My basic motivation for being a Libertarian had never been
economic. But morale while I was convinced
that the free market was more efficient and would bring about
a far more prosperous world than statism.
My major concern was moral the Insight, that coercion and
aggression of one man, over another was criminal and
iniquitous, and must be combated and abolished.
Welcome to Keith's night. Don't tread on anyone and the
libertarian Institute. Today.
We're going to talk about enough already time to end the war on
terrorism with Scott, Horton, Scott.
Where's the best place to? Find the book.
Well, the easiest thing of course is Amazon, but if you go
to enough already, dotnet it affords, you onto the page at
the libertarian Institute there, and we've got links to eight or
ten different sources. So you can get it from Powell's
Books, and smashwords, and Scribd, and I don't know more
like that. So Barnes & Noble as well.
So if you don't like Amazon, there's plenty of competition
where you can get it to nice. That link will be in the And
below, I want to quote from Osama Bin Laden in tactical
recommendations. He says, then the fighters
realized that the gang in the White House.
Could not see things clearly in that their leader that idiot.
They obey was claiming that we envied their lifestyle when the
truth which this Pharaoh would like to hide is that we are
attacking them because of their Injustice, toward the Muslim
world, and especially Palestine, and Iraq, as well as their
occupation of the land of the to sanctuaries.
This is a quote from Osama bin Laden.
Is this the reason or is it really?
Because they're scared? That America is a hurdle to
them, spreading a worldwide Islamic caliphate.
Well, yeah, both right. So I think the important thing
about that and because there's another sort of Point here too.
You know, Bin Laden is a mass murderer, right?
So who cares what he thinks and who could believe any of the
words that he says, he's a murderer than he's also de
facto. To be taken as a liar, right?
Screw him. Why quote hint.
But the point is how quotable he was.
And that, when he said the things that he said, that was
his pitch to get people to agree with him to pick up a cause.
This is a tiny little group of Bandits trying to take on a
super power. So he was not just justifying
his actions. He was trying to recruit new
people to help him along with his agenda.
And so he was focusing on the things, the Americans were.
Doing now at the same time the, you know, it's essentially a
fantasy on their part. Certainly at that time, the
absolute ridiculous pipe dream. That one day, we could create
our caliphate with Bin Laden, or whoever we like at the head of
it. If only the Americans weren't
standing in our way by supporting all the local
dictators. Now, the reality is again, we're
talking about a few hundred Bandits mercenaries left over
from the last war where they had been run by their own.
Intelligence agencies, helping them to go fight in Afghanistan
in the 1980s. And so they didn't have the
power to overthrow the king of Saudi Arabia or the dictator the
military dictatorship in Egypt or the King of Jordan or Saddam
Hussein and Iraq or the Ayatollah in Iran or anybody.
They wanted to see overthrown, you know, all they could do is
essentially be mad, but then they were able to Rally their
own forces together. On the essentially, the
compromise that lets attack America first because you were,
they were trying to bring together people from all these
different countries. So some people wanted to focus
on attacking the King of Jordan and, you know, whatever the
different in Egypt and Saudi mostly was the argument.
So they said well, let's is the doctrine will compromise on and
settle on. Will focus on the Americans the
far enemy and we'll attack them will bog them down, bleed them
to bankruptcy the same way we did with Soviet Union.
And once they're no longer here to back our Kings and dictators,
and president's days and Warlords, then we'll be able to
accomplish our Revolution. So that was the long game to
provoke America into reacting giving itself their own Vietnam.
Just as we had helped these same mujahideen due to the Soviet
Union with the Afghans in the 1980s and to do it again to
ourselves and it seems to have worked.
Worked. And if you go down the list of
Bin Laden's goals, he was trying to weaken and bankrupt and expel
America, which is a long-term process, but it's going on now
and we're certainly on the downhill slope of this of
American dominance in the Middle East.
But also to weaken all of America's and discredit, you
know, America's local dictators in the region that are
government supports and then to radicalize the populations of
these countries. And, you know, political and
religious sense. And, you know, we've seen
Revolution and economic destabilization, political
destabilization and returned to hardcore sectarianism and
fundamentalism by some in these wars, especially in Iraq, War 2,
and in Syria, and so, you know, they have not put You know, Bin
Laden or his Terrace son. Hamza on the throne in Saudi
Arabia then and they still haven't put some watery on the
throne in Egypt, right? This would have been the
ultimate goal of these guys, probably right to rule their own
home countries. So they fallen short of that,
but they did create a caliphate and Western, Iraq and Eastern
Syria. For three solid years and erase
the sykes-picot. Western drawn border between
Iraq and Syria and some jackass named Abu.
Baccarat baghdady was able to go up there like Mussolini on the
balcony like Osama Bin Laden himself essentially and claimed
that he was the caliph. Ibrahim the divinely ordained
ruler of the new caliphate to usher in the end of the world
and this absolute Madness that at the time of 2001 and the
attack on the United States. Keith.
This is the absolute ultimate ridiculous.
Pipe dream of Osama bin Laden. Right.
And at the time of, you know, shortly after they attacked us,
and the Bush Administration was exploiting all this fear.
This was the height of their most unrealistic and ridiculous
and insulting propaganda against the American people that there's
an Islamic fascists, caliphate out there that were fighting.
We're between baathist Iraq, and baathists Syria, and Saudi
Arabia, and hashemite Jordan. Where's the caliphate?
It's not in Egypt. Where Hosni Mubarak is the
secular military dictator under America's thumb for the last 30
years. Well at that time 20, you know
25 so, you know, essentially America made.
All of Osama bin Laden's agenda to, you know, nine out of ten.
Steps of everything that he and his group were trying to
accomplish with the September 11th attack and their war
against the United States for them.
And they've been strategic allies, but who's zoom?
And who Keith Wright the Americans?
They get to use these guys as mercenaries shock troops to
fight against their Shiite enemies in places like Syria and
Yemen sure, but They get to use American wealth, and power and
weapons in order to fight against those same Shiites for
their own reasons and and, you know, carrying out the agenda of
their own countries intelligence agencies and that coincide with
their own. And let's say America stopped
intervening right now. Finally, just knocked it off.
Look at the mess that we've made over there and the last 20 years
and never even mine Afghanistan on the other side of Iran, but
just think about what's going on in Mesopotamia and the Levant.
It's just an absolute catastrophe.
And as Jeff Huber said, I love to quote him, the great, anti
were.com columnist and humorous, Osama.
Bin, Laden dead, and Loving It. And what is this guy care?
If he's been shot in the head, man.
That was all he ever wanted was to die getting shot.
Head while having just over seen all of his dreams.
Come true from here. Is hiding in the Attic.
And and in fact, I like, I like ordering this.
He says he says, eat your heart out Charlemagne to Julius Caesar
and how do you like them apples Alexander?
Because here is the world's greatest General.
I move the most powerful armies that ever existed from hiding in
the Attic even from his own wife up there.
But meanwhile, he controls the Destinies of 100 million men
every day. Is it?
Whatever he On some play out, all of his games and think
about. Sorry.
I'm rambling but I know it's good.
The opposite of that is if it had just been you know, what
let's all. Stop a listen to Ron Paul who
warned us, this was going to happen, and let's see what he
wants to do. He wants to send Special
Operations forces to kill, only Bin, Laden and zawahiri.
And there, you know, 100 closest friends next to them.
And that's it. And called a whole were off, and
has, as he said, explicitly, and I quote in my book Fool's
errand. He says explicitly.
Ali because we had we're in a very delicate situation here
where we must hold the guilty responsible, but we must let the
rest of the Muslim World know that they are wrong about us.
That we are not their enemy. That we do not hate Muslims that
we do not hate Arabs, and it's not our agenda.
And the only reason we were there was to protect them from
the Soviet communist, but you know what?
That was a long time ago now, and it's time for us to go and
that would have been what he had done and imagine the results of
that and and and the possibilities that would have
been opened up there. For America to actually, if they
believed in this Freedom agenda stuff at all, Keith to actually
lecture them about their lack of freedom, without being
blood-soaked. Hypocrites, at the same time or
at least no longer. I want to quote from the
president of the Council on Foreign Relations with regard
to. He talks about how the Cold War
ended. But right during our
celebration, we had to, we had to take on another enemy.
This was followed less than a year later by a remarkable
coming together of the world to turn back, Saddam Hussein's
effort to conquer Kuwait. Something that would have had
enormous consequences. If it had been allowed to stand
toward the end, United States work closely with 14 other
members of the UN security. Already canceled to repudiate
Iraq's aggression and to establish a subsequently
enforce. A sanctions regime designed to
ensure that Iraq would not benefit from its conquest and
would pay an enormous price for it.
A large Coalition of dozens of countries contributing in
different ways, was built to make sure Iraqi aggression did
not threaten Saudi Arabia. And when diplomacy backed by
sanctions failed to dislodge Iraq, from Kuwait to force, our
rack, out of the country and restore Kuwait's Independence.
And Government final quote here. He says it is important to
underscore though that the u.s. Involvement was strictly
humanitarian. As it did not attempt to bring
about a separate Kurdish state in the north of Iraq or a
separate. She estate in the South or to
overthrow the existing political Authority in Baghdad, Scott.
What's wrong with helping people, man?
Boy. Well, I tell you what, in my new
book, there's a whole chapter or I guess it's a subchapter in the
massive chapter one. Our is on Iraq war one that puts
the lie to every bit of that. You know, what happened was
Iraq. Have a legitimate border dispute
with Kuwait and the Kuwait. He's were overproducing from
their shared oil wells and they were being extremely rude and
calling in all of their loans and insulting the araki's
dignity. Every way that they could, And I
make the case in the book, that I don't really believe that this
was deliberate, but that in effect, they trapped Saddam
Hussein into the war the CIA and centcom.
We're encouraging the Kuwait. He's to be tough and brave, and
stand up to him. While, at the same time.
The state department was telling Saddam Hussein.
Yeah, go ahead break their nice occupy.
The northern oil fields. What do we care as the American
ambassador later, said to the New York Times?
Well, we didn't think he was going to take the whole country.
And there were, you know, statements.
It wasn't just April glass piece meeting with Saddam Hussein, but
also Margaret Tutwiler, and I'm sorry, forgot the man's name.
There's another state department, official both
testified to Congress, that we wouldn't do anything.
We don't have a tree with Kuwait.
We're not responsible for that. And what do we care?
If Saddam invades there? And the same time, though, Keith
and this is why. And this could be BS, but I
don't think it is. I think this coincides, with
other things. I know about these characters.
It seems like the official history.
Anyway, is that wolfowitz and Cheney at the state department
were extremely concerned about this.
This, when Cheney was the secretary defense and wolfowitz,
I guess, was deputy secretary of defense for policy and they
were, you know, really worried about it and tried to send a
letter warning who say not to do it, but then, Williams who, you
know, from NBC News, walk it back and then they got h.w.
Bush. The president to send a message
but it seemed they thought to conciliatory and almost like
permission itself to go ahead and they were really upset and
wanted to send another letter saying, hey, don't get me wrong.
What I meant was, don't do it at that point, but then it was too
late, and Iraq invaded, and apparently, Hussein had been,
you know, confident enough in his reassurances, from the
state. It meant that he thought.
Well, what the hell, they don't care.
If I take the northern oil fields, maybe I'll take the
whole country and he went ahead and he went all the way to
Kuwait City and all the way to the shore and took over the
whole country. But even at that point, Keith
the entire Bush, National Security cabinet, that night
agreed that and that was Colin Powell was the chairman of the
Joint Chiefs of Staff. Cheney was the Secretary of
Defense. The National Security advisor
was General, Brent scowcroft and the Of state was James Baker,
the third, these men all said, and we don't care.
We're not doing anything about it.
Were drawn, the line at Saudi Arabia, and we're going to warn
Saddam Hussein that, if you invade Saudi, we're going to
carpet bomb the crap out of. You.
Don't even think about it, but they were going to draw the line
at Saudi Arabia, Keith until Margaret Thatcher, whose
government was heavily dependent on Kuwaiti investments, in their
debt. And whose major corporations had
major investments in Kuwaiti oil.
Voil. She went and said, well, Bush,
don't you go wobbly on me now at the Aspen security conference
and her staff later described this as giving h.w., Bush a
back, bone transplant, and encouraging him, that he better
not back down, and how can he be wobbly standing next to a woman
who's saying, we must do the right thing that, you know,
reduces the last of Bush's Macho.
He'd already been as Bill Hicks quite aptly pointed out.
In fact, George Karl. Had take on the same thing that
bullshit already been called a wimp for so long.
And there's so many different ways to elaborate that everybody
go, listen to Hicks and Carlin on Iraq war one.
Okay. But anyway, this was a big deal.
And so Bush, then said, this will not stand this aggression
and then he spent the entire second half of the year 1990
refusing to negotiate with Saddam Hussein.
Who was begging them. For a way out of there that
didn't make him the world's biggest push over, right?
He just needed to save a little bit of face if he betrayed that
much weakness, he be killed and overthrown in a coup by his own
regime or at least that was a real risk that he was running.
And that was the American government's assessment at the
time was that, you know, they knew that he needed to save some
face and all he wanted was to uninhabited islands and the
easement so we could get there and sell some oil in the Persian
Gulf. And you know, at the end he
ended up his last offer was Americans have to promise to
leave the Middle East, someday and the Israelis had to promise
to withdraw from the occupied Palestinian territories someday,
in other words, absolute tissue paper promises.
That wouldn't have meant anything whatsoever at all.
Was you give me anything to say? And then Bush said, no.
And he can A session is a reward for aggression and will there
will never do anything. He must absolutely bow down,
which they knew was the offer that he could not accept their
the situation. He could not accept that he
would have to be, you know, attacked and driven out because
he would have to have Epsom minimal something to show for
it. And I document all that in my
book of all of the difference. It's really Marie wasps at New
York Newsday and a couple others of the New York Times and Noam
Chomsky who did the best work on that at the time.
Now they refused to accept his surrender and then they launched
this massive war that, you know, you listed him saying.
Well, jeez. We didn't want to go too far
because our mandate was only to go far enough, but then look at
the situation that the that put them in.
And in fact, does he quote? There's, he talked about the
Shiite Uprising and their deliberations about what to do
there after the war or know where you're going to say
something else. Go ahead.
No, he mentions the Amount of a shiaa increase in power after
Iraq war two, but doesn't go into it at all afterwards.
There's so much. But in Iraq war one after Iraq
war one. He doesn't talk about the
aftermath of a Shiite Uprising. And, and some question,
everybody talked about the sanctions.
He briefly passes over sanctions.
You went. In other words, just a billboard
that said, Saddam is bad. And that was like a sanction in
in a short amount of time. Can you explain what the
sanctions were? Were and they're devastating
effect. Yeah.
Well so, you know sanctions is such a euphemism.
But you know if you called a blockade that's not exactly
right because it's not really a matter of Navy's floating
offshore preventing goods from coming in.
No one's even trying it because this was United Nations security
Council resolutions binding on the whole world.
It was illegal to sell to Iraq. And so they were under a total
global economic blockade and the way it works on the security
Council. Is that anyone major power
basically, the victors of World War Two, are the permanent
members of the security Council, right?
So the US, UK, Britain, France, Russia, and China, and any one
of them can veto anything. And so there's no point in
anyone, issuing, a new resolution and the sanctions.
When everybody knows America is going to going to vote.
No America. Being Bill Clinton's government
is going to vote. No, and continue the sanctions.
So in other words, It was essentially up to the Americans
to ever lift them. And if as long as the Clinton
government wanted to keep them there, right?
I should say the Bush, senior government to was in power for a
year and a half after the end of the war and kept them.
And on the stated purpose of achieving regime change.
We will not lift the sanctions until Hussein is out of power,
even though we just skipped over it, but they had encouraged an
uprising against him. That might have succeeded at set
that the bush government. Then betrayed that Revolution
that he encouraged to rise up. Used to support them in any way
and allowed Saddam Hussein to use his helicopters and tanks to
crush the Insurrection. And then they use that as an
excuse to stay. Even though the crushing of the
Insurrection was over. They didn't need to stay and
create no-fly zones over Iraq to protect the people.
They had their one chance and have lost it because of America,
but then now the idea was we're going to keep these sanctions so
that the people who now no longer have the slightest chance
of overthrowing Saddam. We will become so hungry and so
miserable that every civilian in, Iraq, will rise up and
overthrow the guy. And if they don't, well, then
that's their tough luck. That's their responsibility.
And I, quote the military men explain to The Washington Post,
and this is an absolute absolute authoritarian dictatorship.
The baathist party. This is essentially a fascist
dictatorship in every way. The only as I was referring to
their minute ago, the only popular sovereignty Hussein had
was among his Generals and even then he kill them first, you
know what I mean? But if there was anyone who
could have overthrown him, it would have been his own closest
guys, not the people of the country in any way.
And yet the Air Force guys, told the Washington Post.
Hey, listen, it's their country and ultimately boys that a long
way to ultimately, Keith ultimately.
The people of Iraq are responsible for the government
they have. Now, this is exactly what Osama
Bin Laden said about us that we are responsible for this
government. That would do such a thing to
the people of Of Iraq on the exact same, excuse that the
civilians lives are forfeit because they're not doing enough
to overthrow the government that we don't like.
And then the Bill Clinton government kept those sanctions
all the way through January 2001.
And so did W bush. And when he came in, it was so
obvious that and they used it as part of their Ploy.
Look, we can't just keep the sanctions forever.
You're right, bleeding-heart, Keith.
What are we going to do? Keep these people in her bar, go
forever. We got to go in there and
liberate them. Yeah.
So that then they'll be prosperous and healthy.
And yeah, and now that's, you know, a million and a half dead
ago. Unbelievable.
So Richard haass goes into a number of examples of why
regime. Change is actually a good thing,
but page 33, the occupying Powers reformed the countries
and their image. After the second world war which
translated into democracy for all of Japan and in Germany as
well for the part, which became East Germany, controlled by the
USSR nearly three-quarters of a century later, Germany and Japan
stand out as among the few successful examples of what
today would be called regime, change followed by Nation or
state building. His second reason, is that for
its part, the Soviet Union did what it could to promote
communist regimes around the Western Hemisphere and succeeded
in Cuba. And Nicaragua.
It had the advantage of aiding individuals, and movements
fighting against unpopular, authoritarian, governments, that
offered little They're people so historically Germany and Japan.
Good regime change. Historically the Soviets have
engaged in regime change in at work for them.
Therefore. We have good reason to believe
regime. Change Wars are Justified.
How do you respond? That's so funny.
Man. I want to read that book and
also I don't yeah. Good old Richard haass.
Huh? So look at Germany and Japan.
I was raised on this. You're a bit younger than me.
I don't know if they're still inculcate you with this the same
way. They did me.
But yeah, it's true. Right?
That in a way America was this benevolent conqueror?
And we didn't make MacArthur the military dictator of Japan from
now on just to install finisher regime change install the
Parliamentary Government to our liking and the same sort of
thing happened in Germany as well.
And so then the narrative was Hey, when America beats you in
war, we make a friend, A dia will Build You Up, rebuild your
country for you and help make you rich and make you our friend
and our Ally, which sounds nice, but the reality was, we were
making the military satellites of our world.
Empire was, what was really happening.
And at the time, first of all, most importantly, they were both
under threat from the Soviet Union.
And so you might Ally with the Americans and maybe worse to
protect you from the USSR, which was a real threat to Western
Europe. And to Japan.
In fact, that was why the Japanese surrendered.
It wasn't the nukes. It was because they knew that
the Soviets were coming. And would you rather live under
Truman's dictatorship or Stalin's?
And so, the choice was easy for them.
And so with the threat of the Soviet Union, and Some, you
know, communist Invasion holding over their head being held over
their head. Then it was a lot easier to
convince them to go along with those but also the Japanese had
already had a parliamentary government and had been allies
with the British and have been, you know, adopting a lot of
Western Customs as far as independent judiciaries and all
these kinds of things in a way that there was plenty to tap
into their and former leaders of that previous government to
bring into power. And this kind of deal and they
had a compliant emperor. Who had a lot of authority over
the people to say? There won't be an Insurgency.
We've been whooped. It's a matter of Honor now that
we go along with this MacArthur guy, and what he says.
Now, that's a pretty unique circumstance.
You know, I mean, that's, you know, got real lucky there.
And then, of course, in West Germany, you know, they didn't
have an emperor to obey like that, but it wasn't too hard to
create a parliamentary democracy there under American dominance.
Control, you know, on that side of the line and again, for the
main reason that the Soviet Union was being held over their
head. And so they had to choose and
they've been absolutely decimated in the war two.
And so, you know, they got part of that Marshall Plan, you know,
it wasn't just that the Allies, it was the Germans to got their
welfare check to to help rebuild at that time.
So that was a huge part of it. But then what a propaganda coup
because then that becomes the justification for wages.
In war than in Korea, even if we got to kill two million people
and in Vietnam, where we got to kill three, if you include the
Les oceans and the come vodiane in, the cambodians are
supporting dictators, like suharto and Indonesia who killed
a million, you know, of his own people in the East timorese.
Or, you know, all kinds of right-wing dictatorships that,
you know, preferably throw their left-wing dissidents out of
helicopters at the, you know, slightest.
Whim, You know up and down all through Latin America and
through Asia, all the Dirty Wars of the Middle East and you know,
I haven't gotten to it yet. There's this new book by a guy
named Vincent Bevins. I'm sorry, forget the title
right now, but it's all about the history of America's Dirty
Wars in the Cold War. Then it's just a Millions upon
millions of people killed, you know.
It's easy to hide behind. Well, it's, you know, native
soldiers doing the killing, but it's the white officers and the
and, you know, the American politicians and CIA men behind
it, this kind of thing. So that's no different than
under the British, Raj. It's just the American one.
And so, you know, to invoke Japan as the excuse to then do
whatever we want to whoever we want and ask the Koreans, the
Vietnamese, and the araki's and the syrians and the yemenis if
Think that Japan excuse still holds up for the USA in the year
2021. And then as far as the Soviets
having successful regime, changes emphasize the part about
how well and it was pretty easy for the Reds to take over in
Nicaragua because the right wing government that they were
replacing, their of Antonin Samosa was the most right-wing
brutal. Illegitimate fascist
dictatorship, and that's the reason for the success of all It
Marxist revolutionary movements. Through all of Latin America is
the Americans supported right-wing fascist dictators
who, you know, absolutely wage war against their own
populations. You wonder why people Embrace
absolutely ridiculous socialist policies in Latin America.
It's because the Socialist leaders are the ones standing up
to the Yankees. That's why independencefirst.
Same thing in Vietnam course. On page 119, he talks about
Afghanistan, who wrote the excellent book, Falls errand,
which I, of course, will put in the description.
Richard Haas says in the immediate aftermath of the
attacks, the United States presented, the Taliban
government with a stark choice, either end its relationship with
Al-Qaeda and hand Al qaeda's leaders over to the
international authorities or face the consequences.
The Taliban government refused to take these steps and the
United States committed to Now, Sting the government, something
accomplished over the next few months, as us intelligence
personnel, and military forces cooperated with members of the,
so-called Northern Alliance. A loose Coalition of
anti-taliban tribes with roots in these parts of Afghanistan.
Not dominated by the postions and ethnic group, most located
in the south of the country, that constituted a polarity of
its population and the core of Taliban support.
Therefore they were Writing really giving power to Al-Qaeda
stations wasn't. Yeah.
Was that one sentence? Yeah.
It was right that the pashtuns are predominant in the South.
So that's one thing. That's a lot of claims.
I don't even a longer sentence than in full there and you can
find probably the major claim. Al Qaeda attacked, America.
Taliban is given cover for Al queda.
Therefore, the root of the issue was the Taliban and The Invasion
and regime change in Afghanistan is Justified.
How do you respond? Well, that's in damn, dirty lie,
and, in fact, emphasis on him saying that the demand was that
they turn him over to International authorities, but
they offered to turn him over to the organization of Islamic
conference. In other words, any nation
state? That's a member of the
organization of Islamic conference, which is course
created by American Saudi Arabia and the first place and they
were told to go to hell. They said well, we just want to
see some evidence and colon Powell went on Meet the Press
the secretary of state. So we're going to publish a Das
here explaining how this is all Osama.
Bin Laden's fault, easy enough. They knew I'll cater was going
to attack us all summer long, of course.
And so that's even the official story and also some of the
critical ones and so they could have published evidence of the
times there. And instead so note.
We will provide no evidence. So then that was a few days or
what a week after something. The attack then later in
September, they said, okay, we'll turn him over to the
pakistanis and general Musharraf.
And Pakistan was the one who turned that down, but he was
under America's total control at that point.
So if he did that as a betrayal of Americans, I don't believe
it. There's no reports that that's
right. He did that.
He must have done that. It's not conclusive but it's all
but conclusive that he did that on orders from the Americans or,
you know, in a joint decision made with the Americans to turn
that off or down. And at that point, they were
still requesting to see evidence.
And then they said, after the bombs started falling on October
the 8th. They said, okay.
Okay, we'll turn him over to any third nation in the world and
then they didn't mention his real.
I think, probably not Israel, but data, turn him over to
evidently, you know, according to them.
They were willing to take, not just Bin Laden but his Al-Qaeda
guys, arrest them all and extradite them to any third
country in the world Canada, Mexico England.
France are very best friends who, you know, in many cases and
it's the same thing with the Muslim countries to that could
have been Egypt, or Jordan or Malaysia or any one of these
countries. That's friendly to the United
States where the guys would have what landed on the tarmac and
then taking off again for their extradition to America without
even getting out of the Right, that would have been fine,
absolutely acceptable under any, you know, reasonable
Administration. Run by reasonable men without an
agenda here and it was rejected. But then they offer find, they
said, forget evidence. We don't need evidence and we'll
turn him over to any third country in the world and Bush
said too late. So they just dropped every
demand, they were ready to go and, and it was confirmed.
You know, the American intelligence officials say well,
that may be right but we don't care.
You know, and so then it was on and look the reality is that
mullah Omar hated Osama Bin Laden, right?
And Ahmad new NBC called the father of the Taliban.
Yeah, he was the dictator. He was the leader of exact is
exact title, but he was the leader of the Taliban government
there and He had every reason to resent Bin Laden, you know, when
Bin Laden first, got there in 96.
I forget if Rabbani this warlord Rabbani either had just been
killed, or was about to be killed, but that's who Bin Laden
was expecting to be hosted by. He had to figure out.
Okay, who are these Taliban, guys?
I got to get along with them. Now, that wasn't his exact set.
And then, you know, essentially, so here's this guy, who's like a
worldwide leninist. Right.
He's trying to turn over the entire Middle Eastern order
from, you know, the Indian subcontinent to the
Mediterranean Sea and on to Nigeria, right?
That's Ben Laden's plan, right set?
The whole damn world on fire. Well, this guy mullah Omar had
already taken the capital city that year 1996 with the help of
the United States. And of course, Saudi Arabia, and
Pakistan and the support of the Bill Clinton government had just
taken over that country. And as the old saying goes, Goes
and I don't know who coined this, I should look it up
because I keep quoting it that a radical becomes a conservative
the day, he seizes the capitol right now that I've won and I'm
the dictator enough for your world Revolution stuff.
Let's just have a revolution in one country Afghanistan.
Right? So said, Thomas Jefferson and
Leon Trotsky and mullah Omar Revolution.
One country will be more than enough.
Thank you for you know for us to handle.
And so then Here Comes Ben Laden is nothing.
Trouble. And of course Bin Laden is the
son of a billionaire. His Partners woori is a surgeon
from Cairo. And these are wealthy
well-educated men from the world.
The Taliban are Hillbillies from deepest darkest Posh.
Tuna, Stan. They don't know nothing about
nothing. They knew virtually nothing of
the outside world. And so then Bin Laden in the bin
Laden nights, treated them like trash, you know, it's like a
bunch of hoity-toity Boston brahmins.
Among a bunch of, you know, Nascar fulke or whatever, you
know, they just treat them with the utmost of content.
And so guess what? The feeling was kind of mutual
that we don't really like you guys very much either and
there's a great book about this called an enemy, we created by
Kuhn and Lynn shoten. And they just prove this case in
absolute, just incredible detail over and over again of the
strain relationship between these two.
And you know, what Milton Bearden Would help run.
He was one time or maybe most of the time, the chief of station
running, the Afghan war in the 1980s for the CIA against the
Soviets there. When we back the mujahideen in
that war. He told the Washington Post,
just after September 11. Listen, we've been negotiating
with the Taliban, they hate Bin Laden and they want to give him
up to us and we should not be bombed.
The Taliban we should be bombing al-Qaeda.
In fact, Keith now that I'm thinking about it.
Condoleezza Rice and others in the government.
And at the time at the highest level, she was the National
Security advisor. She and some of the CIA were
saying, we should not be on the Taliban at all.
We should only be bomb in the Arabs and show in the Taliban
that look man were really not trying to bomb you, but don't
make us bomb. You, we trying to separate the
Taliban away from Al-Qaeda, but then Rumsfeld on the others were
like, no, we don't want to do that.
We want to separate them together, is what we want to do
and conflate them together. And so that we can complete
continue on conflating them then with a with Saddam Hussein's
regime in Iraq, and whoever else that we want.
And so that was that. But honestly, if they had just
dealt with this honestly, the fact, one more thing Milton.
Bearden said, the Taliban one example that he gave was the
Taliban said to the Americans. Hey, guess what?
We lost Bin Laden. He's out Falcon and somewhere
and we don't know where he is. Hint hint.
Go ahead and whack him right now.
And will say that. Sorry.
He was out talking in the countryside somewhere.
He was outside of our protection.
We were trying to find him to keep him safe, but we were
unable to because of his wild and risky ways.
And so, that's his own problem, and not our fault.
And we, you know, of course, we're honored bound to protect a
guest, but not, if he's out in the countryside somewhere.
We can't protect them where we told him not to go.
And so sure, not our fault is II killed them.
But meanwhile, they were the ones telling the CIA telling the
Americans he's out balcony, go and get him and then Milton
Bearden is quoting this to the Washington Post key and saying
listen, there's and go and kill him and we're saying hand him
over towel ahead and they're gone.
Yeah, but go and kill him. We're hand them over to you man.
That's what we're doing. And as he put it the Americas
just don't speak that kind of language.
They're just, you know, it's like your Junior High School
gym. I'm coach idiot over their
handling. This is that, you know, the
intellect to the people in charge here and so they just
won't speak the language of accepting of of offerings
surrender. The can't even hear it when it's
being laid in their lap. The article you cite in Fool's
errand is Bushra Jack's. Taliban offered a hand Bin Laden
over from the guardian, October 14 2001.
So it's widely recognized that this is a real thing.
It did. I didn't think that it was real
until I had read Fool's errand. Richard haass talks about, Iraq
war, to saddam's refusal to cooperate, fully with, un,
weapons inspectors further, reinforce the prevailing view
that he had something to hide to be clear.
Are you just trying to tire me out today with this or what?
I'm sorry. Go ahead.
One more to be clear what the United States did in 2003?
Was launched a preventative action, one aimed at stopping a
gathering. Wet.
In this case. What was thought to be Iraq's,
development of nuclear weapons? What's wrong with taking a
preventive step to stop a crazy Tyrant, like Saddam from Gaining
nukes, you know, it's funny to Keith because I think Richard
haass didn't, he sort of have a reputation of being more with
Powell and Armitage on the skeptical side and reluctant to
do this war. Yeah, you know, yeah, he's got a
neoconservative. He's our guy, you know, says
that it was a mistake, but he'll still defend.
You know it to like up till the very last end but then say well
there might be some unintended consequences.
And of course, I look pal and Armitage got us into the war
two. They didn't.
They said Jesus we sure we want to do this and then they were
told yes. We want to do this and they
said, okay, and they went along with it.
Also, I'm not trying to acquit them and I guess he must have
been more of a colon Powell light than a Richard Perle guy,
but at the end of the day, it doesn't make that much
difference. What a bastard.
So, look if the The weapons inspectors were back in the
country by the end of November of 2002.
So, they had five months to traipse around a rag and
everywhere they went, they could find nothing.
And they said, so well, look, Americans.
Give us this intelligence, we go to the place where they say that
the thing is happening, and it's not happening.
And that's actually my book, The inspectors debunked, the
aluminum tubes lie. Look The Washington Post
debunked it in September 02. But the weapons inspectors on
the ground, in Iraq, went to the factory, and found the order for
the aluminum tubes there for rockets, and they found other
aluminum soups just like it. And why do you need this special
anodized coating because of the weather and it was all
absolutely every dotted. I and cross T of the araki's
version of the aluminum tubes, being for God, damned katyusha
rockets for shooting out of the back of your pickup.
Pick up truck being for making aluminum tubes was.
Absolutely. And thoroughly discredited
before long before. Bush's speech in what, you know,
solid two months really because the State of the Union isn't
until like the end of January, right?
So this is the very, very beginning of December was when
they debunked the two and then Bush gets up there and says the
tubes and also the famous 16 words.
That's it. I was trying to buy uranium from
Africa, when he had yellow cake in the country and the CIA 14
times, the CIA told the Neo cons in the vice president's office.
You can't put that in the president's speech.
It's not true. And then, finally, they gave up
and said I what the hell, go ahead and put it in there.
And so they went ahead and use that for the State of the Union
in 2003. Even though the rack had yellow
cake uranium, which is partially refined or which what are you
gonna do? Throw it at somebody and hit him
in the head, you know, I guess if you put in there milkshake,
you might give them cancer something.
I don't know. They had a ton of it, a ton of
it, sitting under iaea lock and seal.
In the country left over from their 1980s Obsolete and closed
down nuclear program that the iaea had never removed the
uranium. They just left it there because
it was essentially harmless sitting there.
So if Hussein had wanted it, the inspectors weren't in the Three
from 1998 through 2002. All he would have had to do was
cut the lock on the storage locker.
Take that uranium, or refine it, somehow convert it to uranium,
hexafluoride, gas. And then introduce it into these
aluminum tubes for katyusha rockets and pretend that the
you're going to somehow making a Manhattan Project and an atom
bomb out of it. The whole thing was absolutely
ridiculous and they knew they were lying Keith and, and all
through from, from December. Through March, the nuclear
inspectors and the chemical inspectors.
Also, we cannot find anything that you're talking about here.
There's no production of sarin. No, production of mustard.
No stick. No Warehouse is full of this
stuff, the mobile biological weapons labs.
They brought the rat who said that it was true to the place
where he said it was true and they go.
Okay. Show us the stuff total hoax.
He knew nothing. The whole thing was a made up
thing. A made-up game.
You can read a lot of In the Senate investigations, you know,
years later when the Senate, you know, published a lot of this
stuff. It's right there in the PDF
format there. Richard haass quotes, John F.
Kennedy on page, 158 as President John F.
Kennedy. Once warned, there are risks and
costs to a program of action, but they are far less than the
long-range costs and risks of comfortable in action.
So it's very easy for you to say.
Well, we should have sat back and not done anything.
Thing in the face of the evils of the world Saddam Gaddafi
Assad, but if you sit back and allow these tyrannies to grow
then they're just going to expand further and engage in
more unjust actions. Therefore action is Justified.
How do you respond? It's just nonsense, right?
There's no reason in the world to believe that all these nation
states in the Middle East would be at war with each other.
If America wasn't there, all the worst violence is led by the
Americans. And again, if the Americans
hadn't, been told the Kuwait, he's that.
Yeah, we got your back. Go ahead and tell Saddam Hussein
to go to hell. They wouldn't have and if James
Baker hadn't told Saddam Hussein.
Hey, man, I don't know. No West Texas rules if they are
overproducing on your shared oil.
Well, break their knees. What do I care, man?
That's the name of the game in it.
That's how we do business around here.
So, you know, and of course, that was all in the aftermath
these War debts. I'm talking about.
You of them, was all in the aftermath of the Americans
supported iran-iraq War were America supported both sides of
the iran-iraq war and so, you know, Richard haass can just
pretend all day. That the counterfactual is that
Saddam? Saying am Bashar al-assad and
the Ayatollah, and Qaddafi, would all be Regional
superpowers. Now if we hadn't stopped them,
but it's more plausible. They'd all be rubbing butts and
fields of flowers compared to what America has done under the
control, literal control of Richard, Haas and his friends in
the George, George W. Bush Administration.
And h.w. Bush before that.
They're the ones who have wrought.
All this crisis. And you know what?
At the time of the invasion of Iraq?
Saddam Hussein made an offer to Richard, Perle through a
Lebanese, businessman in London. And in fact, he did this twice
or two different stories about this where Hussein essentially
offered unconditional surrender. And by the way, I didn't
mention, but huh, Bush and Sabri were where the intelligence
Minister and the foreign minister.
And they were both CIA agents mean assets, not officers, but
they, you know, saddam's top two guys.
Worked for the CIA were CIA informants, essentially, and
told him, we don't have any weapons.
We're not backing out kada. None of this is true, man, you
know, we'll do whatever you guys say.
We know now from the CIA interrogator, John Nixon that
Saddam Hussein was essentially retired.
He had kicked himself upstairs in a delegated.
His most of his government to these men have ocean Sabri and
to recall lie and that he was retired writing a romance novel
at the time and was essentially dictator in name only.
Your head at that time and don't like that about Saddam Hussein's
writing a love story. And and so, you know, this was
all bogus and at the meeting in London, they told Richard Perle
look, man, and this goes to show how innocent the rack.
He's worth the time of the accusations against them that
they didn't know what the hell. The war was about.
Hey look, man, if you really think we got weapons of mass
destruction. I don't know what to tell you,
but you can send in the FBI in the army.
Not invade but just to walk around and go wherever you want.
Look wherever you want. And if this is about oil wells,
happily sign. Mineral rights deals.
Who do you got Exxon? Put them right up.
In first in line man will make a deal there.
And if this is about democracy, well will hold elections under
International supervision. Just give us a little bit of
time to make the transition as the Iraq.
He's surrendering unconditional surrender to the Americans and
they even said, and if this is about Israel, then we'll switch
sides in the israel-palestine conflict.
T', and we'll stop back and Hamas and sending any money to,
you know, families of suicide bombers.
And all this stuff that have been Hussein's policy before,
which he sent, he sent money to the families of any Palestinians
who died in violent conflict with the Israelis.
So that meant a little lady crushing her house with a
bulldozer, but also meant the families of suicide bombers to.
And that was the part that the Neo cons and highlighted so
much. And so they even said, look,
we'll even betray the pallet, the Palestinians will give up on
that will do whatever you want. Just don't invade and Girls
said, you tell them we'll see in Baghdad.
And refuse to accept, Keith essentially an unconditional
surrender. Unbelievable.
Well, there are so many books to read about a lot of things.
Why should someone take the time and spend the money and get
enough already time to end the war on terrorism.
We'll look, I think everybody knows that in the 80s, America
back the mujahideen in Afghanistan and back Saddam
Hussein in the war with Iran and back there on.
You know, the famous Iran-Contra scandal back to Iran against
Saddam bit to think everybody knows that every knows we fought
Iraq war one and everybody knows that.
Clinton bomb the hell out of Iraq for a year straight and and
kept the sanctions. This kind of thing.
Anybody who's interested in this sort of stuff, at all knows this
stuff. And, and people are somewhat
familiar with the rise of Al Qaeda, and their attacks on
America. And they're familiar at least,
in some degree of our war in Afghanistan and Iraq war two and
our other interventions and Libya Syria.
Somalia, Yemen. They've at least heard of these
things. So the book is not full of like,
you know, see Great information. I got these documents about
operation, thus, and such you never heard of before kind of
covert action like that. And I'm not a journalist who was
in the wars telling a first person account.
And I'm not a soldier back from the war song is a.
First person account. I'm essentially critic who
stayed home the whole time and watch.
All these wars from here and opposed them all along too and I
collected everything. I hate about it all for 20 years
in one place. And what it really should do.
I hope is draw one through line. So that you see, it's not all
just ad. Hoc.
There's a reason for all of this stuff that happens and I start
with Jimmy Carter because that's essentially my lifetime and I
guess I was born under Gerald Ford's, you know, last month's
of Gerald Ford there. But anyway, you know, so many of
these decisions start with the Carter Administration and then I
draw the through line about, you know, how to understand why it
is that they made the choices that they did.
Did to switch sides back and forth the way that they have,
and cause the wars that they've caused and the thinking behind
him, and at the end of it. I'm pretty sure that you'll have
to agree that it is enough of this.
There's no way to essentially conclude that somehow, there's
we got to tie up, these loose ends and somehow we can trust
our government to fix what they've broken.
One of this, you know, kind of ridiculous Pottery Barn foreign
policy and frankly Keith look at what's happening right now, and
I didn't really think it was going to happen, but it is
happening. They are pulling American troops
out of Afghanistan. They have emptied, the car, the
Kandahar air base and they're working on Bagram right now.
And there's footage of GIS and, you know, Special Operations
forces, and whoever, all they are getting on planes and flying
the hell out of there. And so this is America leaving
in defeat, you know, in this war after a 20-year war and, and the
future of Afghanistan is going to be ugly as hell too.
And the Hawks will, of course, say, that's because we ever gave
up, but everyone else will know that that's because we let these
men. Even try this in the first
place, and that was never going to work.
That's why it didn't work. And that the people who said, so
all along somehow, we're going to tame the Afghans and turn
their country. In one compliant with American
goals and wishes was always the Fool's errand and crazy that we
had no right to do it and never should have done it.
And you know, let's hope then that the momentum keeps up.
And people say, you know what? We want the hell out of Syria
and Iraq. We want out of Somalia.
We want out of Yemen. We want all of our special
operations forces Out of Africa, and the Philippines, and
everywhere else there fighting Sunni, insurgencies.
And just call the whole damn thing off.
These are all regional problems. Even though America is
responsible for them. As I say, there's no way for us
to take responsibility for them and any constructive way.
We just have to butt out and let these things settle on their own
and take care. Care of themselves.
And again, even after all of this.
I'm in them. They could have never had their
caliphate in the first place. The worst that could happen was
what did happen in Eastern Syria and Western Iraq, but that's
over. Its America is the only thing
standing in the way of the government in Damascus.
Finishing taking over all of the rest of the country of Syria and
in Iraq, for what it's worth in the terrible relations between
the Shiite government. They're in the minority, Sunni
faction under their thumb right now, guy idea of the return of
the AMA state is impossible without the level of support for
their efforts by the us and our allies.
As we saw under the Obama Administration for the
revolution in Syria. And so it really is time to just
call it off and never had to be this way.
And I'm, and what I really want out of that book.
I want people to be able to say to each other.
Not, you know, it's not just for my fans and your fans to read if
you're already interested in what I have to say and what my
guest To say on my show and what we say and anti-war.com.
I really want this to be for you to be able to give to your
people that that would never listen to my show.
That aren't part of our libertarian world or our
anti-war activism world or whatever it is.
And just say hey look man, there's this book that says if
we could just call it off we never should have done all this
and we should really just quit it and it'd be much better if we
just quit it and make that case to anybody picture, any
character. You've got in your head,
anywhere from left to write any age any race, any part of this
country, whether they fought in the wars or whether they didn't
and You know, I don't know and I've had a lot of veterans
officer saying a list of guys who love the stuff and they're a
substantial part of my audience now and they're as bad as what
they've been through has been for them.
They're grateful to have somebody shoot him straight and
tell them what the truth is about, what it was all for
anyway, and so I really hope that people get something out of
a key. Excellent.
The book is enough already time to end the war on terrorism.
Thanks everyone for watching. Keith Knight.
Don't try to on anyone and the In Institute, Scott.
Thank you for your time. As always.
Thank you, my friend.