WEBVTT - DHS shakeup and an update on War in Iran 0:00:00.200 --> 0:00:03.720 Welcome to today's podcast sponsored by Hillsdale College, All Things 0:00:03.800 --> 0:00:06.440 Hillsdale Hillsdale dot ed or I encourage you to take 0:00:06.480 --> 0:00:08.920 advantage of the many free online courses there, and of 0:00:08.920 --> 0:00:11.280 course I'll listen to the Hillsdale dialogues, all of them 0:00:11.280 --> 0:00:14.560 at hugh for Hillsdale dot com or just google, Apple, 0:00:14.920 --> 0:00:18.200 iTunes and Hillsdale and I got a big show for 0:00:18.239 --> 0:00:22.159 you today coming up. Jonathan Schanzer, Ben and ben Belkablue 0:00:22.280 --> 0:00:26.720 from the Foundation for the Defensive Democracy, Eleana Johnson from 0:00:26.840 --> 0:00:31.280 the Washington Freebeacon, Jim tallon Alaska Senator Dan Sullivan, so 0:00:31.400 --> 0:00:34.960 much more, But I start with the indispensable Jim Garrity 0:00:35.320 --> 0:00:38.479 Washington Post call him as senior political writer for National Review. 0:00:38.520 --> 0:00:40.720 He writes every morning the morning Joel would shot to 0:00:40.760 --> 0:00:43.640 be getting and reading. Chim will cover the breaking news 0:00:43.680 --> 0:00:46.640 of CHRISTI nom being fired and Mark Wayne Mullen being 0:00:46.720 --> 0:00:50.599 named after I get your first assessment of how the 0:00:50.600 --> 0:00:53.560 war with Iron is going, because that is the big 0:00:53.600 --> 0:00:57.319 story of the day, and we're five days in. By 0:00:57.320 --> 0:00:59.600 the end of the show, something terrible could happen, but 0:00:59.760 --> 0:01:04.080 right now such Americans have been killed and Iran's getting 0:01:04.120 --> 0:01:08.160 a living daylights knocked out of them. What do you think, Hugh. 0:01:08.240 --> 0:01:11.920 The last time we talked, the war had not yet begune, 0:01:11.959 --> 0:01:16.120 and I was reminding your listeners of Trump's truth Social 0:01:16.160 --> 0:01:19.039 statement that help was on its way. I believe forty 0:01:19.040 --> 0:01:22.440 six days passed between that statement on truth Social and 0:01:22.560 --> 0:01:25.319 the actual beginning of bombing. In the interim, a lot 0:01:25.360 --> 0:01:27.839 of the Iranian regime managed to kill a lot of protesters, 0:01:27.880 --> 0:01:31.240 and I was frustrated by it. It came late, but 0:01:31.319 --> 0:01:35.000 when it came, it came in just phenomenal numbers. And 0:01:35.040 --> 0:01:39.160 the performance of the military has just been superlative in 0:01:39.240 --> 0:01:42.240 terms of the precision, in terms of the scale of 0:01:42.280 --> 0:01:46.440 the scope, the sheer integration with our Israeli allies, and 0:01:46.480 --> 0:01:51.120 the use of Israeli intelligence has just been fascinating. And 0:01:51.480 --> 0:01:53.280 you know, today's Morning jult I kind of went through 0:01:53.480 --> 0:01:56.680 all the numbers. Before the conflict, Iran had the thirteenth 0:01:56.760 --> 0:01:58.120 largest military. 0:01:57.720 --> 0:01:59.360 In the world. 0:01:59.520 --> 0:02:02.120 Whether there was a little bit of hyperbole in Secretary 0:02:02.120 --> 0:02:05.280 of Defense Pete Hegsas comments yesterday when he said the 0:02:05.320 --> 0:02:08.280 Iranian Navy has been destroyed, the Iranian Air Force has 0:02:08.320 --> 0:02:08.959 been destroyed. 0:02:09.520 --> 0:02:11.200 They're a shadow of their former. 0:02:10.919 --> 0:02:13.960 Selves and In fact, just this afternoon, another Iranian warship 0:02:14.360 --> 0:02:17.440 went into port at Sri Lanka and basically said we're out. 0:02:17.600 --> 0:02:19.760 We're not leaving port for the remainder of the conflict. 0:02:19.840 --> 0:02:22.240 We have no interest in joining that other ship at 0:02:22.280 --> 0:02:25.760 the bottom of the ocean. It's been phenomenal, and you know, 0:02:25.800 --> 0:02:29.320 we've been through at least one eye Atola, possibly two. 0:02:29.760 --> 0:02:31.560 It's kind of hard to see because they cycle through 0:02:31.600 --> 0:02:35.320 them so fast. The Iranian regime is never going to 0:02:35.360 --> 0:02:37.480 be the same from us. I know the job is 0:02:37.520 --> 0:02:40.760 not done. I really want to see the Iranian regime 0:02:40.880 --> 0:02:41.680 utterly complete. 0:02:41.919 --> 0:02:43.919 If we end up in a Venezuela type. 0:02:43.720 --> 0:02:48.040 Situation where we leave the runner up or the right 0:02:48.040 --> 0:02:50.320 hand man of the old leader in charge, it's not 0:02:50.360 --> 0:02:53.960 going to be conducive to our long term interests. But 0:02:54.560 --> 0:02:57.680 you know, kudos to the President for calling for taking 0:02:57.720 --> 0:03:01.600 action that really no democratic even those alleged Neocon war 0:03:01.680 --> 0:03:04.560 bongers Bush and Sheney never did something like this. 0:03:06.320 --> 0:03:09.120 Two people coming up, Ben and Ben Talableau of the 0:03:09.160 --> 0:03:12.840 Foundation for Defensive Democracies, and I often talked to Kareem 0:03:12.919 --> 0:03:16.480 Sajetpoor when I'm in town, sometimes on the radio. They've 0:03:16.480 --> 0:03:19.720 both been very public. Don't arm the courage, don't let 0:03:19.760 --> 0:03:23.800 the country fall into civil war. What's your thought on that, 0:03:24.000 --> 0:03:27.840 because you know, obviously we would like the regular Iranian 0:03:27.960 --> 0:03:31.160 army to turn on the IRGC, kill them all and 0:03:31.320 --> 0:03:34.200 hold elections. But that's ye and I'd also like a 0:03:34.320 --> 0:03:37.640 unicorn that's not going to happen. What's the best result 0:03:37.720 --> 0:03:38.200 right now? 0:03:39.440 --> 0:03:44.640 The wariness of arming the Kurds is well placed and justified. 0:03:45.320 --> 0:03:47.120 It's been a long while since I've been in Turkey, 0:03:47.280 --> 0:03:51.240 but the RAND has fired just about everything and everybody 0:03:51.760 --> 0:03:54.040 they have not. There's one missile that got shot down 0:03:54.200 --> 0:03:56.520 over Turkey. There's debate about whether it was set in 0:03:56.520 --> 0:04:00.440 towards Julk, but by and large Iran has not fired 0:04:00.480 --> 0:04:03.000 directly at Turkey. This is because they share a border. 0:04:03.800 --> 0:04:05.720 Turkey has about a million men men when you throw 0:04:05.760 --> 0:04:09.120 in the reserves. They have a NATO trained first class 0:04:09.280 --> 0:04:12.440 army in very good drones. So if the Iranians were 0:04:12.680 --> 0:04:14.840 the Uranians have no capacity to pick a fight with 0:04:14.880 --> 0:04:17.800 the Turks right now. One area, though, that where Iran 0:04:17.839 --> 0:04:21.039 and Turkey do have shared interests, is the fact that 0:04:21.080 --> 0:04:21.960 they both have. 0:04:22.040 --> 0:04:23.360 Curds on their territory. 0:04:23.880 --> 0:04:26.320 Curtis stand if it existed as a country and included 0:04:26.360 --> 0:04:28.440 the ethnic Kurds would kind of the overlap. 0:04:28.000 --> 0:04:29.159 In the borders of both of them. 0:04:29.680 --> 0:04:32.040 And neither the Turks nor the Iranians want to see 0:04:32.040 --> 0:04:34.479 an independent Curtis stan get formed. 0:04:34.960 --> 0:04:38.120 The northern third of Iraq is a it's. 0:04:38.000 --> 0:04:39.960 Not an independent country, but it's got a great deal 0:04:40.000 --> 0:04:41.800 of autonomy and how it runs with the RACK, and 0:04:41.800 --> 0:04:43.440 I believe a little bit of Syria two has. 0:04:43.360 --> 0:04:44.440 A bit of the Curds. 0:04:45.440 --> 0:04:48.560 I understand the US wants to we're doing everything without 0:04:48.600 --> 0:04:51.040 a ground force right now, and there's an argument. 0:04:51.080 --> 0:04:52.520 We've seen the limits of air power. 0:04:52.640 --> 0:04:57.320 You can't remove a regime from power without somebody on 0:04:57.360 --> 0:05:00.440 the ground fighting there. I do, however, think that this 0:05:00.440 --> 0:05:02.240 would be opening up a can of worms. This would 0:05:02.240 --> 0:05:04.760 be opening up all of a sudden. Turkey would no 0:05:04.839 --> 0:05:09.200 longer be neutral to you know, supportive of our operations. 0:05:09.279 --> 0:05:11.000 I think they would be deeply concerned by this. 0:05:11.040 --> 0:05:12.840 All right now, I want to hear every other I've 0:05:12.839 --> 0:05:15.120 gotta have enough time to switch because you are the 0:05:15.560 --> 0:05:18.440 father of a couple of robot geeks and they're in 0:05:18.480 --> 0:05:21.200 high school. When I was in high school, Saigon fell 0:05:21.279 --> 0:05:23.880 in the helicopter leaving the embassy. Happened when I was 0:05:23.880 --> 0:05:25.760 a freshman in college. When you were in high school, 0:05:25.800 --> 0:05:29.240 I'll bet you nineteen ninety one happened Desert first Desert, 0:05:29.279 --> 0:05:33.640 Gulf War, and we were unstoppable. Other people have come 0:05:33.680 --> 0:05:38.039 of age during disasters or maybe mixed messages. Your boys 0:05:38.040 --> 0:05:40.120 are in high school and they're saying this, what do 0:05:40.200 --> 0:05:41.120 they think. 0:05:42.839 --> 0:05:45.080 We'll should point out My older one is in college 0:05:45.320 --> 0:05:48.200 and apparently when you go to a tech school, nobody 0:05:48.200 --> 0:05:49.039 pays attention. 0:05:48.800 --> 0:05:49.480 To current events. 0:05:49.720 --> 0:05:52.560 Well, so like, uh yeah, like this this is not 0:05:52.560 --> 0:05:54.400 at least as of like this weekend, but. 0:05:54.400 --> 0:05:56.839 It's all robots, it's all drunk. 0:05:56.880 --> 0:05:58.880 Yeah, in high school. 0:05:58.880 --> 0:06:01.560 There's been some talk with my own one, but my 0:06:01.720 --> 0:06:05.280 sense each year I kind of there's this argument fewer. 0:06:05.360 --> 0:06:06.840 You know, the number of Americans who serve in the 0:06:06.880 --> 0:06:10.159 military is very small, the number of Americans who are veterans. 0:06:10.160 --> 0:06:12.160 So the number of Americans who can go through their. 0:06:12.120 --> 0:06:15.560 Day and don't have a relative, don't have a friend, 0:06:15.600 --> 0:06:17.440 don't have someone else who's served in the military in 0:06:17.440 --> 0:06:20.120 some capacity, and we can spend their day thinking about 0:06:20.520 --> 0:06:23.680 the Kardashians or mister Beast or or something else that's 0:06:23.680 --> 0:06:27.680 completely alien to you, and I unfortunately this is I 0:06:27.720 --> 0:06:29.880 don't feel like the country is at war. And some 0:06:29.920 --> 0:06:32.240 of that is because you know, knocking on wood and 0:06:32.320 --> 0:06:34.040 you said, by the time people hear this, things can 0:06:34.040 --> 0:06:37.279 go wrong. That there was the shooting in Austin and 0:06:37.320 --> 0:06:42.000 otherwise we have not seen any activated Arabians, sleeper cells, 0:06:42.120 --> 0:06:44.880 or other acts of terrorism on the US home front. 0:06:45.680 --> 0:06:48.119 So that's, you know, that's good news. 0:06:48.640 --> 0:06:51.160 But I think it also adds to this sense that 0:06:51.240 --> 0:06:53.599 this is a war that's happening far away. 0:06:53.760 --> 0:06:56.760 Also, very thankfully, we've had a great. 0:06:56.520 --> 0:06:59.719 Fear of casualties in a war like this unless I 0:06:59.800 --> 0:07:02.200 check to you where you still only have six in 0:07:02.240 --> 0:07:04.200 a perfect world, about six too many, and we're going 0:07:04.240 --> 0:07:07.760 to mourn every last one of those heroes. But I 0:07:07.800 --> 0:07:10.200 think if you don't want to pay attention to this war, 0:07:10.920 --> 0:07:13.520 you have that option in a way that was not 0:07:13.600 --> 0:07:16.000 possible certainly like that, not that I remember in the 0:07:16.040 --> 0:07:18.920 Persian Gulf with during Vietnam, or even post nine to 0:07:18.920 --> 0:07:22.000 eleven or Iraq, where like that was wall to wall 0:07:22.160 --> 0:07:25.600 twenty four to seven, every cable channel, this was the story. 0:07:25.960 --> 0:07:28.440 Now life goes on. I don't grudge people talking about 0:07:28.440 --> 0:07:30.440 the Texas primaries or other issues or. 0:07:30.440 --> 0:07:31.040 Things like that. 0:07:31.160 --> 0:07:34.680 But I do kind of feel like it's strangely quiet 0:07:34.960 --> 0:07:37.920 for us to have begun what it effectively amounts to 0:07:38.000 --> 0:07:41.400 a regime change war against an enemy in our lives 0:07:41.560 --> 0:07:42.640 since the Iranian hostage. 0:07:43.040 --> 0:07:45.400 From my whole, I don't like I want to finish 0:07:45.440 --> 0:07:48.600 with this, given how serious the foe is and Iran 0:07:48.840 --> 0:07:52.320 is the octopus of terror. I am very glad that 0:07:52.440 --> 0:07:54.880 Mark Wwaynemullin is going to DHS because I think he's 0:07:54.920 --> 0:07:58.600 a serious man. And I'm not sure that the governor 0:07:58.720 --> 0:08:01.120 formercy Governor's out the cut had the management chops to 0:08:01.160 --> 0:08:04.440 run DHS with h two hundred and sixty thousand employees. 0:08:04.480 --> 0:08:06.000 They haven't even finished the wall yet. 0:08:07.840 --> 0:08:09.560 Yeah, So first of all, let's point out that, like 0:08:09.560 --> 0:08:13.720 you know, when people are looking for potential Iranian sleeper agents, 0:08:13.760 --> 0:08:16.960 sleeper cells, stuff like that, the FBI and everybody who's 0:08:17.000 --> 0:08:19.440 under the Department of Justice is getting paid, but anybody. 0:08:19.160 --> 0:08:21.720 Who's part of DHS is not getting paid. 0:08:22.280 --> 0:08:24.120 And I don't know about you, Hugh, but I really 0:08:24.160 --> 0:08:26.160 feel like if you're trying to catch terrorists. 0:08:25.720 --> 0:08:26.640 I'd like you to get paid. 0:08:26.680 --> 0:08:27.200 It seems. 0:08:27.440 --> 0:08:29.560 It seems like literally the least we can do is 0:08:29.600 --> 0:08:30.720 make sure you get paid on time. 0:08:32.160 --> 0:08:32.760 Christy Noam. 0:08:32.760 --> 0:08:35.320 I wrote The Morning Joel back in January that she 0:08:35.400 --> 0:08:38.720 was the biggest liability of the Trump administration. I don't 0:08:38.760 --> 0:08:41.439 think she brought a lot to the table. I think 0:08:41.480 --> 0:08:43.959 she kept you know, this was after the Minnesota shootings 0:08:43.960 --> 0:08:45.480 when she went out and gave a briefing that was 0:08:45.520 --> 0:08:48.640 like full of false information. Apparently it was the ad 0:08:48.640 --> 0:08:50.000 campaign that Kennedy. 0:08:49.640 --> 0:08:50.200 Asked her about. 0:08:50.200 --> 0:08:51.720 And I should give a shout out to my colleague 0:08:51.760 --> 0:08:54.920 Audrey Fahlberg, who first reported that Trump was just fed 0:08:55.000 --> 0:09:00.440 up with no idea. Tell me again, Christy no My 0:09:00.600 --> 0:09:02.679 colleague Audrey is a walking. 0:09:03.840 --> 0:09:06.800 Podcast. Yeah, stay up on the podcast for her. 0:09:06.840 --> 0:09:09.199 She everyone the. 0:09:09.200 --> 0:09:12.319 Jay Jones story last fault like she you know, but 0:09:13.920 --> 0:09:16.400 it's not likely surprising. Christy Doman had knock been out 0:09:16.600 --> 0:09:17.360 hitting it out. 0:09:17.200 --> 0:09:17.720 Of the park. 0:09:18.200 --> 0:09:20.000 Uh, you're playing the video and I'm just kind of 0:09:20.040 --> 0:09:21.920 observing it. Like she always seemed to be in front 0:09:21.920 --> 0:09:23.840 of a camera. She always seemed to be wearing some 0:09:24.080 --> 0:09:28.560 uniform or outfit or something. The moment Tom Holman stepped 0:09:28.559 --> 0:09:31.840 into Minneapolis, you notice things seemed to get better. Cooperation 0:09:31.960 --> 0:09:35.719 from state and local law enforcement, seemed to improve. She's 0:09:35.760 --> 0:09:38.240 a governor, she's not in law enforcement. And she always 0:09:38.240 --> 0:09:41.120 seemed like a bit of a strange pick. I know 0:09:41.240 --> 0:09:44.440 the huge people thought Christy Dolan would be this be 0:09:44.480 --> 0:09:46.600 with this administration until the last dog dies. 0:09:46.679 --> 0:09:51.120 But okay, Garity, you had missed your daily your your 0:09:51.160 --> 0:09:53.960 weekly quotient of bad jokes. It's sort of like a 0:09:54.000 --> 0:09:56.520 given that there's going to be a bad Garrity joke. 0:09:56.600 --> 0:09:58.560 Were you bad on your boys? Were you like mister 0:09:58.720 --> 0:10:02.000 dad joke on the Neighborhood Watch Hugh? 0:10:02.120 --> 0:10:03.960 The whole reason I became a father is to tell Dad, 0:10:04.160 --> 0:10:04.720 good Dad. 0:10:04.559 --> 0:10:05.480 Joe, I thought so. 0:10:06.280 --> 0:10:09.320 Garity. Read him in the Washington Post, read him in 0:10:09.360 --> 0:10:12.400 the National Review. Listen to the Three Martini Lunch, listen 0:10:12.400 --> 0:10:15.520 to the Editors podcast, and get the morning Joelt. I 0:10:15.559 --> 0:10:17.480 don't what time you get up to write that thing. 0:10:19.000 --> 0:10:20.720 I'm in front of my computer about six and forty 0:10:20.760 --> 0:10:22.959 five am Eastern. I try to send it off to 0:10:23.000 --> 0:10:23.959 the editors by nine. 0:10:24.080 --> 0:10:27.680 Well well done, that something's gone wrong every day. Well done, 0:10:27.800 --> 0:10:30.439 Thank you, Jim Garretty follow him on exit. Jim Garretty 0:10:30.440 --> 0:10:35.439 found me the next segment, I'm Hugo walking back America. 0:10:35.520 --> 0:10:39.079 I'm Huughe Hewett. Every single Monday, Wednesday, Friday, I begin 0:10:39.160 --> 0:10:42.240 my morning with John and Shenshanzer, who does the FDD 0:10:42.480 --> 0:10:45.880 morning brief. I always learn how long the war has 0:10:45.920 --> 0:10:48.240 been going on because Jonathan always begins with how many 0:10:48.320 --> 0:10:51.559 days it's been since ten to seven? Jonathan, you also 0:10:51.640 --> 0:10:55.360 are a numbers guy. How many launchers have been destroyed? 0:10:55.440 --> 0:10:57.440 What is the estimate of how many are left in 0:10:57.520 --> 0:10:58.559 the Iranian arsenal? 0:11:00.440 --> 0:11:03.240 You know, this is not exactly something that the Iranians 0:11:03.240 --> 0:11:05.600 are publicizing. What we saw a couple of days ago 0:11:05.679 --> 0:11:08.120 is that three hundred were destroyed. Right now we're thinking 0:11:08.200 --> 0:11:13.360 about four hundred. That's probably two thirds of the total launchers. 0:11:14.200 --> 0:11:16.840 And then on top of that, we're hearing that the 0:11:16.960 --> 0:11:20.839 total amount of launch is by the Iranian regime I 0:11:21.040 --> 0:11:26.800 dropped by something like eighty percent. So the dwindling ability 0:11:26.840 --> 0:11:29.079 of the regime is what we're looking at. Certainly, I 0:11:29.120 --> 0:11:31.800 think a lot of that tracks back to the launchers themselves. 0:11:31.920 --> 0:11:34.160 You can't get those missiles up in the air without 0:11:34.240 --> 0:11:37.640 the mobile launchers or the static ones, and so what's 0:11:37.679 --> 0:11:40.520 happening right now is this is just a hunting expedition. 0:11:41.000 --> 0:11:45.120 The US and the Israelis have complete and total dominance 0:11:45.120 --> 0:11:48.520 in the skies over Iran. They have full control over 0:11:48.559 --> 0:11:52.080 that airspace, and so now they're just going around looking 0:11:52.320 --> 0:11:55.160 for the next missile that's been pulled out of a 0:11:55.280 --> 0:11:58.400 silo in the hope of destroying it before it can 0:11:58.480 --> 0:12:01.959 hit Kuwait, for example, or Ozerbaijan or Turkey. 0:12:02.200 --> 0:12:05.679 Jonathan, I'm sure you remember the video that the IRGC 0:12:05.880 --> 0:12:09.880 released last year of the guy who looked like the 0:12:09.920 --> 0:12:12.680 old guy from Iraq who said nothing wrong here driving 0:12:12.679 --> 0:12:17.679 around in a jeep in the missile caves. Can we 0:12:17.760 --> 0:12:21.400 penetrate those caves? Are they blowing up all over the country? 0:12:23.400 --> 0:12:26.000 So right now, yes, First of all, you know, it's 0:12:26.000 --> 0:12:27.959 hard to forget bag dad Bob as we. 0:12:28.000 --> 0:12:30.480 Call them from a rock. 0:12:30.520 --> 0:12:33.000 I think the guy's name was Tarakazis if I'm if 0:12:33.000 --> 0:12:36.240 I'm remembering it correctly. But yeah, the regime tried to, 0:12:36.520 --> 0:12:38.679 you know, I think, convey last year that they had 0:12:38.720 --> 0:12:43.040 this impenetrable capability. My understanding is that the United States 0:12:43.080 --> 0:12:45.640 has actually started to target these with some of the 0:12:45.679 --> 0:12:49.480 heavier munitions that we have. How many we've struck I 0:12:49.720 --> 0:12:54.439 don't know, you know, the battle damage Assessment or the BDA, right, 0:12:54.480 --> 0:12:57.160 we get these on a somewhat regular basis now from 0:12:57.200 --> 0:12:59.600 the Pentagon. It's going to take a little bit of time, 0:12:59.640 --> 0:13:02.080 I think, for all of the information to come out. 0:13:02.160 --> 0:13:03.880 But look, I think that. 0:13:03.880 --> 0:13:07.800 The core takeaway here is that the military component of 0:13:07.840 --> 0:13:13.000 this is going incredibly well. Full integration with the Israeli 0:13:13.040 --> 0:13:17.760 military and the American military, the intelligence sharing, the I mean, 0:13:18.240 --> 0:13:20.440 you can tell that the leaders of these two countries 0:13:20.720 --> 0:13:22.360 are are in full sync. 0:13:22.880 --> 0:13:24.640 All of that I think is very positive. 0:13:24.840 --> 0:13:27.600 The question to my mind right now is, you know, 0:13:27.679 --> 0:13:31.079 the Arab States, do they get wobbly, you know, because 0:13:31.080 --> 0:13:33.600 they've started to sustain strikes and it looks like some 0:13:33.720 --> 0:13:34.760 serious damage. 0:13:34.960 --> 0:13:36.079 I think that's a concern. 0:13:36.360 --> 0:13:39.200 And then also the unity among the Iranian people, and 0:13:39.240 --> 0:13:41.360 that's been kind of a black box, right We just 0:13:41.520 --> 0:13:45.160 don't know what's happening on the ground right now. Are 0:13:45.200 --> 0:13:48.600 the people of Iran going to pull together and fight 0:13:48.679 --> 0:13:49.400 this regime? 0:13:49.720 --> 0:13:50.880 I think that's something what we. 0:13:50.920 --> 0:13:53.800 Be hearing about within the next week or two, as 0:13:54.160 --> 0:13:57.240 I hope anyway, the kinetic operations start. 0:13:57.040 --> 0:14:00.680 To slow, Jonathan, your colleague Ben and Ben in Taliblu 0:14:00.840 --> 0:14:02.720 will be on Nicked hour and I want him on 0:14:02.840 --> 0:14:05.680 to talk about the one story out there concerned to 0:14:05.720 --> 0:14:09.480 me that we are arming the Kurds in order to 0:14:09.559 --> 0:14:14.280 start an insurrection, which Banam and kareemside, you're poor from Carnegie. 0:14:14.360 --> 0:14:16.640 They both the two guys who know the most about 0:14:16.679 --> 0:14:20.320 Iran that I know, other than norm rule. Bad idea. 0:14:20.520 --> 0:14:22.480 Don't do that. What do you think is that a 0:14:22.520 --> 0:14:24.280 bad idea? 0:14:24.520 --> 0:14:28.360 Look, here's what everybody needs to understand is that you 0:14:28.480 --> 0:14:32.040 have the kind of the core of Iran. These are 0:14:32.160 --> 0:14:36.560 the Persian you know, the Persians, right, the Iranians, the 0:14:36.680 --> 0:14:39.240 non minorities, right. And when you talk about Iran, you're 0:14:39.240 --> 0:14:42.360 talking about minorities like the Arabs and the baluch and 0:14:42.400 --> 0:14:45.120 the Uzbeks, And I mean there is a like a 0:14:45.200 --> 0:14:50.280 patchwork of minorities. The majority of Iranians want to be 0:14:50.400 --> 0:14:56.160 able to liberate their country by themselves for themselves. And 0:14:56.200 --> 0:15:01.359 when you start injecting Kurdish nationalism into the the equation, people. 0:15:01.120 --> 0:15:02.000 Start to get nervous. 0:15:02.040 --> 0:15:06.240 They start to worry about the Balkanization of Iran. And 0:15:06.240 --> 0:15:08.560 that's why you're gonna hear Iranian say that it's a 0:15:08.600 --> 0:15:12.800 bad idea. Now there, I can understand why Americans might 0:15:12.920 --> 0:15:14.680 like this idea that hey, we're not going to put 0:15:14.680 --> 0:15:17.120 boots on the ground, We're going to fight by proxy, 0:15:17.400 --> 0:15:19.800 and we can use people that are interested in doing 0:15:19.840 --> 0:15:22.360 this and they're not asking for anything in return. 0:15:22.760 --> 0:15:25.360 The key is, are they actually really not asking for 0:15:25.400 --> 0:15:26.280 anything in return? 0:15:26.400 --> 0:15:28.680 Or are they going to say, Hey, I thought and 0:15:28.760 --> 0:15:31.560 now I want a Kurdistan of my own, and that's 0:15:31.560 --> 0:15:33.600 going to set off the Iranians, It's going to. 0:15:33.640 --> 0:15:34.760 Set off the Turks. 0:15:35.200 --> 0:15:39.200 This is just this is complexity that we don't necessarily 0:15:39.360 --> 0:15:42.920 need right now and could be an unforced era on 0:15:42.920 --> 0:15:45.560 the part of the Trump administration. I hope they're hearing 0:15:45.600 --> 0:15:48.960 this from Iranians, and I hope they're moving slowly right now. 0:15:49.240 --> 0:15:50.600 It's not to say that we can't. 0:15:50.920 --> 0:15:53.960 It's just a question of is this advisable at this 0:15:54.160 --> 0:15:55.400 stage in the operation? 0:15:55.600 --> 0:15:56.480 Is this a good thing? 0:15:56.640 --> 0:15:59.000 So I'm not surprised to hear some of our Iranian 0:15:59.080 --> 0:16:00.680 friends warn against it. 0:16:00.960 --> 0:16:03.880 Another quite you're font of information. I appreciate it every 0:16:03.880 --> 0:16:06.680 time you do the Morning Brief. Early on I saw 0:16:06.760 --> 0:16:09.600 pictures of iron Beam. Now I've come not to believe 0:16:09.680 --> 0:16:12.720 anything I see because of AI and old videos being 0:16:12.760 --> 0:16:18.200 repurposed with new sub lower thirds. Has iron Bean been deployed? 0:16:18.360 --> 0:16:19.080 Is it working? 0:16:21.200 --> 0:16:25.480 My understanding is that it is usable, but I don't 0:16:25.560 --> 0:16:29.440 think that it is reliable. And there's a big difference. 0:16:29.520 --> 0:16:33.120 Right when you've got a battle ongoing, are you going 0:16:33.160 --> 0:16:36.120 to use something that is tried and true and tested 0:16:36.320 --> 0:16:40.040 like Iron Dome for the short range missiles, Arrow three 0:16:40.400 --> 0:16:43.680 for the long range missiles. These are the Israeli systems 0:16:43.720 --> 0:16:48.600 that have saved countless lives and so as I understand it, yeh, 0:16:48.640 --> 0:16:53.200 iron beam, this is the directed laser, directed energy laser. 0:16:53.680 --> 0:16:55.840 They want to be able to use it, they want 0:16:55.880 --> 0:16:58.000 to be able to trot it out. But it's at 0:16:58.000 --> 0:17:00.760 this point, as I understand it, not ready for prime time, 0:17:01.160 --> 0:17:04.400 not yet. But stay tuned because if the Israelis continue 0:17:04.400 --> 0:17:07.320 to make strides in this space, this will be important 0:17:07.359 --> 0:17:10.000 for the United States too. The Israelis may be breaking 0:17:10.200 --> 0:17:13.280 ground on the kinds of tech that we're going to 0:17:13.400 --> 0:17:16.280 need to be able to defend our skies or to 0:17:16.320 --> 0:17:17.840 defend the skies of other allies. 0:17:18.200 --> 0:17:21.119 Absolutely. Walter Russell Meade made the same point today in 0:17:21.200 --> 0:17:24.640 a podcast with Dan Senor that Israeli a American defense 0:17:24.720 --> 0:17:28.000 technology and capabilities are unmatched around the world. Last question, 0:17:28.359 --> 0:17:32.000 people on the Hill listen to FDD. Is FDD urging 0:17:32.760 --> 0:17:38.000 either a supplemental or a reconciliation or just the normal 0:17:38.040 --> 0:17:42.080 appropriations to restock the shells which are depleted, and I 0:17:42.160 --> 0:17:42.840 mean ammunition. 0:17:44.359 --> 0:17:47.720 Yeah, And look, the Israelis are going to need whatever 0:17:47.760 --> 0:17:50.320 they can get. And you just got to understand they 0:17:50.320 --> 0:17:52.720 have dropped something. I mean, you want to talk about numbers. 0:17:52.960 --> 0:17:56.560 I believe they have hit fifty five five hundred targets 0:17:56.600 --> 0:18:00.840 in six days. That it is an enormoust of ordinance 0:18:00.880 --> 0:18:04.320 that is being dropped right now on this regime. The 0:18:04.400 --> 0:18:07.800 Israelis are going to need to restock. It looks like 0:18:07.840 --> 0:18:10.440 they're very likely going to have to have a knockdown, 0:18:10.520 --> 0:18:14.560 drag out battle with his Belah in Lebanon while also 0:18:14.680 --> 0:18:17.560 fighting the regime in Iran. So I'd like to see 0:18:17.680 --> 0:18:21.919 whatever the US Congress is able to muster for the Israelis. 0:18:22.200 --> 0:18:25.520 This is not charity, folks, This is the Israelis fighting 0:18:25.640 --> 0:18:28.560 side by side with the United States trying to make 0:18:28.600 --> 0:18:30.960 the Middle East a sane place again. 0:18:31.480 --> 0:18:33.639 And I think we're on our way. 0:18:33.800 --> 0:18:36.040 There's still a lot that can go wrong, but they're 0:18:36.080 --> 0:18:38.960 gonna need This is how they operate. They operate with 0:18:39.040 --> 0:18:43.040 American munitions, so if we've got them, we should supply them. 0:18:43.080 --> 0:18:45.720 They're working with us and for us. 0:18:46.080 --> 0:18:48.280 John and Shann They're always good to talk to you. Again, 0:18:48.400 --> 0:18:51.440 everyone ought to be listening to the Morning Brief Monday, Wednesday, 0:18:51.480 --> 0:18:53.520 Friday with Jonathan. I don't know why we don't get 0:18:53.520 --> 0:18:56.840 Tuesday's Thursdays. I don't know. I should ask Jonathan. 0:18:56.880 --> 0:18:57.480 I'm tired. 0:18:57.760 --> 0:19:01.000 I know your time here five days a week. Come on, Jonathan, 0:19:01.080 --> 0:19:03.439 get up and tell me what's going on. Jonan Shands 0:19:03.440 --> 0:19:05.399 are always good to talk to. The executive director of 0:19:05.440 --> 0:19:08.320 Foundation for the Defense of Democracy Think tu in America. 0:19:08.400 --> 0:19:13.679 I'm you doing Welcome Back in America. I'm to do it. 0:19:14.000 --> 0:19:17.320 The question before the House is can President Donald J. 0:19:17.520 --> 0:19:21.919 Trump pull off a Goldielocks war not too little like 0:19:22.080 --> 0:19:25.240 nineteen ninety one the Iraq invasion, then not too big 0:19:25.800 --> 0:19:28.800 like the two thousand and three Iraq invasion, but just 0:19:29.119 --> 0:19:33.200 right with Iran To answer that, have Eleana Y. Johnson 0:19:33.240 --> 0:19:35.840 of the Washington Free Beacon, where she's editor in chief. 0:19:36.200 --> 0:19:38.960 How about it, Eliana, are you hoping for the Goldielocks 0:19:39.000 --> 0:19:41.080 turned out, and what will it look out look like 0:19:41.160 --> 0:19:42.520 if it happens. 0:19:44.840 --> 0:19:48.960 Well, Hugh, I'm hoping for victory. I think that's what 0:19:49.280 --> 0:19:52.520