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MEF Chief Editor Jim Hanson discussed the US retaliatory strikes for the killings of three U.S. service members in Jordan by Iranian affiliated militias.
Transcript
Pete Hegseth (Host): Jim Hanson, who served in the US army special forces. Jim, am I off base here? You saw the stats, you saw the card, you’ve seen the reaction. What do you think?
Jim Hanson (Guest): This was a pr exercise to generate a smokescreen to hide the fact that the Biden administration doesn’t think Iran is our enemy? They’re still under the delusional fantasy that somehow if we’re just nice enough to them, if we just send them enough planeloads of cash, somehow they’ll come around and stop being the largest state sponsor of terrorism and someone who kills Americans with impunity.
I think this is a disgraceful answer to what was an act of war by Iran, and not their first against us, no doubt.
Pete Hegseth (Host): I mean, Jim, they’ve been in war with us since the, since 1979. I mean, they’ve been at war with us in Iraq. How many of our troops, hundreds of our troops, guys we served with were killed by Iranian made bombs. I mean, we know Iran is at war with us.
That’s no doubt. So considering this administration, what would you like to see happen? Or is there anything this administration could do? Or are they simply just view Iran as not an enemy?
Jim Hanson (Guest):You know, I remember not too long ago when there were some Iranian militias running rampant and all of a sudden, President Trump turned Qassem Soleimani back into his component molecules and things got quiet for a while.
You strike people directly, they take you seriously. And there was this ridiculous report today out where us intelligence believes that Iran doesn’t actually control these militias. Now, the Middle east forum has a vast network of sources across the Middle east, and we see examples of direct Iranian control every day. So they are running this, they are controlling this. I imagine it might have been a Katab Hezbollah guy who pushed the button on that drone, but there was an Iranian Quds force guy standing behind him making sure he didn’t screw it up.
Pete Hegseth (Host): No doubt. Jim, you know, you’re a Green Beret. You were involved in direct operations. How often did you wait? Six days.
And if you did wait six days, what impact did it have on the target you were hoping to acquire?
Jim Hanson (Guest): You know, part of the problem was they literally asked Qatar to go to Iran and tell them that we don’t want a war, but we have to do something. Is it okay if we blow some stuff up in the desert? And. I’m not joking about that, Pete, that comes from several reliable sources.
They wanted to know if they were allowed. They asked our enemy and gave them a heads up to make sure, like you said, they could move out their leaders. They could move out the equipment they didn’t want blown up. And Biden would get his nighttime shots of explosions to show that he was a tough guy. It was a joke, and it’s making us less safe.
It’s the exact opposite of deterrence.
