Video Infoblog - Scott Ritter Hails: Iran Successful Attack Israel, greatest military display to seek Regional peace
Transcript
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first of all what happened before moving
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on to what might happen next if you
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would describe for us with your Peerless
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experience uh what happened in the
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Iranian attack on Israel last
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night well simply put what happened is
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that the Iranian government has
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established a um publicly
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um discernable policy on deterrence uh
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they have let Israel know and and not
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just Israel they have let the United
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States and every other nation in within
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Missile Range know that there will be a
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heavy price to be paid if you attack
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Iranian soil um that Iran will not
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tolerate the kind of attack that took
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place on the 1 of April where Israel
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attacked um the Iranian Consulate in
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Damascus and I believe Iran has also put
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putting um a marker on the table that
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says Iran will no longer tolerate the
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kind of actions such as the
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assassination of um nuclear scientists
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on its soil by Israel in the past this
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will not be tolerated that in the future
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if you choose to attack Iran Iran will
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retaliate and they will retaliate with
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the kind of force that cannot be
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interdicted and the kind of force that
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will destroy that which is is seeking to
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destroy now the Iran Chans were very
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clever in the in in creating this
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posture in that all they had to do is
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show a proof of concept I think a lot of
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people were saying well they didn't
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destroy uh an Airfield they didn't
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destroy an Israeli headquarters they
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didn't kill hundreds or thousands of
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Israelis they weren't intending to they
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were simply letting the Israelis and the
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Americans know that we have the capacity
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to destroy an Airfield all the Israelis
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have to do is look at a map look where
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the the the Iranian missiles hit
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understand that the Iranians hit that
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which they were aiming at and there was
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nothing Israel could do to stop those
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missiles from reaching their target and
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Israel is the most heavily defended
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airspace in the world with the most
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sophisticated anti-missile technology
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deployed in depth and they couldn't stop
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the Iranian missiles so the signal to
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the United States which lacks this
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comprehensive air defense umbrella over
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its installations in the Middle East is
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there too but for the grace of God go
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you if you to attack us or fac
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facilitate an Israeli attack so this was
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I call it one of the the greatest
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military demonstrations in modern
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history because by doing what they did
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Iran not only put Israel into check but
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believe it or not they have created a
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foundation for peace and stability in
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the Middle East by eliminating uh from
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of from consideration options that
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Israel and the United States may have
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been considering down the road such as a
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preemptive strike against uh Iranian
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nuclear facilities or a punishing attack
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against the Iranian regime the United
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States and Israel now on notice that if
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they attempt to do something like that
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the price they will pay will be
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prohibitively high in the case of Israel
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it might be terminally
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High help those of us who don't know uh
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weapons and systems uh like you do Scott
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uh I said uh earlier in in my monologue
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that the very slow moving drones and
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then the cruise uh missiles that were
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launched second ra second grade ones uh
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were to as it where draw the
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anti-missile fire to exhaust it it's
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very expensive it's in rather short
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supply uh and then to as a c de grass if
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you like uh deliver the ballistic Miss
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which cannot be were not uh uh uh
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stopped were not interdicted were able
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to uh land on their target the airbase
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in the negtive have I got that right and
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can you help further
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explain certainly first of all let's
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just point out the reality that Iran
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started its attack um by launching the
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slowest loudest weapons in its Arsenal
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the sh drones and they did that because
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they were sending a signal to Israel the
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United States and everybody we're
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attacking Israel now if they were
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looking to carry out you know a lethal
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attack why why announce at five hours in
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advance why give Israel a chance to
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withdraw its high valued assets from
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bases of that are vulnerable um why give
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the United States Great Britain and
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France chance to move resources up ships
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airplanes over Jordan to intercept these
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missiles Iran was saying here we come
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shoot us down and they did they came out
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and they shot the uh they shot the
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drones down now Iran launched tens of
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millions of dollars worth of drones the
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United States and Israel spent billions
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of dollars shooting them down this is a
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financial equation that's unsustainable
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and that was one of the points that Iran
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was making is you can't afford this kind
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of War then they sent in cruise missiles
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that combined with the drones defined
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the initial phase of the air defense
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reaction not only the air defense the
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outer the the airplanes but once they
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penetrated the airplanes the Iron Dome
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started engaging and they brought in
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missiles at a higher level so that the
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AOS systems and the Patriots started to
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engage and they defined the radar they
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Define how Israel is locking in on the
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targets and then they did three things
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and this is where it gets iffy I have to
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be honest George it's very early and
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there's incomplete information out there
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but my understanding that is that Iran
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used three types of ballistic missiles
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one ballistic missile uh it's it's a
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very clever missile it it it uses a
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warhead that separates and then fires
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burst fires a bunch of decoys out there
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that appear to be specifically designed
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to absorb iron Dome uh missiles so
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remember the Iron Dome is tracking a
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Target you fire these these these decoy
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burst and so the Iron Dome says aha we
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have now 25 targets and they fired 25
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interceptors
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meanwhile smaller Warheads maneuverable
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burst through those interceptors and go
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down and hit the Israeli air defense
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systems and that appears to be the case
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I was looking at some video where you
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see this taking place the shotgun effect
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of these bomblets uh the Iron Dome
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responding and then coming in and they
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hit the air defense system so they're
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showing the Israelis how we're going to
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take you out the next thing that you see
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is they have these Miss coming in where
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you see the Warhead separating from the
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uh from the missile body and then
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there's a booster engine on the Warhead
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that drives it down into the ground at
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high speed blowing away any radar
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intercept any ability intercept hitting
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the Target and what this does is it
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clears the space they clear air defense
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the final thing are these heavy Warheads
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that come off of the heavy missiles that
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hit the runways and blew the big craters
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in them this was a thre layered
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ballistic missile attack that was
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specifically designed by the Iranians to
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destroy Israeli air defense to clear the
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way to take out air defense and then to
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show that we can put the big Warheads on
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the target anywhere in Israel we want to
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and this was successful and the beauty
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of this is they didn't use their best
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missiles all three with the exception
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one one of these missiles is rather new
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but it's not the Hypersonic missile
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Israel didn't use their Hypersonic
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missile and Israel has lots of these
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missil this just a single strike package
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Iran has several strike packages just
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like this held in reserve that they have
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for damona that they have for the Kira
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in Tel Aviv that they have for other air
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bases um Iran can repeat this process
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all day long and what they showed Israel
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is this is what we can do and I can
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guarantee you there's people like me
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right now who wear uniform or
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Intelligence Officers doing the exact
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same analysis doing and they're writing
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big critical reports up to chain of
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command saying stop all since we can't
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win this war it's over guys stop it we
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have no defense here if Iran wants to
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come in we are powerless this thing will
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escalate out of control make it stop now
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which is why Joe Biden was on the phone
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with the G7 to intervene with Israel why
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Joe Biden was on the phone with
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Netanyahu and why netanyahu's generals
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were telling him stand down we can't win
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this fight this is a huge Iranian
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victory yeah we'll come to that L Point
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uh in a minute but do you agree with me
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me that as George W bush might put it uh
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they've all
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misunderestimated Iran all
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along well again the military hasn't I I
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I have to say that I've worked with
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Israeli intelligence with their
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technical intelligence people with the
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people who do the analysis and the
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assessments of missiles these are smart
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people and if I sitting here thousands
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of miles away without any access to
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secret information would could have said
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I I knew most of this going in before
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this happened I knew what Iranian
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capabilities were I can guarantee you
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they knew exactly what this was but the
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problem is getting their voice heard by
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Israeli policy makers who are driven by
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emotion and by by politics domestic
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politics Etc um what this attack did is
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Empower their voices because now whereas
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political leaders could say well you're
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just speculating you don't know that's
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just geeky intelligence stuff now they
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have the hard data the photo put on the
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table the air defense guys saying boss
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we gave it our best shot there was
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nothing we could do to stop him the
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Americans calling up saying there's
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nothing more we can do we did everything
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we can't stop this um and now the
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Israeli politicians are waking up to the
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harsh reality that um the fiction that
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they have been living uh you know living
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under um is is is not even close to
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reality it was a fantasy and there's a
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real world out there and it's a
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dangerous world and they're going to
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have to change the way that they
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operate so let's move on to what happens
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next Scott if you will uh it said and
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that you've just said it the media is
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saying it I believe it that Biden has uh
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sought to dissuade in what words and at
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what price who knows but sought to
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dissuade an Israeli response to Iran's
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response uh for fear of this wider
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configration for fear of a serious 10
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times more serious Iranian response to
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any Israeli response uh but the question
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is can Netanyahu survive without
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responding listening to Ben and others
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already this evening uh it seems to me
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that Netanyahu would fall uh from Power
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were he to go along with what Biden
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seems to be asking him to
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do there's a couple things that uh I
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think we're going to see um one I think
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we're going to see Israel ratcheting up
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the pressure on Hezbollah and now we're
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going to have to see um you know the
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skills of um Hassan nasala and his
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ability to manage uh this escalation
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ladder which he's done so masterfully
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but more more pressure is going to be
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put on Hezbollah by Israel and Iran is
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going to be PR pressing Nella not to
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allow it to blow up um not to allow it
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to um you know become the general war
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that Netanyahu so desperately needs uh
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two I think Netanyahu is going to call
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in the head of mad and sit benir down
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with him and say we're going to double
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down on our our covert war against
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Israel you know there a lot of people
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have forgotten but there was a there was
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a huge demonstration last year that
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became a Civil War I I talked to senior
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Iranian officials about it they said
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this this isn't demonstrations this is a
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this is a hybrid War run by the CIA and
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Israeli Massad designed to bring Iran
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down from within and it's a it was a big
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problem it was a big fight uh the
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Iranians won they prevailed but I would
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see Israel um encouraging uh beluch
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nationalist movements to strike um Iran
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and zahedan I would see them encouraging
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Isis to strike uh in in inside uh Israel
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I would encourage them to see the Kurds
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striking the m muin al striking all
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these external forces that the CIA the
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British and Israeli intelligence have
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been propping up for years I think
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you're going to see the Israeli saying
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you need to double down on this stuff we
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need to put the pressure on Iran because
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we we can't be seen as doing nothing we
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have to be seen as doing something and
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this again will test the limits of
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Iran's deterrent policy at what point in
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time will Iran expand it to say that the
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that hybrid attack attacks using a proxy
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uh qualifies as the same as a direct
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attack and our our deterrence will kick
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in as well we're we dodg the bullet but
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we're not out of the we're not out of
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the firefight yet there's going to be a
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lot of um there's going to be a lot of
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pressure put on down the road the good
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news is Iran doesn't want to fight
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they're not cowards they prove that they
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will fight if need be but Iran's focus
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is on the Shanghai cooperation
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organization it's on bricks it's on
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normalization of relations with Saudi
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Arabia it's on economic prosperity and a
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war with Israel will disrupt all of this
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so the good news is there's a lot of
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patience built into Iran's foreign
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policy um a lot of
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flexibility um and that that's necessary
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at this point in time because Iran has
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to understand that Israel has to do
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something for internal politics and you
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either want a war or you don't if you
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don't want a war you're going to have to
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grit your teeth and bear it as Israel
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uses proxy forces to put pressure on to
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punish Iran Iran will have to absorb
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these attacks but the other good news is
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Israel's losing the bigger War remember
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the other thing Iran doesn't want to do
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is distract attention away from the fact
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that Hamas is winning that Hamas has
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turned Global opinion against Israel
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that the world is now talking about a
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Palestinian state in ways that they had
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never done before a larger war between
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Israel and
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Iran you know distracts people from that
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that goal and Iran doesn't want that
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Iran understands that the AIS of
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resistance together with Hamas was in
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the process of strategically defeating
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Israel and that's the fight they want to
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fight so I think Iran will be willing to
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absorb blows from Israeli proxies uh in
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order to stay focused on the Strategic
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victory that they're handling and not
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fall victim to the kind of you know
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Petty human narcissism that Israel Falls
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victim to where they say oh we've been
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slided we have to do massive Revenge
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Iran has shown itself to be a very
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patient very resilient very mature
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nation state when it comes to this sort
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of
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activity finally Scott and I'm grateful
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for your time as always uh the
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englishspeaking King of
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Jordan uh uh who when he took the throne
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literally could not speak Arabic and now
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speaks it with a rather Splendid English
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accent uh he was the only Arab leader if
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we can call it an Arab colum a leader uh
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who collaborated with Israel and the
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United States last night even their much
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more important and longer standing uh
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allies declined uh the opportunity to do
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that why did uh King Abdullah do that uh
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has he not placed himself in very severe
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difficulty now with his own population
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which is overwhelming in ly uh opposed
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to Israel overwhelmingly in support of
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the Palestinians in Gaza what what on
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Earth forced King Abdullah to do
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that I call him the least Arab leader in
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the Arab world as you pointed out he um
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you know his his his roots his his
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ideology his mindset is very British
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it's not uh it's not of the Arab Street
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he is so far removed from the reality of
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his people um and he is so dependent
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upon Israel and I put Israel first then
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the United States and in Europe for uh
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his continued viability as a leader um
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his betrayal of the Palestinian cause is
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is is apparent to all and now his
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betrayal of the Arab world and indeed
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the Muslim world is on display likewise
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um he knows he's in a lot of trouble the
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most dangerous thing in the world for
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the hashimite king of Georgia
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is happening and that is that the
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Palestinian people have a pathway to
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statehood and a Palestinian state is
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perhaps the greatest threat to this
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artificial entity called the hashimite
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kingdom of Jordan because he's not a
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Jordanian he is a Saudi Arabian
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transplant um and his I believe the his
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he may be the last hashimite king of
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Jordan that um I don't wish upon him the
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fate of the last hashimi king of Iraq
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but I do believe that it's time for the
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King of Jordan to take his family and
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his retinue and fly off to London and
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live where he belongs among the British
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people he uh he so adores because he is
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reviled and hated amongst his own people
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and now amongst the entire Arab and
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Muslim world he be is a betrayer of the
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cause of the people of
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Palestine so World War I or not Scott um
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can we sleep in our bed tonight uh with
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some confidence that the world will
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still be here when we wake up in the
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morning I'd say in the short term as
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long as benguan airport is open and
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flights are coming in and out go to bed
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sleep well um if if benorian shuts down
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then we need to start worrying about in
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what direction this is going because the
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Iranians aren't playing around anymore
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and if benguan shuts down it means the
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Israelis aren't taking um no
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as an answer from the United States and
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this thing could go in any direction but
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for the moment Ban's open people are
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flying in and out I
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there is a speed bump on the front
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there is a speed bump on the
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front there is a speed bump on the
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front there is a speed bump on the
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front there's a speed bump on the
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front there's a speed bump on the front
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