1 00:00:00,240 --> 00:00:05,120 Speaker 1: This was an extraordinary military success. Not only is Israel's 2 00:00:05,160 --> 00:00:08,320 Speaker 1: military superiority, but that Israel's not alone, that the United 3 00:00:08,360 --> 00:00:12,559 Speaker 1: States actually he actually put the President put American fighter 4 00:00:12,640 --> 00:00:16,799 Speaker 1: jets in the air actively defending Israel in harm's way. 5 00:00:17,360 --> 00:00:19,440 Speaker 1: That goes a long way, and that sends a strong 6 00:00:19,520 --> 00:00:22,840 Speaker 1: message about where Israel is in the region versus where 7 00:00:22,880 --> 00:00:25,760 Speaker 1: Iran is in the region, which is increasingly oscillated now. 8 00:00:25,800 --> 00:00:28,360 Speaker 2: Was John Kirby on all the talk shows yesterday making 9 00:00:28,400 --> 00:00:31,040 Speaker 2: the argument for the White House that you take the win. 10 00:00:31,320 --> 00:00:33,440 Speaker 2: We just showed that the rest of the world is 11 00:00:33,520 --> 00:00:38,559 Speaker 2: so much better than Iran. They are embarrassed. They took 12 00:00:38,600 --> 00:00:40,720 Speaker 2: their best shot and they've been embarrassed by the rest 13 00:00:40,720 --> 00:00:42,199 Speaker 2: of the world. You take the win. It was a 14 00:00:42,280 --> 00:00:45,520 Speaker 2: huge success. So one of the first places I went 15 00:00:45,560 --> 00:00:48,279 Speaker 2: as I followed this news very closely on Saturday over 16 00:00:48,320 --> 00:00:50,559 Speaker 2: the weekend for analysis was our friend Mike Lyons, who 17 00:00:50,560 --> 00:00:53,960 Speaker 2: were about to hear from and he presented two options 18 00:00:54,040 --> 00:00:57,000 Speaker 2: yesterday on his Twitter thread. The first option was to 19 00:00:57,040 --> 00:01:01,000 Speaker 2: take the win, as argued by John Kirby and others there, 20 00:01:01,000 --> 00:01:02,920 Speaker 2: but the second option was this from Mike Lions and 21 00:01:02,960 --> 00:01:05,520 Speaker 2: we're gonna ask him about it. Israel was attacked by 22 00:01:05,520 --> 00:01:09,000 Speaker 2: another sovereign nation who violated the international airspace of other 23 00:01:09,040 --> 00:01:12,840 Speaker 2: countries in an unprecedented attack of crews and ballistic missiles 24 00:01:12,920 --> 00:01:15,800 Speaker 2: and a swarm of drones. This is an escalated and 25 00:01:15,880 --> 00:01:19,200 Speaker 2: disproportional response to an attack Israel made against them. To 26 00:01:19,280 --> 00:01:21,840 Speaker 2: restore at turns, Israel needs to attack the military and 27 00:01:21,840 --> 00:01:25,880 Speaker 2: strategic targets, nuclear facilities to punish Iran. It's time for 28 00:01:25,959 --> 00:01:29,000 Speaker 2: war and to finally eliminate this threat. I don't know 29 00:01:29,040 --> 00:01:31,000 Speaker 2: which of these Mike advocates. 30 00:01:31,760 --> 00:01:32,840 Speaker 3: That's what I want to find out. 31 00:01:33,120 --> 00:01:36,040 Speaker 4: Let's find out. CNN military analyst Mike Lyons joins us 32 00:01:36,040 --> 00:01:40,399 Speaker 4: from his automobile. I believe to discuss the fairly complex 33 00:01:40,440 --> 00:01:42,680 Speaker 4: geopolitical questions before us. Mike, how are you, sir? 34 00:01:43,600 --> 00:01:45,000 Speaker 3: Hey, good morning guys. Great to be back. 35 00:01:45,040 --> 00:01:46,679 Speaker 2: And I'm not trying to pretend that this is an 36 00:01:46,720 --> 00:01:49,680 Speaker 2: easy decision. But of the two scenarios you laid out 37 00:01:49,720 --> 00:01:51,360 Speaker 2: to take the win or the one we just read, 38 00:01:51,440 --> 00:01:53,120 Speaker 2: which are you actually behind? 39 00:01:53,720 --> 00:01:56,760 Speaker 3: I think that you could take I don't want to 40 00:01:56,800 --> 00:01:58,600 Speaker 3: tread the needle necessarily, but you could take a little 41 00:01:58,600 --> 00:02:00,840 Speaker 3: bit of both. You could say was somewhat of a win, 42 00:02:00,960 --> 00:02:04,520 Speaker 3: thank god. The fact that ninety nine percent of those 43 00:02:05,040 --> 00:02:08,400 Speaker 3: rockets were fired and never made their target, and it 44 00:02:08,400 --> 00:02:11,160 Speaker 3: does show a little bit of incompetence on Iran inside. However, 45 00:02:11,639 --> 00:02:14,680 Speaker 3: the United States or anybody else, you have to respond militarily. 46 00:02:14,800 --> 00:02:18,239 Speaker 3: This is a complete escalation here. The terrence has got 47 00:02:18,240 --> 00:02:22,560 Speaker 3: to be restored, so Israel will respond. I was disappointed 48 00:02:22,560 --> 00:02:24,960 Speaker 3: that the administration felt that they had to leap the 49 00:02:25,000 --> 00:02:27,480 Speaker 3: information that said, hey, we're one hundred percent bind you, 50 00:02:27,560 --> 00:02:29,440 Speaker 3: but guess what if you decide to go on the offense, 51 00:02:29,480 --> 00:02:31,799 Speaker 3: We're not going to help you with that. So I 52 00:02:31,840 --> 00:02:37,360 Speaker 3: you know, again clearly the Israeli much respond to this. 53 00:02:37,720 --> 00:02:39,440 Speaker 3: It was nothing sort of a miracle that most of 54 00:02:39,480 --> 00:02:42,360 Speaker 3: those rockets were fired out of the sky. Yeah. 55 00:02:42,400 --> 00:02:46,799 Speaker 4: Putting aside the to my mind, shocking and disgusting passivity. 56 00:02:46,880 --> 00:02:50,160 Speaker 4: It's almost beyond passivity. It's we won't do anything. Just 57 00:02:50,240 --> 00:02:54,000 Speaker 4: trust us. We were doing anything off the table nature 58 00:02:54,000 --> 00:02:57,240 Speaker 4: of the Biden administration. What did you make of the 59 00:02:57,639 --> 00:03:01,520 Speaker 4: aid given to Israel will buy a number of countries 60 00:03:01,560 --> 00:03:02,480 Speaker 4: around the region. 61 00:03:04,280 --> 00:03:07,280 Speaker 3: I think it was terrific. Jordan in particular. Now, we 62 00:03:07,320 --> 00:03:11,320 Speaker 3: always knew that Jordan's was going to align itself more 63 00:03:11,320 --> 00:03:12,919 Speaker 3: with visuals that if they don't want to be public 64 00:03:12,960 --> 00:03:16,080 Speaker 3: about that. Other NATO countries were obviously involved as well, 65 00:03:16,120 --> 00:03:19,200 Speaker 3: and that was good, but you know, but now the 66 00:03:19,240 --> 00:03:22,280 Speaker 3: gloves are off from an intel perspective, So now the 67 00:03:22,800 --> 00:03:26,120 Speaker 3: Uranians also know what Jordan's capability is because this was 68 00:03:26,160 --> 00:03:29,440 Speaker 3: an intel exercise besides just being a military exercise. They 69 00:03:29,440 --> 00:03:32,519 Speaker 3: took notes on exactly what happened and how many interceptors 70 00:03:32,520 --> 00:03:34,520 Speaker 3: were fired. And we were on the wrong side of 71 00:03:34,560 --> 00:03:38,200 Speaker 3: this economic bell curve. We fired probably more missiles at 72 00:03:38,320 --> 00:03:40,440 Speaker 3: them than they fired it up or at those rockets 73 00:03:40,440 --> 00:03:44,120 Speaker 3: to take them down. And this from a sustainment perspective, 74 00:03:44,160 --> 00:03:46,440 Speaker 3: can't keep going. What if what if the range decide 75 00:03:46,440 --> 00:03:49,440 Speaker 3: to shoot another three hundred tomorrow or sneak a nuclear 76 00:03:49,480 --> 00:03:52,480 Speaker 3: around in one of those things. So again, it was 77 00:03:52,520 --> 00:03:55,119 Speaker 3: good to see other countries involved, and I think deep 78 00:03:55,200 --> 00:03:58,040 Speaker 3: down there's a lot of moral support for what Israel 79 00:03:58,120 --> 00:04:00,520 Speaker 3: is doing. It's just that they still can't go public 80 00:04:00,520 --> 00:04:01,560 Speaker 3: with in that part of the world. 81 00:04:01,760 --> 00:04:04,440 Speaker 2: So the reporting there was some reporting last night US 82 00:04:04,480 --> 00:04:08,720 Speaker 2: officials saying they believe Iran's intent was a mass casualty event. 83 00:04:09,160 --> 00:04:11,040 Speaker 2: As opposed to what I think a lot of us 84 00:04:11,080 --> 00:04:15,000 Speaker 2: believed for some of the weekend that they like telegraph 85 00:04:15,040 --> 00:04:17,080 Speaker 2: this so much with the idea that they would not 86 00:04:17,200 --> 00:04:19,920 Speaker 2: be successful. They just had to show that they were, 87 00:04:20,080 --> 00:04:23,719 Speaker 2: you know, trying to do this as a gesture, which 88 00:04:23,760 --> 00:04:24,479 Speaker 2: do you think it was? 89 00:04:25,560 --> 00:04:27,599 Speaker 3: Yes, I don't buy that. I think the analogy is, 90 00:04:27,960 --> 00:04:29,480 Speaker 3: we're going to rob a bank. We're going to tell 91 00:04:29,480 --> 00:04:30,720 Speaker 3: you we're going to rob the bank, so we want 92 00:04:30,839 --> 00:04:32,720 Speaker 3: everybody to get in bulletproof vests. We're gonna come in, 93 00:04:32,720 --> 00:04:34,960 Speaker 3: We're gonna shoot everybody up, but you'll have a bulletproof 94 00:04:35,000 --> 00:04:37,320 Speaker 3: vest and you'll be okay as we try to commit 95 00:04:37,360 --> 00:04:40,159 Speaker 3: this crime. I mean, that's the issue here. What they 96 00:04:40,200 --> 00:04:43,479 Speaker 3: did was an active aggression against another country, whether they 97 00:04:43,560 --> 00:04:45,520 Speaker 3: warned them or not, or whatever the case may be. 98 00:04:45,640 --> 00:04:48,239 Speaker 3: They didn't fire one missile or ten missiles. They fired 99 00:04:48,480 --> 00:04:51,680 Speaker 3: three hundred. I mean the stope and scale of it 100 00:04:51,880 --> 00:04:56,120 Speaker 3: was tremendous, and the measure of effective this can't be well, 101 00:04:56,160 --> 00:04:58,000 Speaker 3: we just didn't kill anybody, we didn't hit anything. That 102 00:04:58,120 --> 00:05:00,800 Speaker 3: just can't be it. All that really did was give 103 00:05:00,800 --> 00:05:04,440 Speaker 3: the Israeli cabinet top time to now decide what their 104 00:05:04,440 --> 00:05:06,960 Speaker 3: response will be, which again I do think will be 105 00:05:07,760 --> 00:05:11,120 Speaker 3: covertly in the shadows. We'll have some level of military 106 00:05:11,200 --> 00:05:13,960 Speaker 3: aspect to it. But if you're a nuclear scientist or 107 00:05:13,960 --> 00:05:16,200 Speaker 3: a military official in Iran right now, you better have 108 00:05:16,240 --> 00:05:18,240 Speaker 3: your head on a swivel because everyone is a target 109 00:05:18,480 --> 00:05:20,320 Speaker 3: and that's how those targets are going to be inside Iran. 110 00:05:20,360 --> 00:05:21,279 Speaker 3: I wouldn't be surprised. 111 00:05:21,720 --> 00:05:24,200 Speaker 4: Well, And it's worth keeping in mind that the Israelis 112 00:05:24,279 --> 00:05:28,440 Speaker 4: respond when they desire. Might be by noon today, it 113 00:05:28,520 --> 00:05:29,760 Speaker 4: might be in six weeks. 114 00:05:30,640 --> 00:05:34,160 Speaker 3: Yeah, and I still we haven't seen cyber, we haven't 115 00:05:34,200 --> 00:05:36,240 Speaker 3: seen other you know, kind of soft ways that they 116 00:05:36,279 --> 00:05:39,960 Speaker 3: can respond. Uh. And who knows. We know that there's 117 00:05:40,080 --> 00:05:43,560 Speaker 3: challenges inside of Iran already with that with their government, 118 00:05:43,600 --> 00:05:47,520 Speaker 3: they have significant internal conflict of maintaining their own power. 119 00:05:47,760 --> 00:05:50,600 Speaker 3: So from their perspective, this might be a last gesture 120 00:05:50,760 --> 00:05:53,080 Speaker 3: in order to show that they're still control of their government. 121 00:05:53,960 --> 00:05:56,120 Speaker 3: It would be great if something happened in there, you 122 00:05:56,160 --> 00:05:59,360 Speaker 3: hat revolution again inside of Iran. I mean it would tip. 123 00:05:59,440 --> 00:06:01,640 Speaker 3: It looks like it appears it would tip back towards 124 00:06:01,920 --> 00:06:05,279 Speaker 3: at least some level of normalcy, let's say. 125 00:06:05,560 --> 00:06:05,880 Speaker 2: Uh. 126 00:06:05,960 --> 00:06:08,920 Speaker 3: But but for for what's happening right now. Israel is 127 00:06:08,920 --> 00:06:12,080 Speaker 3: looking at Iron saying existential threat and nuclear facilities. I 128 00:06:12,080 --> 00:06:13,640 Speaker 3: wouldn't be surprised if that was the target. 129 00:06:13,920 --> 00:06:16,680 Speaker 2: Yeah, that's the story that broke late in the week 130 00:06:16,760 --> 00:06:20,080 Speaker 2: last week before this attack that Israel was that Iran 131 00:06:20,200 --> 00:06:22,640 Speaker 2: is so close once again to a nuclear weapon. 132 00:06:24,200 --> 00:06:26,560 Speaker 3: And something to happen to because another thing could deliver it. 133 00:06:26,720 --> 00:06:29,640 Speaker 3: And so from from that perspective, I mean, let's just 134 00:06:29,680 --> 00:06:31,400 Speaker 3: say they can't go to North Korea and get a 135 00:06:31,440 --> 00:06:34,919 Speaker 3: suitcase or get something and and launch it and put it, 136 00:06:35,000 --> 00:06:37,440 Speaker 3: put it something and you know, kind of bring it 137 00:06:37,480 --> 00:06:40,040 Speaker 3: together in order to make this attack on the next time, 138 00:06:40,080 --> 00:06:41,760 Speaker 3: and that that has got to be what the concern is. 139 00:06:41,760 --> 00:06:44,120 Speaker 3: So those are all in the realms of the possibilities. 140 00:06:44,360 --> 00:06:47,280 Speaker 3: So that's when EMA Kirby systems like, let's take the 141 00:06:47,440 --> 00:06:50,040 Speaker 3: w here this is. This is not a baseball game 142 00:06:50,040 --> 00:06:52,160 Speaker 3: where we're going to play another game tomorrow. I mean, 143 00:06:52,200 --> 00:06:54,880 Speaker 3: this is a long term strategic objective. But what I 144 00:06:54,880 --> 00:06:57,680 Speaker 3: don't understand about this administration is it's very siloed in 145 00:06:57,760 --> 00:07:01,760 Speaker 3: how it's dealing with the same issue. There were all 146 00:07:01,760 --> 00:07:04,200 Speaker 3: of a sudden, we're now iron plaid against Iran, but 147 00:07:04,240 --> 00:07:06,080 Speaker 3: we're really not sure about what's going on with the 148 00:07:06,160 --> 00:07:09,080 Speaker 3: Moss and Southern guys that you Israel could do a 149 00:07:09,080 --> 00:07:10,920 Speaker 3: little better job of what's going on there. I mean, 150 00:07:11,000 --> 00:07:13,440 Speaker 3: it's the same enemy. It's the same enemy, and that's 151 00:07:13,440 --> 00:07:16,280 Speaker 3: how Israel looks at it. It's one thing. For some reason, 152 00:07:16,280 --> 00:07:18,920 Speaker 3: the two different research groups I have given the President 153 00:07:18,960 --> 00:07:21,840 Speaker 3: or whoever the advice is not talking to each other 154 00:07:21,960 --> 00:07:24,560 Speaker 3: because they think it's they're all separate, independent channels. It's 155 00:07:24,560 --> 00:07:25,880 Speaker 3: the same thing. It's the same channel. 156 00:07:26,800 --> 00:07:29,920 Speaker 4: Yeah. I never want to come off as some sort 157 00:07:29,920 --> 00:07:33,720 Speaker 4: of hyperpartisan, you know, bomb chucker, but I'm just astonished 158 00:07:33,760 --> 00:07:36,960 Speaker 4: by the ineffectiveness of the Biden foreign policy. It just 159 00:07:37,320 --> 00:07:39,160 Speaker 4: it shocks me. I'm not quite sure what to make 160 00:07:39,160 --> 00:07:42,600 Speaker 4: of it. Seeing in military analyst Mike Lions Mike, Hey, 161 00:07:42,680 --> 00:07:44,800 Speaker 4: we sure appreciate you squeezing this and it's great to 162 00:07:44,800 --> 00:07:46,080 Speaker 4: talk to you. Thanks for the insights. 163 00:07:46,280 --> 00:07:49,720 Speaker 3: Thanks guys, thanks for having me and Getty