corps, with the Navy,
00:05:45.780 how their mask mandates and all this stuff.
00:05:48.420 China and Russia are not dealing with wokeism.
00:05:51.960 And we are.
00:05:52.480 And they're laughing at us.
00:05:53.280 They're taking advantage of us.
00:05:55.080 And again, not that it's not right.
00:05:57.260 Everyone deserves an equal opportunity,
00:05:58.860 but we need to have standards.
00:05:59.920 And all we're doing right now is,
00:06:01.940 if someone can't pass the standards,
00:06:03.240 we'll just lower the standards.
00:06:04.100 That's all they're doing.
00:06:05.420 So the readiness is out there.
00:06:07.600 We're getting our butt kicks in war games right now.
00:06:10.080 Everything from friendly exercises
00:06:11.620 with the Royal Marines in the UK
00:06:16.100 to combat-ready exercises
00:06:18.580 where we get destroyed by Iran, of all people.
00:06:20.900 And you can't even talk to some of these senior-level people
00:06:23.500 because they're claiming to have defenses.
00:06:25.340 It's like, yeah, well, we can shoot down
00:06:26.460 an anti-aircraft carrier missile.
00:06:29.440 It's like, fine.
00:06:29.920 Can you shoot down 1,000 of them at once?
00:06:32.260 And they're taking their eye completely off the ball.
00:06:35.600 You know, we got bogged down in Afghanistan
00:06:36.940 to the point where everyone's just trying
00:06:38.480 to make the next rank.
00:06:40.780 And that's where some officers don't tell senior leaders
00:06:44.260 the truth because they don't want to not get that job.
00:06:46.900 So our eyes off the ball,
00:06:48.600 we're concentrating on the wrong stuff.
00:06:50.060 And if and when it comes to a war with China,
00:06:52.760 it's going to be bad for us.
00:06:54.560 And let's be clear, because the national left-wing media,
00:06:58.500 and I don't know whether you can speak to this or not,
00:07:01.000 but I've witnessed it over the years,
00:07:03.980 has become far more dependent on the branches,
00:07:10.540 whatever branch it is, for greater security
00:07:14.600 so they can maintain openness
00:07:16.260 and actually get some news out of the Marines
00:07:19.660 or out of the Navy, the Air Force,
00:07:22.720 whichever branch it is.
00:07:24.700 So they choose not to press on one point or the other,
00:07:29.800 whether it be, is there really enough ammunition
00:07:32.340 for training exercises in the United States Army?
00:07:36.520 We know the answer is no, there isn't.
00:07:38.900 But there it is.
00:07:40.020 You see very few stories about that.
00:07:41.940 There's very little ammunition available
00:07:43.680 to the general public in this country.
00:07:47.260 How could that be?
00:07:48.580 And the answer is, we're not making the ammunition.
00:07:51.780 We have another supply chain disruption in this country
00:07:55.300 that's affecting the readiness, in my judgment,
00:07:58.080 at least, and I want to know yours, of our military.
00:08:02.420 Well, we're not making anything here.
00:08:03.960 It's the same thing in principle
00:08:06.780 as closing the Keystone Pipeline
00:08:09.240 and then begging OPEC to make more oil.
00:08:11.780 We can do it ourself.
00:08:14.000 We can manufacture ourself,
00:08:15.160 but someone somewhere will come up with how,
00:08:18.040 there are places in Coronado, California,
00:08:20.360 where Navy SEAL training,
00:08:21.880 basically underwater SEAL training is.
00:08:24.040 They knocked out, you know,
00:08:26.200 I don't know how much,
00:08:26.940 a whole bunch of land we could have been using
00:08:29.020 because of some domestic bumblebee.
00:08:32.080 You know, I don't know.
00:08:32.640 I'm probably wrong with what it was,
00:08:34.260 but it's something that's silly
00:08:35.000 that you can't get trained here
00:08:36.180 because of, you know,
00:08:37.240 some environmental protection agency restriction
00:08:40.000 and because of politicians,
00:08:41.060 they're just, they're cutting us off at the knees.
00:08:43.780 And I was back in 1996, you know,
00:08:45.740 that I got out in 2012.
00:08:48.840 And you can just see it coming.
00:08:51.160 And I mean, a great example I have right now
00:08:53.080 is watching the chairman of the Joint Chiefs,
00:08:54.700 Mark Milley,
00:08:55.180 when we left Afghanistan
00:08:57.300 and just the arrogance of,
00:09:00.420 well, you know, you can't touch us, whatever.
00:09:01.900 Like the way that I put it is
00:09:03.460 the Naval football team in Annapolis,
00:09:06.200 Naval Academy,
00:09:06.800 they went 0-2,
00:09:07.740 they immediately fired their offensive coordinator.
00:09:09.880 We get 13 people killed
00:09:11.180 in a very predictable and preventable attack
00:09:13.040 in the blink of an eye.
00:09:14.040 Not a person gets reprimanded
00:09:15.680 except the one officer
00:09:17.560 who asked for accountability.
00:09:19.920 Right.
00:09:20.440 The Marine who said point blank,
00:09:22.500 this isn't working
00:09:23.520 and we need accountability.
00:09:25.420 Our senior officers are getting a free pass,
00:09:27.760 even though we are seeing failure
00:09:29.580 after failure after failure.
00:09:33.200 It's stomach churning
00:09:34.360 for all of us who care about this country,
00:09:36.940 about our military,
00:09:38.580 to see what is happening.
00:09:39.920 And Mark Milley instead is,
00:09:42.140 still leads the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
00:09:44.460 He is a politician.
00:09:46.260 He has lied outright
00:09:47.580 to the United States Congress.
00:09:50.320 He continues to brag
00:09:52.880 that he not only called the counterparts
00:09:56.360 and the PLA of Communist China
00:10:00.340 to warn them
00:10:01.360 that there is some instability
00:10:03.040 in the upper levels of government
00:10:04.640 and that we might attack.
00:10:06.640 He said he'd do it all over again.
00:10:08.760 I know.
00:10:09.060 Which effectively breached
00:10:10.220 this country's fundamental,
00:10:12.280 fundamental commitment
00:10:13.780 to civilian leadership of the military.
00:10:16.480 It completely does too.
00:10:17.700 And that's, I mean,
00:10:18.200 that's all because they're fragile egos.
00:10:19.700 Once you get to a certain level
00:10:20.780 of being a senior officer,
00:10:22.180 I would say,
00:10:22.720 show me a four-star general
00:10:23.720 and I will show you
00:10:24.560 a minimum of 11 people
00:10:25.740 who are really good at kissing butt.
00:10:27.220 That's what it is.
00:10:28.220 And they're so fragile
00:10:28.980 because when, you know,
00:10:32.380 if I'm in the military
00:10:33.180 and I'm at the point
00:10:33.780 where I'm not carrying my own bags,
00:10:35.580 maybe I should be taking advice
00:10:36.800 from some junior enlisted people.
00:10:38.240 You're going to get better advice
00:10:39.060 from an E-5 in the Marine Corps
00:10:40.540 on the ground
00:10:41.020 than you are, you know,
00:10:42.020 a lieutenant general
00:10:42.700 because the general below him
00:10:45.320 is telling him
00:10:46.220 just what he wants to hear.
00:10:47.160 He's not telling the truth
00:10:47.900 and they're not even realizing that yet.
00:10:49.680 And a good leader is accountable.
00:10:53.300 And with Mark Milley,
00:10:54.460 it's one of two ways.
00:10:55.800 Either I told the president
00:10:56.940 not to do this
00:10:57.800 and he didn't
00:10:58.620 or he went against my advice
00:11:00.180 and it went like it went,
00:11:01.260 I'm resigning.
00:11:02.060 If I gave him that advice,
00:11:03.560 I should be fired
00:11:04.260 because I'm simply incompetent.
00:11:06.180 And it just didn't happen that way
00:11:07.580 and they were just,
00:11:08.620 it's amazing that they,
00:11:11.080 again, they take no blame.
00:11:12.520 There is no shame.
00:11:13.520 And I mean,
00:11:13.860 even think about this
00:11:14.940 and watching a year or two
00:11:16.440 when Mark Milley's out,
00:11:17.440 he's working for one
00:11:18.160 of these major contractors.
00:11:19.560 Isn't it convenient
00:11:20.240 that we left so much stuff
00:11:21.540 behind in Afghanistan
00:11:22.360 that now we just need
00:11:23.400 to make it again?
00:11:24.100 There's a couple hundred million
00:11:24.980 dollar contract
00:11:25.540 that I'm going to broker.
00:11:26.300 I mean,
00:11:26.920 it's really, really sick.
00:11:29.600 And we haven't won a war
00:11:31.220 since World War II.
00:11:32.940 And if you want to lose,
00:11:34.920 which we have,
00:11:35.780 involve these high-ranking officers,
00:11:37.600 people in suits on the beltway
00:11:38.900 and get a bunch of lawyers involved,
00:11:40.120 you're going to lose the war
00:11:40.760 and we've proven it
00:11:41.320 time and time again.
00:11:43.760 Yeah, unfortunately,
00:11:45.640 you're exactly right.
00:11:47.340 And Milley,
00:11:48.400 as he sits atop
00:11:49.400 the military
00:11:50.180 in this country,
00:11:53.020 sits atop it still
00:11:54.860 despite those 13 Marines
00:11:56.920 who died in Kabul.
00:11:59.800 That disastrous extrication
00:12:02.920 from Kabul,
00:12:03.980 it turned out to be
00:12:04.960 a disaster,
00:12:06.180 a catastrophe
00:12:06.760 that we could never have imagined.
00:12:09.280 And Milley stayed at the top
00:12:10.840 as where he is today.
00:12:12.620 The commandant,
00:12:13.740 as you pointed out,
00:12:14.700 that the Marine Corps
00:12:15.600 is now talking about
00:12:17.020 diversity and equity
00:12:19.240 and reflecting
00:12:21.380 the population
00:12:23.940 in the makeup
00:12:24.740 of the United States Marine Corps.
00:12:26.260 I've got news
00:12:27.060 for the commandant
00:12:28.220 and the rest of the people
00:12:29.540 who lead this military.
00:12:31.680 This country has never had
00:12:33.760 a military
00:12:35.000 that reflect the population.
00:12:37.180 We've had patriots
00:12:38.420 who stand up
00:12:39.220 and join the Marine Corps
00:12:40.520 and every other branch
00:12:42.440 of the service
00:12:43.160 to defend the nation
00:12:46.020 and to serve the nation.
00:12:48.240 And that has generally been,
00:12:50.260 by the way,
00:12:50.780 folks from the West
00:12:51.800 and from the Southeastern part
00:12:53.700 of the United States
00:12:54.720 predominantly.
00:12:55.900 And you can break it down
00:12:57.180 ethically or demographically.
00:12:58.960 And by the way,
00:12:59.480 you'll see a lot of Scots-Irish
00:13:00.960 in there as well
00:13:02.000 as you go through the mix.
00:13:05.500 This is nonsense.
00:13:07.220 And there is no
00:13:08.580 intellectual integrity
00:13:09.600 and there is no sense
00:13:11.020 of fact
00:13:11.660 or commitment to fact
00:13:13.280 when our military officers,
00:13:16.220 and I'm talking about
00:13:16.720 the general staff,
00:13:17.920 speak to the American people
00:13:19.500 almost without exception.
00:13:21.840 And let me ask you this, Rob.
00:13:23.800 First of all,
00:13:24.520 if you want to respond to that,
00:13:25.740 please do.
00:13:27.000 I agree with you completely, too.
00:13:28.440 And it's,
00:13:29.400 I think because
00:13:31.920 the military relies
00:13:33.700 so much on the funding
00:13:34.520 that comes from
00:13:35.320 the suits
00:13:37.180 and the beltway
00:13:38.020 that they know
00:13:39.560 it's free reign
00:13:40.660 for them
00:13:41.200 to do social experiments
00:13:43.160 on the military
00:13:44.180 because you have to do
00:13:45.160 what you're told.
00:13:45.620 I mean,
00:13:45.740 even with the vaccines,
00:13:47.200 you know,
00:13:47.460 they're punishing people.
00:13:48.420 They were talking about
00:13:49.400 dishonorable discharge
00:13:50.360 for not getting a vaccine.
00:13:51.440 Now, I mean,
00:13:51.940 I was different
00:13:52.420 when I was there
00:13:53.000 when we were invading
00:13:54.160 Iraq in 2003.
00:13:56.200 They were making us all
00:13:57.080 get smallpox and anthrax.
00:13:58.860 And I got them
00:13:59.620 just because I wanted to fight.
00:14:00.900 Like, you know,
00:14:01.220 I'm young and tough
00:14:03.020 and invincible.
00:14:04.320 But, you know,
00:14:05.880 I look back now
00:14:06.680 and I'm like,
00:14:07.040 there are people high up
00:14:07.780 in that administration
00:14:08.460 that had a lot of stock
00:14:09.480 in those companies
00:14:10.040 that are forcing us
00:14:10.700 to take their anthrax.
00:14:12.840 And it's just sick.
00:14:14.720 And it was never,
00:14:15.800 anthrax was never a problem
00:14:17.020 because it turns out
00:14:17.600 there were no weapons
00:14:18.300 of mass destruction.
00:14:19.100 And it's one of those things
00:14:20.080 with Iraq.
00:14:20.540 It's like, okay,
00:14:21.620 you know,
00:14:21.940 we never should have invaded,
00:14:23.760 but we also shouldn't have left
00:14:24.680 as quickly as we did.
00:14:25.680 And it's something
00:14:26.880 that they have a problem with
00:14:27.980 that I was a big believer
00:14:29.040 in a lot of the missions
00:14:30.200 I was in in real combat
00:14:31.420 where it doesn't matter
00:14:32.260 how and why we got here.
00:14:33.560 We're just here.
00:14:35.000 Now what do we do?
00:14:35.760 And they're just,
00:14:37.840 they're just,
00:14:38.380 they're focused,
00:14:39.680 most of it,
00:14:40.380 and again,
00:14:41.120 up to the politicians,
00:14:43.940 they really,
00:14:44.840 all they care about
00:14:45.620 is how do I improve
00:14:47.760 my personal life?
00:14:48.780 How do I get the next rung?
00:14:50.960 And how can I make more money?
00:14:52.140 I mean,
00:14:52.560 it's one,
00:14:53.220 it's again too,
00:14:53.940 and this has been said
00:14:54.620 time and time again,
00:14:55.300 and I've got to bring politicians
00:14:56.500 to do it
00:14:56.800 because they're involved
00:14:57.400 with combat.
00:14:57.840 It's like,
00:14:58.640 I don't really have a problem
00:15:00.180 with the very successful
00:15:01.160 businessman
00:15:01.680 who's already a millionaire
00:15:02.620 going into Congress.
00:15:03.700 The problem I have
00:15:04.800 is with someone
00:15:05.460 that doesn't have any money
00:15:06.680 and all of a sudden
00:15:07.100 they become a millionaire
00:15:08.120 in Congress
00:15:09.620 and it's there
00:15:10.280 and we see it.
00:15:10.960 It's sickening.
00:15:12.460 It seems,
00:15:13.480 and I can't speak to this
00:15:15.200 with great certainty,
00:15:16.380 but I have the sense
00:15:17.240 that the people
00:15:18.300 you're describing,
00:15:19.200 that is,
00:15:19.600 those who walked in
00:15:20.520 with a certain amount
00:15:21.320 of money
00:15:21.640 would walk out
00:15:22.340 with millions.
00:15:23.240 I think that's
00:15:24.000 the larger sample size
00:15:26.480 in the U.S. Congress
00:15:28.300 and as you say,
00:15:29.320 it's abominable.
00:15:30.660 It's just abominable.
00:15:31.800 And you have to
00:15:32.260 toe the party line
00:15:33.060 if you want
00:15:34.420 to get advanced
00:15:35.000 and everyone
00:15:35.360 should want
00:15:36.000 to get advanced,
00:15:36.580 but once you start
00:15:37.500 speaking out,
00:15:38.200 you're going to get canceled.
00:15:39.060 That's the same thing
00:15:39.440 in the military.
00:15:40.100 I mean,
00:15:40.320 it's getting worse,
00:15:42.620 but now just experimenting
00:15:43.840 on these people
00:15:44.520 that,
00:15:45.580 I mean,
00:15:46.260 you know,
00:15:46.860 we have people
00:15:47.720 in the military
00:15:48.320 who can't tell time
00:15:50.100 without looking
00:15:50.700 at their iPhone
00:15:51.540 and let alone
00:15:52.500 use a map and compass
00:15:53.400 and I try to tell,
00:15:54.280 I mean,
00:15:54.780 I've talked to senior guys
00:15:55.740 before,
00:15:56.140 even,
00:15:56.340 you know,
00:15:56.620 with Afghanistan
00:15:57.380 when we should have
00:15:58.220 gotten out,
00:15:58.860 but I said,
00:16:00.280 well,
00:16:00.400 what happens when
00:16:01.740 the electricity turns off
00:16:03.000 in electronic warfare?
00:16:05.200 They don't have an answer.
00:16:06.140 Well,
00:16:06.280 I guess I can't use
00:16:06.800 map and compass.
00:16:07.420 They don't know
00:16:07.640 how to use their kick count
00:16:08.340 when they're trying
00:16:08.720 to scuba dive
00:16:09.180 to put a bomb
00:16:09.860 on a ship.
00:16:11.260 Even when we invaded Iraq,
00:16:12.980 okay,
00:16:13.180 fine,
00:16:13.480 we're going to go
00:16:13.980 invade Iraq.
00:16:14.720 What's going to happen?
00:16:15.280 What's the end game?
00:16:16.040 They're like,
00:16:16.340 well,
00:16:16.820 the Shia are going
00:16:17.440 to rise up.
00:16:18.100 We're going to put
00:16:18.420 it into government.
00:16:19.020 Everything's going
00:16:19.360 to be fine.
00:16:20.280 And I started bringing up
00:16:21.320 how,
00:16:21.560 well,
00:16:21.640 remember when we
00:16:22.220 kind of screwed them
00:16:22.940 over when we went
00:16:24.120 into Kuwait
00:16:24.600 and left Saddam
00:16:25.160 to kill them,
00:16:25.600 who was a SUNY
00:16:26.980 and there's no
00:16:27.980 the Shia are going
00:16:28.460 to rise up
00:16:28.900 and me and the tactical
00:16:30.320 leaders are like,
00:16:31.180 okay,
00:16:31.460 what if they don't?
00:16:32.800 And they're like,
00:16:33.140 but they will.
00:16:33.740 Okay,
00:16:34.060 good,
00:16:34.580 but what if they don't?
00:16:35.640 But they will.
00:16:36.100 No,
00:16:36.280 but what if they don't?
00:16:38.180 And they just,
00:16:38.780 there's no outside
00:16:39.560 the box thinking there
00:16:40.460 and it's,
00:16:40.940 you know,
00:16:42.160 kiss someone's butt
00:16:42.860 and then this is the way
00:16:43.580 we've always done it.
00:16:45.440 I've asked two
00:16:46.420 commandants of West Point
00:16:48.660 at various points
00:16:50.100 over the years.
00:16:51.220 Do you teach yet?
00:16:54.840 And by the way,
00:16:55.940 West Point has a
00:16:56.640 terrific warriors
00:16:57.640 curricula
00:16:58.500 that is magnificent
00:17:00.480 and great warriors
00:17:03.360 lead much of that
00:17:05.260 teaching.
00:17:07.560 But they don't teach
00:17:08.680 what happens in failure,
00:17:10.620 what has caused failure,
00:17:12.660 what happened
00:17:13.440 in Afghanistan,
00:17:14.880 what happened
00:17:16.280 in the early days
00:17:17.860 of the Korean War
00:17:18.940 and how could we get
00:17:20.020 into so much
00:17:21.120 trouble so quickly
00:17:22.120 without understanding
00:17:24.360 what we're doing.
00:17:25.460 They don't teach failure.
00:17:26.820 I asked two commandants
00:17:28.180 at various points
00:17:28.920 over the years,
00:17:29.660 are you teaching failure?
00:17:31.420 And they said no.
00:17:33.100 And to the best
00:17:34.760 of my knowledge,
00:17:35.440 they still don't.
00:17:36.600 It's stunning.
00:17:37.780 I've talked to a lot
00:17:39.420 of officers recently
00:17:40.200 and don't get me wrong,
00:17:41.300 I hate the broad brush paint.
00:17:42.860 I mean,
00:17:42.960 there's some phenomenal officers.
00:17:44.240 I've worked with some
00:17:44.600 of the best officers
00:17:45.820 with whom I've served,
00:17:46.480 went to the Naval Academy,
00:17:47.300 went to West Point.
00:17:48.380 There are great officers
00:17:49.180 out there.
00:17:49.940 But, you know,
00:17:50.600 in order to get
00:17:51.100 to that fine tip
00:17:51.880 of the spear
00:17:52.260 as far as brass
00:17:52.920 on your shoulder,
00:17:53.520 you need to say
00:17:54.020 the right things.
00:17:55.060 And we were talking
00:17:56.300 about one of the guys
00:17:57.300 I was speaking with
00:17:58.220 was a colonel,
00:17:59.720 a Green Beret.
00:18:00.880 And when he said
00:18:01.440 the problem,
00:18:01.980 even at the war college,
00:18:03.460 they claim that
00:18:05.020 all they're teaching
00:18:05.540 is leadership
00:18:06.120 and that's fine leadership
00:18:07.100 in the hierarchy,
00:18:08.160 but you're not teaching
00:18:09.240 winning
00:18:09.700 and you're not teaching
00:18:11.180 losing.
00:18:12.340 And that's,
00:18:12.880 it's so obvious
00:18:13.980 because, you know,
00:18:15.040 you do win
00:18:15.600 from success sometimes,
00:18:17.400 but you should always
00:18:18.240 learn from failure.
00:18:18.920 Failure is the description
00:18:20.640 and I think we have
00:18:21.380 to apply to the withdrawal
00:18:22.600 of the United States
00:18:23.480 forces from Afghanistan.
00:18:27.120 The way we left,
00:18:29.620 I can't imagine
00:18:31.280 people in that region
00:18:32.960 ever forgetting
00:18:33.880 what the United States did.
00:18:36.320 your thoughts about that
00:18:39.580 and the absence
00:18:41.540 of any accountability
00:18:42.560 and how many people
00:18:44.920 do you understand?
00:18:46.840 How many Americans
00:18:47.700 and how many of our allies
00:18:49.800 have we left
00:18:50.740 to the mercy
00:18:51.700 of the Taliban?
00:18:53.000 Well, just because
00:18:53.640 of what we've done
00:18:55.540 with the Taliban
00:18:56.180 and ISIS,
00:18:56.720 we've also left Taiwan
00:18:57.700 out with China.
00:18:59.140 They know we're not
00:18:59.860 going to defend them.
00:19:00.720 Look at the Ukraine,
00:19:01.380 like we're saying,
00:19:01.980 Russia's moving.
00:19:03.040 I was talking to some
00:19:04.020 of my guys
00:19:04.460 that were on
00:19:04.860 the Bin Laden raid
00:19:06.100 and over the conversation
00:19:08.160 we said,
00:19:08.700 you know,
00:19:08.940 because the guys
00:19:09.700 at the planet,
00:19:10.380 our group of tactical
00:19:11.460 guys came up
00:19:12.000 with the best plan,
00:19:13.220 which by the way,
00:19:13.680 the plan didn't work
00:19:14.340 because a helicopter
00:19:15.060 crashed,
00:19:15.800 but we decided
00:19:16.880 if we took
00:19:18.320 that same team
00:19:19.160 and tried to come up
00:19:20.100 with what's the worst
00:19:21.000 possible way
00:19:21.800 to leave Afghanistan,
00:19:22.760 that's exactly
00:19:23.380 what we would have done,
00:19:24.000 the worst way.
00:19:24.860 And it's so bad
00:19:26.480 to the point
00:19:26.920 that even with
00:19:27.480 the Taliban,
00:19:28.400 when they had
00:19:28.980 those poor soldiers,
00:19:30.500 Marines,
00:19:30.900 and airmen out there,
00:19:31.820 and we're watching
00:19:33.680 it like they're
00:19:34.320 going to send
00:19:34.680 a suicide bomber in
00:19:35.600 because they're
00:19:36.220 pretty much lying
00:19:37.000 to us about
00:19:37.380 the difference
00:19:37.820 between the
00:19:38.280 Haqqani Network
00:19:38.800 Taliban and ISIS,
00:19:40.160 they're going to
00:19:40.460 have the Taliban
00:19:40.960 just say,
00:19:41.440 oh,
00:19:41.720 that was ISIS.
00:19:42.880 It's like,
00:19:43.140 are you kidding
00:19:44.320 me right now?
00:19:45.040 And then you get
00:19:46.080 bad intel on an
00:19:46.880 airstrike later
00:19:47.720 where you kill
00:19:48.480 an entire family.
00:19:49.680 All they were doing
00:19:50.200 was getting water
00:19:50.840 for the family,
00:19:51.700 but we got single
00:19:52.420 source intelligence,
00:19:53.300 yeah,
00:19:53.500 because it was
00:19:53.920 someone with a
00:19:54.420 blood feud against
00:19:55.140 them or the Taliban
00:19:55.880 saying,
00:19:56.560 watch what we can
00:19:57.140 make these idiot
00:19:57.680 Americans do.
00:19:58.440 We can make them
00:19:59.140 kill an innocent
00:19:59.580 family.
00:19:59.920 I mean,
00:20:01.920 if I was over
00:20:02.760 there,
00:20:03.080 I mean,
00:20:03.680 as opposed to
00:20:04.820 just running
00:20:05.280 for one of the
00:20:05.820 stands up to the
00:20:06.480 north,
00:20:07.140 I'm never working
00:20:07.980 with the Americans,
00:20:08.680 not in the short,
00:20:09.180 not now,
00:20:10.860 maybe,
00:20:11.380 who knows?
00:20:12.440 But it's,
00:20:13.020 I mean,
00:20:13.260 it was a complete
00:20:13.800 intelligence failure,
00:20:14.960 and again,
00:20:15.460 not on the intel
00:20:16.080 part because the
00:20:16.880 three-letter agency
00:20:18.180 people,
00:20:18.780 they said what's
00:20:20.120 going to happen
00:20:20.520 and they had to
00:20:21.900 get out of there
00:20:22.340 too and it's just
00:20:23.060 someone's up above
00:20:24.520 just like,
00:20:24.860 well,
00:20:25.280 President Biden
00:20:25.760 sure wants to
00:20:26.240 get out of here
00:20:26.720 by the 20th
00:20:27.620 anniversary of 9-11
00:20:28.480 and we better do it
00:20:29.500 and they also
00:20:30.240 realize that
00:20:30.940 because we're not
00:20:31.720 even really talking
00:20:32.340 about those 13
00:20:33.040 people who were
00:20:33.540 killed anymore,
00:20:33.980 we're not talking
00:20:34.520 about how many
00:20:34.940 Americans we left
00:20:35.560 behind and they
00:20:36.520 knew that if,
00:20:37.060 you know,
00:20:37.160 we'll forget about
00:20:37.680 it by the 20th
00:20:38.360 anniversary of 9-11,
00:20:39.460 we'll certainly
00:20:40.000 forget about it
00:20:40.600 by the midterms
00:20:41.320 next year.
00:20:42.440 Well,
00:20:42.860 I'll guarantee
00:20:43.280 you this,
00:20:43.900 this,
00:20:45.180 the Great America
00:20:46.460 show will not
00:20:47.160 be forgetting,
00:20:47.840 Rob,
00:20:48.060 and I think
00:20:49.120 there are a lot
00:20:49.520 of people
00:20:50.020 who are going
00:20:51.360 to surprise
00:20:53.440 many of our
00:20:54.440 friends in
00:20:54.900 Washington
00:20:55.300 by not,
00:20:55.840 not forgetting
00:20:56.720 and insisting
00:20:58.620 on people
00:20:59.860 being held
00:21:00.420 to account
00:21:01.000 for what
00:21:01.760 was an
00:21:02.560 utter
00:21:02.820 catastrophe.
00:21:04.140 That was.
00:21:05.300 It's,
00:21:06.520 let's turn
00:21:07.300 to,
00:21:08.260 if we may,
00:21:09.780 to Taiwan.
00:21:11.460 We just
00:21:12.480 have heard
00:21:13.540 the PLA
00:21:14.840 and the CCP
00:21:15.400 together
00:21:16.200 threaten
00:21:17.080 Australia
00:21:17.800 that if
00:21:18.960 they were
00:21:20.180 to in any
00:21:20.860 way
00:21:21.280 defend Taiwan
00:21:22.940 when the
00:21:24.520 Chinese
00:21:25.000 ultimately
00:21:25.660 decide
00:21:26.280 to invade
00:21:27.200 Taiwan
00:21:27.700 and end
00:21:28.240 their
00:21:28.460 independence,
00:21:29.200 their sovereignty,
00:21:30.500 that they
00:21:30.980 will be
00:21:31.400 attacked
00:21:31.920 hard,
00:21:32.640 as the
00:21:33.240 Chinese
00:21:33.820 communists
00:21:34.920 put it.
00:21:35.680 Your thoughts
00:21:36.440 about the
00:21:37.040 level of
00:21:37.380 our commitment
00:21:37.980 and our
00:21:38.760 level of
00:21:39.540 capability
00:21:40.500 to meet
00:21:41.680 that commitment?
00:21:42.760 Our Navy
00:21:43.280 is incredible,
00:21:44.400 and if given,
00:21:45.440 we're designed
00:21:46.280 to beat,
00:21:47.440 obviously,
00:21:48.080 naval forces,
00:21:48.860 but our Marine
00:21:49.340 Corps and our
00:21:49.800 Army and Air
00:21:50.280 Force are
00:21:50.580 designed to
00:21:50.960 beat large,
00:21:51.760 we're designed
00:21:52.240 to large
00:21:52.760 armies.
00:21:54.640 If we had
00:21:55.820 the commitment,
00:21:56.400 which we've
00:21:56.720 proven that
00:21:57.100 we don't,
00:21:58.140 we'd be fine
00:21:58.920 because all
00:21:59.320 you need right
00:21:59.720 now is to
00:22:00.100 have a
00:22:00.980 couple of
00:22:01.520 amphib ships
00:22:02.240 in Taiwan
00:22:03.360 doing exercises
00:22:04.160 just to have
00:22:04.560 American boots
00:22:05.200 on the ground
00:22:05.540 to prove that
00:22:05.960 we're willing
00:22:06.320 to back them,
00:22:06.780 which we
00:22:06.980 don't have.
00:22:08.240 We just
00:22:08.880 had that
00:22:09.240 debacle
00:22:09.620 with the
00:22:10.340 submarine
00:22:10.700 deal between
00:22:11.360 France and
00:22:12.040 Australia's
00:22:12.640 trying to
00:22:12.860 get subs
00:22:13.240 because it
00:22:13.820 could be
00:22:14.320 coming to
00:22:14.620 them because
00:22:14.940 they're the
00:22:15.260 closest.
00:22:16.440 And we
00:22:17.460 simply have
00:22:17.920 a president
00:22:18.360 who says,
00:22:18.840 oh,
00:22:18.960 I didn't
00:22:19.120 know.
00:22:19.540 It's like,
00:22:19.740 okay,
00:22:19.920 good.
00:22:20.160 The commander
00:22:22.760 in the
00:22:24.860 world view,
00:22:25.700 China is
00:22:27.060 the biggest
00:22:27.700 threat.
00:22:29.180 But you
00:22:29.680 got to
00:22:29.900 figure,
00:22:30.300 so if
00:22:30.440 they're
00:22:31.520 after
00:22:32.740 Australia,
00:22:33.360 who's next?
00:22:33.820 That's
00:22:34.020 Japan.
00:22:35.140 And there's
00:22:36.160 a pretty
00:22:36.840 rocky history
00:22:37.660 between Japan
00:22:38.460 and China.
00:22:39.700 And so you're
00:22:40.140 talking about
00:22:40.540 some pretty
00:22:40.840 serious stuff.
00:22:41.380 And the way
00:22:42.200 that we
00:22:42.700 defeat this
00:22:44.520 kind of stuff
00:22:45.000 is strength
00:22:45.660 through force.
00:22:46.400 It's deterrence,
00:22:47.180 forward defense
00:22:47.960 and alliance
00:22:48.400 solidarity.
00:22:49.720 And we're
00:22:50.420 just,
00:22:51.020 we're giving
00:22:52.080 all of that
00:22:52.760 up for
00:22:53.180 political
00:22:53.640 gains of
00:22:54.120 a few
00:22:54.660 individuals
00:22:55.180 and then
00:22:55.540 because of
00:22:56.680 political
00:22:57.100 correctness.
00:22:58.160 They don't
00:22:59.100 want us,
00:22:59.720 we used to
00:23:00.160 have to
00:23:00.420 fill out
00:23:00.820 shooter
00:23:01.320 statement
00:23:01.660 for killing
00:23:02.180 Al-Qaeda
00:23:02.760 and make
00:23:03.660 some Afghans
00:23:04.540 write a
00:23:06.100 statement for
00:23:06.760 us and
00:23:07.160 then sign
00:23:07.580 it.
00:23:07.960 They couldn't
00:23:08.580 even sign
00:23:09.360 their own
00:23:09.740 name.
00:23:10.140 They'd
00:23:10.280 sign an
00:23:10.620 X.
00:23:10.960 I doubt
00:23:11.400 he wrote
00:23:11.860 it.
00:23:12.620 But it's
00:23:13.140 because of
00:23:13.740 wokeness,
00:23:14.280 political
00:23:14.500 correctness.
00:23:15.080 Don't kill
00:23:15.640 him too
00:23:15.880 mean.
00:23:16.940 And we're
00:23:17.700 turning inward.
00:23:18.460 We're really
00:23:18.920 good at
00:23:19.160 making rules
00:23:19.780 that we force
00:23:20.320 ourselves to
00:23:20.800 follow and
00:23:21.120 then we'll
00:23:21.360 throw our
00:23:21.700 own guys
00:23:22.080 in jail
00:23:22.420 for murder,
00:23:23.100 which we've
00:23:23.500 seen.
00:23:24.320 But we
00:23:24.660 won't attack
00:23:25.120 the enemy
00:23:26.200 with brute
00:23:26.620 force in
00:23:26.920 the first
00:23:27.160 six months.
00:23:27.600 We're really
00:23:27.900 good at
00:23:28.160 that.
00:23:28.420 But then
00:23:28.580 we don't
00:23:28.780 know what
00:23:29.020 to do
00:23:29.240 with
00:23:29.380 ourselves.
00:23:29.700 We don't
00:23:29.860 know how
00:23:29.980 to win,
00:23:30.340 like we
00:23:30.560 were saying
00:23:30.740 earlier.
00:23:32.160 A perfect
00:23:33.380 example is
00:23:34.640 Afghanistan.
00:23:36.420 What was
00:23:37.140 done by
00:23:37.560 special forces
00:23:38.480 and the
00:23:39.020 CIA and
00:23:41.700 the other
00:23:42.520 intelligence
00:23:43.020 agencies in
00:23:44.060 Afghanistan
00:23:44.780 from 2001
00:23:47.800 to 2002
00:23:48.740 is a
00:23:50.060 textbook.
00:23:51.120 for how
00:23:51.480 to avoid
00:23:52.040 what became
00:23:52.960 the doctrine
00:23:53.520 of the U.S.
00:23:54.160 military,
00:23:54.580 the so-called
00:23:55.080 long war.
00:23:56.380 I have to
00:23:57.160 ask you,
00:23:58.400 David Petraeus,
00:23:59.420 obviously the
00:24:00.460 author of
00:24:01.000 that, I have
00:24:02.320 said so many
00:24:03.040 years that I
00:24:03.700 have never heard
00:24:04.400 of anything so
00:24:05.080 stupid in my
00:24:05.840 life as the
00:24:07.620 doctrine of
00:24:08.520 long war.
00:24:09.800 Every general,
00:24:10.700 everyone I've
00:24:11.340 ever known has
00:24:12.860 always said that
00:24:14.320 the purpose is to
00:24:15.420 kill the enemy
00:24:16.160 and to do so as
00:24:17.080 quickly as
00:24:17.660 possible to
00:24:18.720 achieve the
00:24:19.420 objective and
00:24:21.200 here we are
00:24:21.980 with a
00:24:22.660 doctrine that
00:24:23.320 is really
00:24:23.740 just rationalization
00:24:24.880 of incompetence
00:24:25.860 and pathetic
00:24:26.420 leadership on
00:24:27.640 the part of
00:24:28.020 the U.S.
00:24:28.600 military, in
00:24:29.980 my opinion.
00:24:31.060 What is your
00:24:31.400 opinion?
00:24:31.460 I agree too.
00:24:32.740 I'll give you an
00:24:33.400 example of on the
00:24:34.200 battlefield.
00:24:35.460 We were the
00:24:36.140 guys that went
00:24:36.880 through the front
00:24:37.320 door to catch
00:24:37.840 Al-Qaeda on
00:24:38.980 their heels and
00:24:40.380 we had a
00:24:41.020 technique.
00:24:41.560 They actually had
00:24:42.000 to change us
00:24:42.560 because it was
00:24:42.980 too mean.
00:24:43.360 We used to
00:24:43.680 call it
00:24:43.980 battlefield
00:24:44.420 interrogation,
00:24:45.660 which means you
00:24:46.260 get them there,
00:24:46.820 you separate the
00:24:47.560 guys and then it
00:24:48.520 was very simple.
00:24:49.240 I'm not beating
00:24:50.180 them up or
00:24:50.560 anything.
00:24:51.140 I'm separating
00:24:51.760 them.
00:24:52.020 I'm asking them
00:24:52.540 five very simple
00:24:53.340 questions.
00:24:54.140 Who's the man of
00:24:54.640 the house?
00:24:55.240 Who are the men
00:24:55.680 in the house?
00:24:56.180 And what are
00:24:56.520 their names?
00:24:57.260 Boom, boom, boom.
00:24:58.000 Ask all seven
00:24:58.680 guys that.
00:24:59.260 You got two guys
00:24:59.860 that tell you
00:25:00.200 something different.
00:25:00.720 They're your
00:25:00.980 liars.
00:25:01.520 And you catch
00:25:02.060 them so scared
00:25:02.820 they're going to
00:25:03.240 start to tell you
00:25:03.900 where the rest of
00:25:04.420 the bad guys are.
00:25:05.020 So that's an
00:25:05.700 interrogation.
00:25:06.400 Boom, I caught
00:25:06.960 you.
00:25:07.340 I beat you
00:25:07.780 quickly.
00:25:08.300 You told me
00:25:08.720 what I wanted to
00:25:09.540 hear.
00:25:10.140 And then we go
00:25:10.520 to follow on
00:25:11.080 targets.
00:25:11.420 Now, those
00:25:12.120 same guys, the
00:25:13.160 longer we have
00:25:14.080 them, they go to
00:25:15.040 Guantanamo Bay.
00:25:16.320 Now, all of a
00:25:16.920 sudden, they got
00:25:17.340 U.S.
00:25:17.860 attorneys and JAG
00:25:18.740 officers defending
00:25:19.580 them.
00:25:20.020 They get 23 hours a
00:25:21.340 day outside in the
00:25:22.060 sun playing soccer,
00:25:23.480 realizing that we're
00:25:25.060 going to win this
00:25:25.560 fight because they're
00:25:26.040 going to get us back
00:25:28.260 to the jihad
00:25:28.800 eventually.
00:25:29.320 But for now, I'll
00:25:29.900 enjoy this Cuban
00:25:30.560 sunshine.
00:25:31.500 Because the longer
00:25:32.220 you're involved, the
00:25:33.500 more they see.
00:25:34.140 And the more they
00:25:34.780 see.
00:25:34.940 It's not just, I
00:25:35.900 mean, Al-Qaeda and
00:25:37.580 Taliban aren't the
00:25:39.300 only ones who see
00:25:39.840 how stupid we are.
00:25:40.720 Russia and China
00:25:41.880 are watching.
00:25:42.540 And they're doing
00:25:42.920 everything they can
00:25:43.600 behind the scenes to
00:25:44.260 make sure that they
00:25:45.520 just drag it.
00:25:46.320 We did it to them
00:25:46.960 when they were fighting
00:25:48.200 the Mujahideen in
00:25:48.860 Afghanistan.
00:25:49.400 And we're sending
00:25:49.720 stuff to Pakistan,
00:25:51.420 another play.
00:25:52.440 That's an entirely
00:25:52.960 different episode.
00:25:54.080 But the longer
00:25:55.420 you're in there, the
00:25:56.120 more they read you.
00:25:57.100 And you're going to
00:25:58.000 do worse, especially
00:25:58.780 than you get a
00:25:59.480 public, like we've
00:26:00.040 proven in Vietnam,
00:26:00.860 all of a sudden,
00:26:01.520 these college kids
00:26:02.180 who don't know
00:26:02.560 anything except what
00:26:03.660 they've been taught
00:26:04.140 by some dude in the
00:26:04.880 classroom that's never
00:26:05.560 done anything.
00:26:06.620 You know, the
00:26:07.040 uprising in the
00:26:07.860 streets and all this
00:26:08.360 stuff, and we have
00:26:08.800 no choice but to
00:26:09.360 back, you can tell
00:26:10.620 even by the way
00:26:11.140 I'm talking right
00:26:11.780 now, I can hear
00:26:12.300 myself bogging my
00:26:13.340 arguments down.
00:26:15.140 No, no, you're not
00:26:16.540 bogging it down.
00:26:17.300 You're taking account
00:26:18.200 of 360-degree view
00:26:21.100 of the battlefield.
00:26:22.180 The fact is, what
00:26:23.940 you're describing, I
00:26:24.860 think, is what nearly
00:26:26.440 every American senses.
00:26:29.880 Even if we can't see
00:26:32.020 it exactly clearly
00:26:33.440 right now, because
00:26:34.400 there is so much
00:26:35.260 fog, and much of
00:26:36.080 that fog generated
00:26:37.040 by our own leaders so
00:26:38.320 that we don't
00:26:39.000 recognize the reality
00:26:40.780 this nation faces.
00:26:43.060 Rob, I can't express
00:26:44.420 adequately my
00:26:45.520 gratitude for you
00:26:46.340 joining us here
00:26:47.020 today.
00:26:47.580 Of course.
00:26:47.920 I look forward to
00:26:49.260 our next discussion,
00:26:50.400 and I thank you for
00:26:51.160 sharing your
00:26:52.360 perspective with the
00:26:54.040 audience of the
00:26:54.880 Great America Show.
00:26:56.920 Thank you so much.
00:26:58.500 Rob O'Neill,
00:26:59.700 national hero.
00:27:01.460 Thank you, sir.
00:27:01.840 Well, thank you,
00:27:02.820 Lou.
00:27:02.920 It's great to be here,
00:27:03.620 and like I said,
00:27:04.180 anytime.
00:27:05.420 You got a deal.
00:27:06.420 Thank you.
00:27:06.720 Thank you.
00:27:07.540 Rob O'Neill.
00:27:08.880 I think maybe a lot
00:27:10.280 of people are
00:27:10.720 surprised at the
00:27:11.940 depth of his
00:27:12.700 knowledge and his
00:27:13.720 absolute clear,
00:27:16.900 sighted view of our
00:27:18.700 military leadership and
00:27:20.380 the enemies and
00:27:21.500 challenges and threats
00:27:22.680 that this country
00:27:23.420 faces.
00:27:24.600 That's why, as he
00:27:26.300 intimated, we'll be
00:27:28.540 inviting him here
00:27:29.400 often and regularly.
00:27:31.760 We will continue with
00:27:33.420 the Great America Show
00:27:34.680 in just moments.
00:27:35.800 Please stay with us.
00:27:38.400 Well, one of the
00:27:39.040 principal missions of
00:27:40.540 this podcast is to
00:27:41.820 keep in constant view
00:27:43.060 what a great country
00:27:44.520 we're blessed to live
00:27:45.520 in.
00:27:46.120 We have far too many
00:27:47.480 on the left trying to
00:27:49.000 run down America,
00:27:50.200 and yes, run down our
00:27:51.520 citizens who work hard
00:27:53.220 for their families and
00:27:54.360 communities and this
00:27:55.540 nation.
00:27:56.320 The sour and
00:27:57.580 destructive national
00:27:58.720 left-wing media tries to
00:28:00.360 keep us all focused on
00:28:01.820 our shortcomings, our
00:28:02.980 flaws, and our failures,
00:28:04.300 others rather than our
00:28:05.620 hundreds of years of
00:28:06.820 success, prosperity, and
00:28:08.260 opportunity that we've
00:28:09.360 created for all our
00:28:10.920 citizens and indeed now
00:28:12.380 most of the world.
00:28:13.760 I believe we should be in
00:28:14.920 a festive mood most of
00:28:16.360 the time celebrating who
00:28:17.720 we are, how far we've
00:28:19.360 come, and all that we've
00:28:20.620 achieved for one another
00:28:21.940 and billions of people
00:28:23.560 around the globe.
00:28:25.320 You know Iran, of all
00:28:26.600 countries, is celebrating
00:28:28.060 this week firing off
00:28:29.420 torpedoes, missiles, and
00:28:31.040 drones, and war games.
00:28:32.360 The Iranian military
00:28:33.980 games are called
00:28:35.040 Zulfakhir.
00:28:36.420 Over the past few days,
00:28:37.920 Iran has launched their
00:28:39.280 anti-ship missiles firing
00:28:40.800 anti-aircraft systems, and
00:28:43.180 Iranian submarines even
00:28:44.740 firing their torpedoes that
00:28:46.620 mock targets underwater.
00:28:49.160 The U.S. Navy did,
00:28:50.760 though, in a way beat the
00:28:51.980 Iranians to the festivities,
00:28:53.960 our Navy carrying out its
00:28:55.340 annual live-fire exercises in
00:28:57.560 the Persian Gulf a week ahead
00:28:59.620 of the Iranians.
00:29:00.520 The Iranian military drills
00:29:02.760 follow news that the
00:29:04.020 Iranians have now
00:29:05.300 substantial stockpiles of
00:29:07.040 enriched uranium, claiming
00:29:08.980 over the past year they've
00:29:10.020 been producing 20% enriched
00:29:11.880 uranium.
00:29:12.680 That's disturbing enough, but
00:29:14.560 the U.N.'s International
00:29:15.620 Energy Agency now reports
00:29:18.000 the Iranians are enriching
00:29:19.660 uranium above 60%,
00:29:21.580 putting the Iranians
00:29:23.280 perilously close to the 90%
00:29:26.160 enrichment level, which is
00:29:28.160 required for weapons-grade
00:29:29.860 material.
00:29:31.400 Joining us now to take up
00:29:32.960 the Iran deal, the Middle
00:29:34.840 East, the national security
00:29:36.380 threats posed primarily by
00:29:37.980 communist China and Russia,
00:29:40.460 is Fred Flights.
00:29:41.800 Fred is the president and CEO
00:29:43.440 of the Center for Security
00:29:44.540 Policy, previously served as
00:29:47.060 deputy assistant to President
00:29:48.460 Donald Trump, chief of staff
00:29:50.360 for National Security Advisor
00:29:52.220 John Bolton.
00:29:53.820 Fred has served in national
00:29:55.240 security posts for a quarter
00:29:56.620 century working for the CIA,
00:29:59.500 the Defense Intelligence
00:30:00.660 Agency, the Department of
00:30:02.060 State, and House Intelligence
00:30:03.860 Committee.
00:30:04.800 He's a graduate of St.
00:30:05.840 Joseph's University, a
00:30:07.140 master's from Fordham, author
00:30:09.020 of numerous books and
00:30:10.160 articles, and we are pleased to
00:30:11.980 talk with you today, Fred.
00:30:13.580 Great to have you on the Great
00:30:14.860 America Show.
00:30:16.240 And let's begin with Iran and
00:30:19.200 the JPCOA, as it's lovingly
00:30:22.440 referred to, the Iran deal.
00:30:27.360 Why is it Biden can't get
00:30:28.960 anything moving on the deal
00:30:31.300 with the Iranians?
00:30:32.840 He's obviously a fan of theirs.
00:30:35.240 Lou, thank you so much for
00:30:36.540 having me on the show.
00:30:37.560 Let me say, I'm so glad you're
00:30:39.840 back on the air.
00:30:41.940 This country's in trouble.
00:30:43.120 We need you.
00:30:43.980 We need you badly.
00:30:46.120 Well, the threat from Iran has
00:30:48.580 gotten significantly worse under
00:30:50.680 Joe Biden.
00:30:51.620 The Iranians seem as if they
00:30:53.360 think they can intimidate the
00:30:55.000 heck out of Biden to get a
00:30:56.800 complete capitulation by the
00:30:58.380 United States, not just on
00:31:00.380 the nuclear deal, not just on
00:31:02.000 dropping sanctions, but I think
00:31:03.500 Iran would like cash payments.
00:31:06.200 And it looked for a while that
00:31:08.120 the Biden administration was
00:31:09.520 thinking about this.
00:31:10.500 And the situation got even worse
00:31:12.200 with the election by Ibrahim
00:31:14.360 Raisi in June, a very hardline
00:31:17.760 Iranian who is actually under
00:31:19.880 international sanctions for his
00:31:21.820 involvement in terrorism.
00:31:22.960 And he's filled his cabinet with
00:31:25.040 other fellow terrorists and
00:31:26.400 people who the world would like
00:31:27.620 to arrest for involving
00:31:29.360 illegal activities.
00:31:31.440 Biden came in with a really
00:31:33.000 naive view that the Iranians
00:31:34.880 would love him.
00:31:36.100 And because he wasn't Trump,
00:31:37.300 they would immediately rejoin
00:31:38.900 Obama's terrible nuclear deal.
00:31:40.520 But the problem is, Lou, the
00:31:42.100 Iranians hate America.
00:31:43.940 They hated Donald Trump, but they
00:31:45.460 still hate America with Biden
00:31:46.880 as president.
00:31:47.480 And the Biden administration,
00:31:49.060 they just don't have a clue about
00:31:51.180 how the Iranians operate and how
00:31:53.060 dangerous the threat from Iran is
00:31:54.640 becoming.
00:31:56.200 Yeah, it's and at the same time,
00:31:58.920 there is these reports, as I said,
00:32:01.200 from the IAEA, the UN Energy
00:32:03.940 Agency, saying they're processing
00:32:07.360 with regularity and considerable
00:32:09.480 success, 60 percent and above
00:32:12.980 levels of enriched uranium moving
00:32:16.760 toward that 90 percent required
00:32:18.660 for nuclear weapons material.
00:32:23.380 This and this is going right now
00:32:25.420 with that comment from the Biden
00:32:27.520 administration.
00:32:28.840 What is your your thought about
00:32:31.040 where we're headed?
00:32:32.580 It is an unprecedented surge in
00:32:34.500 Iran's nuclear weapons program in
00:32:36.520 2021 during the Biden presidency.
00:32:39.760 Enriched uranium to 60 percent
00:32:42.480 uranium 235 is 90 percent of the
00:32:45.480 way to making weapons
00:32:47.620 grade uranium.
00:32:49.180 And right now, according to I did
00:32:50.900 a podcast myself last week with
00:32:52.660 David Albright, who heads an
00:32:54.340 organization that monitors Iran's
00:32:56.160 nuclear program.
00:32:57.200 He believes Iran could have enough
00:32:59.040 weapons grade uranium for one
00:33:00.680 weapon in less than a month and
00:33:02.560 could have enough for two more
00:33:03.960 weapons in about six to eight
00:33:06.360 weeks and could conduct an
00:33:08.040 underground nuclear test within
00:33:09.520 six months.
00:33:10.300 That's how bad this is.
00:33:11.900 But, you know, Fred, many people
00:33:14.060 listening to
00:33:15.500 to us here, you
00:33:18.480 know, they're saying, wait a
00:33:19.480 minute, I've been told for the
00:33:21.340 past six, seven years that
00:33:23.480 we're six months away
00:33:24.680 from watching the Iranians
00:33:26.760 produce a nuclear
00:33:28.640 weapon.
00:33:30.160 It just hasn't happened.
00:33:32.000 And that and the horizon
00:33:33.380 seemed to be sort of frozen at six
00:33:35.480 months.
00:33:35.900 What are people to think about
00:33:38.280 the reliability of these
00:33:39.900 estimates and the horizon
00:33:41.600 of a completed
00:33:43.680 weapon by Iran?
00:33:45.900 I think that's a fair point.
00:33:47.500 And there's a lot we don't know
00:33:48.700 about Iran's nuclear program.
00:33:50.160 The fact that nuclear fuel doesn't
00:33:51.760 mean their nuclear weapon would
00:33:53.060 work.
00:33:54.000 We also know that the Israelis are
00:33:56.040 taking no chances.
00:33:57.620 They've engaged in a huge campaign
00:33:59.840 of sabotage against Iran's
00:34:01.980 nuclear program over the last
00:34:03.780 couple of years.
00:34:04.600 This included assassinating
00:34:06.060 Iran's top nuclear scientists
00:34:07.920 with a remote control machine
00:34:09.440 gun late last year.
00:34:11.060 So you're right.
00:34:12.540 We've heard these claims
00:34:14.260 over and over again.
00:34:16.000 But frankly, I don't think
00:34:17.660 the world wants to take any
00:34:18.880 chances of Iran having this
00:34:20.240 capability.
00:34:21.240 But I'll admit to you, we just
00:34:23.280 don't know for sure.
00:34:24.640 Well, I mean, this
00:34:25.520 administration, for example,
00:34:27.320 just killed 10 people
00:34:28.920 in Afghanistan
00:34:31.760 as they're exiting
00:34:33.120 with empty aircraft
00:34:34.260 and leaving Americans
00:34:36.380 and others behind
00:34:37.780 with some of the people
00:34:40.640 who depended upon us
00:34:42.060 for their security
00:34:42.780 hanging on to C-17As
00:34:45.500 and falling to their deaths
00:34:46.880 as the plane
00:34:48.700 rose above the airport.
00:34:51.000 I mean,
00:34:51.900 and then those 10 people
00:34:53.840 that were supposed to have been
00:34:55.100 killed in retribution,
00:34:57.460 if you will,
00:34:58.480 turned out to have been
00:34:59.460 mostly women and children.
00:35:00.820 We can't,
00:35:02.460 we have no intelligence
00:35:04.100 of any quality,
00:35:06.140 even in Afghanistan,
00:35:07.900 let alone Iran.
00:35:09.320 I don't think we had
00:35:09.960 very good intelligence
00:35:10.980 in Afghanistan.
00:35:11.940 But I also think that
00:35:13.000 some of the actions
00:35:13.920 that were taken
00:35:14.600 while we were occupying
00:35:17.000 the airport in Kabul,
00:35:18.900 the intel on that
00:35:20.260 was very poor.
00:35:21.340 And there should not have been
00:35:22.380 the attacks that were ordered,
00:35:24.140 the drone strike,
00:35:26.080 for example,
00:35:26.860 that was just done
00:35:28.160 to make Biden look good.
00:35:29.220 No one should have acted
00:35:30.420 on that intelligence.
00:35:31.500 We don't have any intelligence
00:35:32.720 in Afghanistan at all right now.
00:35:35.080 Well, it didn't make him
00:35:36.400 look very good, did it?
00:35:38.060 Well, I think Biden
00:35:39.540 running back tough
00:35:40.460 and what a surprise.
00:35:43.940 There's suddenly a drone strike
00:35:45.140 and, you know,
00:35:46.180 we didn't have sources
00:35:47.000 on the ground
00:35:47.540 to confirm
00:35:48.140 who the strike was.
00:35:49.500 And this idea
00:35:50.100 of the over-horizon capability
00:35:51.960 with drones
00:35:52.600 that fly eight hours
00:35:53.840 over Afghanistan
00:35:55.060 to take out terrorists,
00:35:56.700 but the people I know
00:35:58.020 in the field
00:35:58.440 think that that's
00:35:59.100 just really foolish.
00:35:59.980 It's not going to work.
00:36:01.260 Well, under the Obama-Biden
00:36:03.040 administration,
00:36:03.860 that was brought
00:36:04.540 to a high level
00:36:06.520 of tactic
00:36:09.440 and used,
00:36:12.460 well, with regularity,
00:36:14.620 almost constantly
00:36:15.660 to attack
00:36:17.240 the enemies
00:36:19.920 of the Afghans
00:36:22.620 and ourselves.
00:36:24.000 But, you know,
00:36:26.060 I can't understand
00:36:27.440 why there is
00:36:28.760 such confusion
00:36:30.000 and just absolute chaos
00:36:33.740 in this administration.
00:36:35.800 In all of that time,
00:36:37.420 in Kabul,
00:36:38.100 the withdrawal
00:36:38.660 from Afghanistan,
00:36:40.860 he's made this country
00:36:41.660 look like fools.
00:36:43.860 He has behaved like one
00:36:45.680 and is a laughingstock
00:36:47.840 for a number of reasons
00:36:48.900 all around the globe.
00:36:50.420 This is a very serious issue
00:36:52.420 because he needs
00:36:53.300 to be leading
00:36:53.920 the U.S.
00:36:54.720 and our allies
00:36:55.720 toward confronting
00:36:57.240 the geopolitical
00:36:58.920 and military challenges
00:37:00.440 of communist China,
00:37:02.940 of Russia.
00:37:04.400 He's not a leader
00:37:05.520 of his own people,
00:37:06.540 let alone a leader
00:37:08.040 of the Western world.
00:37:11.640 Biden is proving
00:37:12.880 to the world,
00:37:13.740 to our enemies,
00:37:14.780 how weak
00:37:15.380 and incompetent
00:37:16.080 he is day after day.
00:37:18.500 And that's why
00:37:20.160 we saw so many
00:37:21.240 abstinences
00:37:21.840 at the G20 summit
00:37:23.080 and this climate summit
00:37:24.600 in Europe.
00:37:26.040 Foreign leaders
00:37:26.460 don't want to meet
00:37:27.100 with Biden.
00:37:27.600 There's no point.
00:37:28.380 Why go to a meeting
00:37:29.560 like this when the U.S.
00:37:30.600 doesn't have any
00:37:31.300 serious policies
00:37:32.140 and does not have
00:37:33.080 a serious president?
00:37:34.240 But making this worse,
00:37:35.600 Lou,
00:37:36.100 is the weak team he has.
00:37:37.880 Anthony Blinken,
00:37:39.140 Jake Sullivan.
00:37:40.120 These people are
00:37:40.880 third string at best.
00:37:42.380 And so Biden,
00:37:43.260 not only is he weak,
00:37:44.560 he's surrounded
00:37:45.320 by really weak advisors
00:37:46.820 without a serious foreign policy
00:37:48.700 and this is opening
00:37:50.020 windows of opportunities
00:37:51.840 for our enemies
00:37:52.960 to do things
00:37:53.800 they would never attempt
00:37:54.820 under a competent president.
00:37:56.720 And as much as we must
00:37:57.780 be deeply concerned
00:38:00.320 about our enemies,
00:38:01.680 it looks like we should
00:38:02.580 be very concerned
00:38:03.320 about our enemies
00:38:04.120 and our mutual friends.
00:38:07.020 In this case,
00:38:08.180 France and Germany.
00:38:09.820 The reports this week
00:38:11.280 that they are producing
00:38:13.720 MTU and man,
00:38:15.420 diesel engines
00:38:17.120 for the Chinese,
00:38:19.620 or as they put it,
00:38:21.380 the PLA's Navy.
00:38:24.440 These ships,
00:38:25.520 355 of them,
00:38:27.460 many of them now powered
00:38:28.780 by German
00:38:30.360 and French
00:38:31.620 diesel engines.
00:38:33.300 What in the world
00:38:34.340 are we putting up
00:38:35.260 with here?
00:38:36.580 This isn't the first time
00:38:37.900 we've seen European companies
00:38:39.640 do things like this,
00:38:41.340 put trade ahead
00:38:42.520 of international security.
00:38:43.980 And I think we know
00:38:45.180 very well, Lou,
00:38:46.100 if Donald Trump
00:38:47.300 was still president,
00:38:48.480 he would read
00:38:49.160 these nations,
00:38:49.860 the Riot Act,
00:38:50.540 he would make them pay.
00:38:52.040 But Germany and France
00:38:53.020 know nothing will happen
00:38:54.600 if they sell stuff
00:38:55.880 like this to China
00:38:56.660 during the Biden presidency.
00:38:57.760 And the Chinese
00:39:00.420 making it also very clear
00:39:02.220 as they build up
00:39:03.920 their ships,
00:39:05.100 they're a naval power now.
00:39:07.340 The United States
00:39:08.060 is the second largest
00:39:09.440 navy power
00:39:10.520 because the Chinese
00:39:11.600 are building,
00:39:13.280 it seems like,
00:39:14.020 a ship a week
00:39:14.980 to put into action.
00:39:19.840 They've caught up
00:39:21.540 with us at least
00:39:22.480 in a number of areas
00:39:23.860 in space.
00:39:24.620 They're proceeding
00:39:26.260 with launch
00:39:26.980 and satellite technologies.
00:39:28.500 They may actually
00:39:29.000 be in the lead
00:39:29.900 with satellite-based weaponry
00:39:31.380 and hypersonic missiles.
00:39:34.100 What do you make
00:39:35.280 of the flat-footed response
00:39:37.040 of our Pentagon
00:39:37.920 and our political leaders?
00:39:40.820 This administration
00:39:41.860 doesn't get it.
00:39:42.940 They see China
00:39:44.160 as a competitor.
00:39:45.600 That's the word
00:39:46.280 that the Biden administration
00:39:48.200 uses.
00:39:48.860 No, look,
00:39:49.340 France is a competitor.
00:39:50.600 Mexico is a competitor.
00:39:52.340 China is an adversary
00:39:53.700 at best
00:39:54.320 and maybe an enemy.
00:39:55.340 It depends on
00:39:55.880 what words you want to use.
00:39:57.280 I think we have to,
00:39:58.320 you know,
00:39:58.580 that's the thing
00:39:59.020 I don't understand, Fred.
00:40:00.420 They are building a navy.
00:40:01.920 They are threatening
00:40:02.640 to attack Taiwan.
00:40:04.620 They are interfering
00:40:05.740 with global rights
00:40:07.140 of navigation
00:40:07.880 in the South China Sea.
00:40:09.520 They're aligned
00:40:10.500 with Russia,
00:40:11.760 which is asserting itself
00:40:13.160 in the Sea of Japan
00:40:14.260 for crying out loud.
00:40:15.480 It's navy.
00:40:16.060 And we are reluctant
00:40:18.840 to say that
00:40:19.840 it is a clear
00:40:21.840 geopolitical confrontation
00:40:23.840 and we're talking
00:40:25.000 about enemies,
00:40:26.080 not competitors.
00:40:27.940 Why would we hesitate
00:40:29.240 to call them enemies?
00:40:31.180 This is the thinking
00:40:32.120 of the left, Lou.
00:40:32.980 They don't recognize
00:40:34.320 these global threats.
00:40:35.480 They blame America.
00:40:37.140 The hell with them.
00:40:38.440 The hell with them.
00:40:39.540 Well, I'm with you.
00:40:40.680 Who's not on the lap
00:40:41.540 should be talking
00:40:42.420 straightforwardly
00:40:43.540 about the threats
00:40:44.380 they pose,
00:40:45.400 the specific strategies
00:40:47.920 they make it clear
00:40:49.040 they will follow,
00:40:50.160 and the fact
00:40:51.320 that they mean
00:40:51.860 to be our enemy
00:40:53.200 and to one day
00:40:54.880 dominate the entire world.
00:40:58.200 That's exactly right.
00:40:59.520 And when we don't
00:41:00.140 focus on that
00:41:01.060 and we put most
00:41:02.720 of our diplomatic efforts
00:41:04.640 to negotiating
00:41:06.360 climate agreements
00:41:07.360 with China,
00:41:08.460 Chinese officials
00:41:09.240 are laughing
00:41:09.740 behind our backs.
00:41:10.680 They see an opportunity.
00:41:12.200 They see that we have
00:41:13.500 a president
00:41:14.280 and an administration
00:41:15.060 in this country
00:41:16.040 that has no idea
00:41:17.560 what they're planning,
00:41:18.700 has no idea
00:41:19.300 of their plans
00:41:19.840 for global domination,
00:41:21.120 and I'm very fearful
00:41:23.300 they're going to
00:41:23.740 take advantage of this
00:41:24.740 before this president
00:41:25.960 leaves office.
00:41:26.880 Yeah, they're laughing
00:41:27.480 in our faces, Fred.
00:41:29.180 I mean, Xi Jinping,
00:41:31.080 not even a notice
00:41:32.340 by the national media
00:41:33.940 that Xi Jinping
00:41:34.920 absolutely insulted everyone
00:41:37.720 and said he's not going
00:41:39.280 to show up
00:41:40.000 for the climate meeting.
00:41:43.400 And then we have
00:41:44.640 our own president
00:41:45.360 who did show up
00:41:46.380 much to the apparent distress
00:41:48.140 of many people,
00:41:49.220 including,
00:41:49.780 is it Camilla,
00:41:51.320 the duchess of whatever?
00:41:53.880 She had noticed
00:41:55.460 something of an odor
00:41:56.480 wherever he stood
00:41:57.880 and suspicious sounds.
00:42:00.720 I mean,
00:42:01.060 this is a man
00:42:01.800 who's a laughingstock
00:42:02.940 for the entire world.
00:42:04.660 I know.
00:42:06.820 It's true.
00:42:07.300 And we know that
00:42:07.980 our enemies respect strength.
00:42:09.500 They didn't like Donald Trump,
00:42:10.640 but they feared him.
00:42:11.880 They respected him.
00:42:12.820 They knew he would use
00:42:14.100 military force
00:42:14.860 if necessary to defend us.
00:42:16.660 We know our enemies
00:42:17.600 take advantage of weakness.
00:42:19.520 They've taken advantage
00:42:20.320 of weak presidents before,
00:42:21.640 like Clinton,
00:42:22.700 like Obama.
00:42:23.400 But we've never had
00:42:24.780 a president this week.
00:42:26.120 That's why we are
00:42:27.040 in a bad situation,
00:42:28.240 a very dangerous
00:42:28.800 situation right now.
00:42:29.720 And on the eastern border
00:42:32.680 of Ukraine,
00:42:33.360 the western border
00:42:34.280 of Russia,
00:42:35.700 we're watching
00:42:36.480 Russian troop movements
00:42:37.760 and apparently
00:42:38.340 the Biden administration
00:42:39.460 did take notice
00:42:40.580 that those troops
00:42:42.300 and heavy military equipment
00:42:44.840 were moving around
00:42:45.700 the western frontier
00:42:46.740 of Russia.
00:42:48.580 And he dispatched
00:42:50.100 his CIA director,
00:42:51.640 Bill Burns,
00:42:52.440 to a meeting
00:42:53.020 at the Kremlin
00:42:53.640 to talk about
00:42:55.880 how concerned we are.
00:42:57.780 To what effect?
00:42:58.700 Well, you may not
00:43:01.040 agree with me, Lou,
00:43:02.300 but I endorse Bill Burns
00:43:03.660 to be CIA director
00:43:04.840 under Biden.
00:43:06.100 The reason is because,
00:43:07.160 in my opinion,
00:43:07.820 he's the only competent
00:43:09.240 national security person
00:43:10.540 Biden has.
00:43:12.040 And so I'm glad
00:43:13.140 he sent Burns
00:43:13.960 to do this.
00:43:14.960 He was former ambassador
00:43:16.020 to Russia.
00:43:16.820 I wouldn't want him
00:43:17.480 to serve in a
00:43:18.040 Republican administration.
00:43:19.520 I don't think the Russians
00:43:20.340 are going to listen to him.
00:43:21.740 But this is the best
00:43:23.040 Biden has
00:43:23.920 because it seems
00:43:24.860 pretty clear
00:43:25.480 Putin sees a window
00:43:26.680 off opportunity too
00:43:27.940 concerning Ukraine.
00:43:29.780 But to what effect?
00:43:31.740 I mean,
00:43:31.940 I'm really not taking
00:43:32.820 issue with his personality,
00:43:35.460 his performance,
00:43:36.320 his potential,
00:43:37.520 his record,
00:43:38.900 although I think
00:43:39.680 all are lacking.
00:43:40.840 But the fact of the matter
00:43:42.160 is,
00:43:43.100 to what effect?
00:43:44.220 What was
00:43:44.900 that meeting about
00:43:46.160 and what
00:43:46.740 changed
00:43:48.640 after they had
00:43:49.360 that meeting?
00:43:50.340 He met with
00:43:51.100 the national security
00:43:52.540 of the Russians,
00:43:55.600 Nikolai Patrashev,
00:43:58.180 the head of the
00:43:59.040 national security
00:44:00.320 group.
00:44:01.900 What did they accomplish?
00:44:04.260 The troops are still there,
00:44:05.500 the tanks are still there,
00:44:07.680 and they're moving.
00:44:08.360 I think he probably
00:44:11.100 tried his best
00:44:12.100 using his powers
00:44:13.100 of persuasion
00:44:13.920 and some stern scolding.
00:44:16.380 We know this
00:44:16.960 didn't accomplish anything,
00:44:18.040 but that's the most
00:44:19.160 Burns could do
00:44:19.880 because Biden's
00:44:20.500 not going to do anything.
00:44:21.860 Well,
00:44:22.040 I have to say,
00:44:23.060 I'm taking exception
00:44:24.100 with Mr. Burns too
00:44:25.240 because if he had
00:44:26.760 the temerity
00:44:27.460 to scold
00:44:28.460 Vladimir Putin,
00:44:30.280 he hasn't paid attention
00:44:31.360 to who Putin is
00:44:32.360 and who Russia is.
00:44:33.960 They have
00:44:34.440 the largest
00:44:35.340 nuclear arsenal
00:44:36.280 outside the United States
00:44:37.600 and the world.
00:44:38.200 they have taken
00:44:39.500 every sanction
00:44:41.340 that has ever
00:44:42.220 been placed on them
00:44:43.160 and eaten up
00:44:45.500 those sanctions
00:44:46.240 as if they were
00:44:47.520 milk toast
00:44:49.880 because you know what?
00:44:51.240 Sanctions are milk toast
00:44:52.360 and that's the best
00:44:53.080 we have responded
00:44:53.920 to any of his
00:44:55.420 outrageous,
00:44:56.320 aggressive acts
00:44:57.340 whether it be in Crimea
00:44:58.820 or whether it be
00:44:59.880 on the Ukraine border.
00:45:01.400 We've got to do better
00:45:02.420 than this as a country
00:45:03.400 because we have
00:45:04.080 a silly bunch
00:45:05.040 of people running around
00:45:06.300 talking about
00:45:07.420 national security.
00:45:09.560 I've got to say
00:45:10.500 one thing too.
00:45:12.500 I've got to give
00:45:13.440 Washington Post
00:45:14.240 media critic
00:45:14.920 Eric Wimple.
00:45:16.040 He called out
00:45:16.940 the left-wing media
00:45:18.100 by the way
00:45:19.160 for supporting
00:45:21.800 and even animating
00:45:23.040 the fraudulent
00:45:23.860 steel dossier.
00:45:26.080 What is your reaction
00:45:28.020 to the fact
00:45:28.520 that the Washington Post
00:45:29.760 media observer
00:45:32.740 Eric Wimple
00:45:33.960 wrote very clearly
00:45:35.440 the journalists
00:45:36.960 who relied on
00:45:37.620 that phony dossier
00:45:38.740 will be held
00:45:39.480 to account.
00:45:40.900 Well, they're admitting
00:45:41.780 this now
00:45:42.240 but they're not sorry.
00:45:43.560 They knew they were
00:45:44.120 lying in 2016,
00:45:45.580 2017
00:45:46.040 throughout the
00:45:46.800 Trump presidency.
00:45:48.040 My view on this,
00:45:49.640 Lou,
00:45:49.900 is that Durham
00:45:50.900 let down this country.
00:45:52.640 He should have put
00:45:53.420 his findings out
00:45:54.540 before the 2020 election
00:45:56.700 so the American...
00:45:57.280 Oh, hell yes.
00:45:58.260 But right now
00:45:59.360 he's the only thing
00:46:00.100 we got.
00:46:00.580 Do you realize that?
00:46:01.900 Fred,
00:46:02.360 he is the only one
00:46:03.780 who has produced
00:46:05.120 the actual indictment
00:46:07.580 of those folks
00:46:08.960 involved in that dossier
00:46:11.240 and this looks like
00:46:13.140 just the early days now.
00:46:15.060 It may be late,
00:46:15.940 no doubt about it,
00:46:16.720 not maybe,
00:46:17.280 it is late,
00:46:18.100 but at least
00:46:18.740 he seems to be progressing
00:46:20.060 toward having established
00:46:21.640 that the Clinton campaign
00:46:23.440 in league with
00:46:24.520 the deep state,
00:46:27.780 the FBI,
00:46:28.620 the Justice Department,
00:46:30.240 and so many on the Hill
00:46:32.060 and particularly in the Senate,
00:46:34.040 they tried to overthrow
00:46:35.280 a president
00:46:35.900 and before that
00:46:36.800 they tried to stop
00:46:37.720 his election
00:46:38.300 and now there is
00:46:40.040 an actual record
00:46:40.880 and it's pretty clear
00:46:42.620 the FBI had an active,
00:46:44.840 enthusiastic role in it all.
00:46:49.440 And by the way,
00:46:50.200 Fred,
00:46:51.360 where the hell is Italy
00:46:52.620 and where is Australia?
00:46:55.120 They had such a big involvement
00:46:56.960 in that dossier
00:46:58.980 and reporting back
00:47:00.700 into the White House
00:47:02.520 and I'm talking about
00:47:03.480 the Obama White House
00:47:04.620 in early days
00:47:05.720 about just how dangerous
00:47:08.500 Donald Trump's relationship
00:47:11.140 with the Russians were.
00:47:12.540 All of it,
00:47:13.300 fiction and lies
00:47:14.640 by our allies as well.
00:47:18.700 Look, I'm glad
00:47:19.640 this is coming out now,
00:47:21.020 but, you know,
00:47:22.280 people like you and I,
00:47:23.260 we've known this.
00:47:23.900 We've been talking
00:47:24.380 about this for years.
00:47:25.640 We're getting Durham
00:47:26.380 to confirm something
00:47:27.380 that any intelligent person
00:47:29.020 in our country always knew.
00:47:30.500 It's too late.
00:47:32.140 He's let the country down.
00:47:33.760 This needed to get out
00:47:34.760 before the 2020 election.
00:47:36.480 You and I talked
00:47:37.120 about this on the air.
00:47:38.580 What good is it
00:47:39.280 coming out afterwards?
00:47:40.520 They just,
00:47:41.120 well, they almost
00:47:41.960 destroyed a presidency.
00:47:43.300 They contributed
00:47:44.400 to Donald Trump
00:47:45.240 not being reelected
00:47:46.800 and they got away with it.
00:47:47.860 The people responsible
00:47:48.640 for this,
00:47:49.220 Hillary Clinton,
00:47:50.040 she's not going to go to jail.
00:47:51.280 She's not going to suffer
00:47:52.080 for this.
00:47:53.320 So, I mean,
00:47:53.720 I hear you,
00:47:54.280 but I'm just so disappointed.
00:47:55.300 Yeah, it is disappointing
00:47:57.380 and it was going right
00:47:58.680 into the election
00:47:59.380 because so much,
00:48:00.200 I mean, people were,
00:48:01.260 you know, think about it.
00:48:02.780 Here is Operation Warp Speed,
00:48:05.520 President Trump's organization
00:48:08.600 and name for the,
00:48:10.620 you know,
00:48:11.240 the Manhattan Project
00:48:13.280 to deliver the vaccine
00:48:15.240 and vaccine companies
00:48:16.980 who had it ready
00:48:18.580 withheld the announcement
00:48:20.480 that it was ready
00:48:21.640 before the election
00:48:23.120 and not until after the election
00:48:24.980 did they let it be known.
00:48:26.520 That's what Donald Trump
00:48:28.380 was putting up with
00:48:29.320 and with,
00:48:30.400 you know,
00:48:30.720 trying to overcome
00:48:31.620 as President of the United States.
00:48:33.400 But as we wrap up here,
00:48:34.660 Fred,
00:48:34.940 I want to deal with one thing
00:48:37.360 at the end here
00:48:38.000 because Biden has delayed again
00:48:39.840 the release
00:48:41.980 of the JFK files
00:48:44.020 and records.
00:48:46.120 What is your reaction to this?
00:48:47.880 And by the way,
00:48:48.520 the nonsense
00:48:49.280 that he blathered Biden
00:48:51.400 about why he was trying
00:48:53.360 to protect our methods
00:48:54.640 and sources
00:48:55.340 and he didn't want anybody
00:48:56.580 to be discombubberated,
00:48:58.660 you know,
00:48:59.200 what was it,
00:49:00.120 60 years after the assassination,
00:49:03.120 almost 60 years
00:49:04.220 after the assassination
00:49:05.820 of John F. Kennedy.
00:49:07.700 Your thoughts?
00:49:08.860 I don't really know.
00:49:10.460 I read some reports
00:49:11.580 that there were covert operations
00:49:12.860 they don't want revealed.
00:49:13.960 What I think is more likely
00:49:15.100 is that there were people
00:49:17.360 who were not cooperating
00:49:18.720 or interfering
00:49:19.460 with the Warren Commission,
00:49:20.640 probably members
00:49:21.420 of the Johnson administration.
00:49:23.460 I think you probably
00:49:24.980 have stronger thoughts
00:49:25.880 on this than I do,
00:49:26.800 but it seems bizarre
00:49:28.360 that so long after
00:49:29.700 the Kennedy assassination
00:49:30.620 that Biden is concealing
00:49:32.860 this information.
00:49:34.400 Yeah, it's, to me,
00:49:35.660 it's such a, you know,
00:49:37.920 Donald Trump did the same thing
00:49:39.980 and there are no excuses,
00:49:42.280 no matter what they say.
00:49:43.760 The public right to know
00:49:45.760 and the requirement
00:49:47.720 that we understand
00:49:49.060 and have a truthful account
00:49:51.100 of our country's history.
00:49:52.760 Warts and all,
00:49:54.640 it's an American right
00:49:56.480 and we demand it.
00:49:58.560 And time after time,
00:50:00.200 a president says,
00:50:01.260 no, we're such children,
00:50:04.700 we can't handle the truth.
00:50:06.580 Pure nonsense
00:50:07.540 and we really need to know
00:50:09.720 what's going on
00:50:11.680 and why is the CIA
00:50:14.380 always involved
00:50:16.320 in shutting down
00:50:18.940 the public's right to know.
00:50:21.300 It's outrageous.
00:50:22.340 You get the last word here, Fred.
00:50:24.100 No, I agree with you.
00:50:25.380 I'd like to see this released also.
00:50:27.140 It just doesn't sound right.
00:50:29.520 The people mentioned
00:50:30.520 in this report,
00:50:31.540 they've mostly passed away,
00:50:33.220 so I don't know
00:50:33.740 what we're protecting.
00:50:36.760 Well, I'll tell you this.
00:50:38.080 It's always great
00:50:38.820 to talk with you.
00:50:39.640 We always learn so much
00:50:40.860 and we appreciate it, Fred.
00:50:43.460 Thank you so much.
00:50:44.520 Fred Blights.
00:50:45.480 Join us again tomorrow
00:50:46.560 for the Great America podcast.
00:50:48.700 Stay in the fight.
00:50:49.660 Truth, justice,
00:50:50.660 and the American way
00:50:51.480 will prevail
00:50:52.280 against all enemies,
00:50:53.860 against all odds.
00:50:55.060 Thank you.