Judging Freedom - COL. Lawrence Wilkerson : Trump’s War Is Spreading

Episode Date: October 8, 2026

COL. Lawrence Wilkerson : Trump’s War Is SpreadingSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Undeclared wars are commonplace. Pragically, our government engages in preemptive war, otherwise known as aggression with no complaints from the American people. Sadly, we have become accustomed to living with the illegitimate use of force by government. To develop a truly free society, the issue of initiating force must be understood and rejected. What if sometimes to love your country you had to alter or abolish the government? Jefferson was right? What if that government is best which governs least? What if it is dangerous to be right when the government is wrong? What if it is better to perish

fighting for freedom than to live as a slave? What if freedom's greatest hour of danger is now? Hi everyone, Judge Andrew Napolitano here for Judging Freedom. Today is Thursday, October 8, 2006, my dear friend, Colonel Lawrence, welcome. Mr. Carlson joins us now, Colonel, a pleasure. Thank you very much for your time. I'd like you to talk to us briefly about militarism. Is Secretary of Defense Hegsseth a prudent leader who tempers the use of force, or is he a George Patton wannabe who relishes it? And which role is more appropriate for the Secretary of Defense? Wow, that's a huge question. HECS is neither. I think HECF is more readily explained as a manifestation of what I call, and many historians too now, the fourth great awakening in America,

principally marked by 100 million people who declare themselves not mainline Christians, but evangelicals, 40 million of whom, roughly speaking, are certified by, fable, insane, whatever he want to call them, Ted Cruz type Christians who get their guidance for all manner of decision-making out of the Old Testament, which is not Jesus' Bible, by the way. So Higsef is almost an old gantry gone warlike. A parrot's the parts of the Old Testament while calling himself a Christian. That means he believes in Jesus Christ, I assume, that dictate being and here's the answer to your second question.

A killer, a murderer, a slaughterer, a person who goes in to kill everything that moves, burn their crops, raise their homes, destroy their temples and so forth, in the name of patriotism, in the name of God, even. I think Hegseth is one of the most clear and present dangers to the military that we've had probably since World War II. Chris, can you put up the new, logo for the Department of War. So we're going to compare the two of them.

You probably know the difference immediately, and you know what's missing. You'll see it in a second when Chris puts the other one. He removed the olive branches. Now, I don't know why he reduced 13 stars to five. I don't know the significance of the five. That may be nothing. And, of course, this is a design approved by the Congress,

so he can't change it, but just like he changed the name of his department. He changed it. But is that symbolic? Look at that posture. That's a preacher. That's a preacher. That's not a secretary of defense.

Chris, you have an analogy to that, which is worse than a preacher, another posture. It's 1936 in Germany. But is there substance to the removal of the the olive branches or is it just Pete being Pete?

I think it's Pete being Pete, but I think it is a theme that he has made a remarkable part of his thus short career. And that is that we are killers. We're killers for God. We're killers for the state and the state is God. We are exactly what he says we are and what he has dictated in terms of his policies in the department that are now permeating all through the military.

And I think acting very much as a selective device for those people who will either stand aside should something untoward happen with regard, particularly to the November 3rd elections, but afterwards too, and actually participate if they're called upon. Wow. Stated differently, you foresee Trump using the military to frustrate the voter's will to save himself from a Democratic Congress. You've got it. You've got it.

Hesith is his sycophantic disciple to do that. That cabinet meeting was not only nauseous, Besson and Hegseth fell over themselves. I won't use the crude expression of a soldier would use, crawling up the presidents, you know what? I didn't see the cabinet meeting. You're lucky. You're very fortunate. Well, is the Pentagon today fostering citizen soldiers or killers?

The latter. There's no citizen soldiers to it. And if you look at his recruiting tactics and techniques, he's also emphasizing that even in them, while claiming that all the rates are up and it's unbelievable how many people we're getting, he's recruiting people who can't even read their name on the guard roster, sending them to school to teach them the ASAP, the armed forces battery that you have to be able to pass to get into the military. And then upgrading them to middle category three and telling the Congress to go about pound sand that he really didn't take 11, 12 percent category force because he trained a percentage of them to be category threes. This is his new recruitment. Notice the use of all the heavy equipment and notice, of course, the adulation of himself in there. That's characteristic of him too, whether it's on a carrier or in a gym somewhere.

He's lifting weights with the troops doing this, doing that. Or more often than not, he's in front of them either praying or leading them in prayer or preaching or all of those. Well, Colonel, does the Pentagon need an office of Christian services manned by his Christian nationalists? That's what we're looking at. That's what we're looking at in the chaplain corps. We have, he has converted the chaplain's corps from, as he puts it, an agency to help troops see better what their responsibilities are and what spiritual help has with regard to those responsibilities, whether it's fighting a war or just maintaining their equipment or whatever. He's changed into a service whose chaplains are supposed to tell them if they tell them anything and they're limited in what they can tell. They're supposed to tell them you're here for God.

You're here to kill people for God. Well, how can any, any religion say that? How can Episcopalian priests or Catholic priests or even Jewish rabbis say that? Well, there's not a whole lot of that kind of identification in his world. The identification went from some 211 recognized religions or religious-like or no religion at all organizations. all of which could have their symbology put on tombstones in any national military cemetery, particularly Arlington, went down to 30, 31, I think. And they're all, I mean, you could name them.

They're all hexethe blessed religious groups, and those chaplains have to tow that line or get the hell out. Why did George W. Bush fire Donald Rumsfeld the day after the Republicans lost the midtermson. I think he wanted to let some distance develop between he really realized that he should put Cheney in the closet and when he fired his right-hand man to Ruffsell. Well, maybe the same will happen on November 4th of this year. One can at least hope. Do we know of any military from top brass down to people who actually press the button who resigned rather than murder people on speedboats in the Caribbean? We've had some people who questioned it to the extent that I think what we would really hear if they were called before the Congress by the Democrats to testify and were asked good questions. We've seen people step down in the leading character in that is the Southern Command Commander

who stepped down, I think for three fundamental reasons, all of which are reasons to step down. First of all, they went around him completely in his own area of responsibility. with special operating forces, completely around him to do this. And I think, Judge, they actually went around him until he objected and got into the fight on the Venezuela operation, also in his AOR. Second reason is because he told them what they were doing was, I think he used the term extra legal, not functioning in accordance with international law, domestic law, or due process in any way.

and then third, because they wouldn't pay any attention to him and suggested to him that if he didn't like it, he could leave, and he did. Is this the Black Admiral? His name is escaping me, Halsey, maybe? No, I lost it too, just as I was talking to you, but yeah, it's African American. Okay. Okay, if I've used somebody else's name, I apologize, for some reason that's the name I'm thinking of. To yesterday's breaking news, Colonel, what is the significance, or have you ever heard of the head or former head of intelligence for Germany being arrested on espionage and treason charges?

Well, I've been around and around with a lot of people over that at the last 48 hours. and it's a long story, Judge, but we were convinced, I say we, Secretary Powell and I, were convinced as we were in the third or fourth day of preparation for his presentation at the United Nations on 5 February 2003. We were convinced that the mobile biological labs, and Powell put it this way, you don't have a single photograph, you want me to put stick drawings up on the wall, I'm not going to do it. Show me some photographs. Show me some proof.

Well, that kind of outbursts, which was unusual for Powell, except several times it happened in this event. Tenet comes back with this information about this Iraqi major, he said. We had not only been present in one of the mobile biological labs when product was being manufactured, he had been there when an accident had occurred and killed one of the individuals working with the equipment. and went on from there to describe this individual in glowing terms and everything. And I'll ask him what the source was particularly.

And he said, well, the B&D, the German intelligence service, they were running this agent. They were running the man. And at that point, someone should have stepped in and said, did any US intelligence asset, CIA, NSA, the Nick, whatever, ever talked to this guy? We didn't. We were harassed. We were hurried. I'm not making excuses, but we didn't.

Later, we come to find out, and I in particular come to find out, after we've given the presentation of everything, Tyler Drumhaller, in charge of European operations for the CIA, still in that position, calls me, emails me, and says, I told John McLaughlin, and I told George Tenet, I told John on the telephone to his ear, I told him this is not reliable information, do not use it. Then I said, Hiler, how did you know that he was using it?

Oh, they passed us a copy of the presentation well before he gave it. I had put strict directions to tenant, straight from the secretary. You don't pass that out to anybody. It's classified in the stratosphere. You don't pass that. Well, he'd pass it out to all the station chiefs around. Right. So this happened under, by the way, there's the Admiral.

I think we're talking about the same person. Alvin, Polsi, H-O-S-O-S-E. H-O-L-S-E-Y, who resigned and declined to speak to the public. Well, I hope he's asked to testify under oath where he's immune from the consequences of what he says. All right, so this event that you're describing with Secretary Powell was under the tutelage of the person who was running German intel who has been arrested for espionage and treason. What are the international implications of this kind of an arrest? I mean, for example, don't intel agencies that share data with the Germans worry about what he passed on, not to whom he passed it?

I think so now. I think so very much. I could not discover a direct link with what we were talking about just now, but it does alarm me to know that the guy who overall was in charge of that information being released to the United States. United States and OKing it's being released was who he apparently was. In the past three days, I'm switching topics, Colonel, both President Putin and Foreign Minister Lavrov have effectively said the same thing to the Europeans and to NATO, and they've said it in very severe terms. I wonder if you can get a handle on this. Don't even think. think about touching Kaliningrad?

I would be saying the same thing where I'd say, and I'd be putting it in, you know, whatever dramatic terms I needed to put it in, because I'm hearing and I'm seeing evidence that everyone from the polls to the Ukrainians to the Lithuanians, U.S., and others, Britain, are all playing around in there trying to get something started. And that's a dangerous place to be playing around and an easy place to light a spark, a spark that might go right into a regional war, a war with NATO, between NATO and Moscow,

and that's a disaster. Chris, do we have General Donahue? Now, General Donahue... Airborne, typical airborne dude. Well, I'm going to play for you in a minute. He made an incendiary statement. It's about a minute long. And he was fired. I don't think he was fired for this.

I have no idea. why he was fired. It wasn't fired shortly after it, and the Defense Department didn't give an indication why I was fired. But here's a four-star saying what they could do with and in Kaliningrad if the president wanted. If you look at Kaliningrad, you can argue back and forth, but it's about 47 miles wide, surrounded by NATO on all sides. There's absolutely no reason why that A2AD bubble to deter Russia, we cannot take that down from the ground in a time frame that is unheard of and faster than we've ever been able to do. We've already planned that. We've already developed it. Why in God's name would you say something like that to a public audience?

That's a good question, but Judge, I have been in the airborne community, an airborne myself, and I can tell you that we have some of the biggest idiots in the Army serving in that community. I think it's because they land on their head lots of times when they come down under that it reminds me, Matthew, remember Matthew Ridgeway? Matthew Ridgeway under Eisenhower's guidance flies into Bruce Clark at Sun Veeth in the middle of the Fifth Panzer Army trying to attack the United States during the Battle of the Boas and succeeding very well at that point. And Matthew tells it, circle your wagons and do this.

And Clark says, aye, sir, get out of here. gets in his plane flies away and Clark says, absolute idiot, I'm doing my active defense and I'm going to win. And he did. And Bruce Clark had more to do with stopping the German Fifth Panzer Army and Baron von Montefel in his voice than anybody else. And actually was the hero of the Bulls, but never got any credit because he wasn't politically astute.

Did the Pentagon plan for the expansion of the Netanyahu who Trump war against Iran now into Saudi Arabia, led by Ansarala? Not at all. They had no idea that this was gonna happen, that this was gonna develop. There were one or two colonels, Lieutenant colonels that said, you know,

this has the potential for regionalizing, for being a little bit bigger and you think it's gonna be. And most people interpreted that to mean that it would complicate Israel's situation, but I think what at least one of them meant was just what's happening. And he was looking principally at the ability of the Houthis to complicate the situation should they choose to do so.

And being a Middle East expert, he was pretty convinced that they would choose to do so. I mean, Max Blumethor, who's on shortly after you, is going to tell us that, the Saudis have asked for help from Syria. I didn't even know Syria had an army or an army worth engaging in behalf of another country. Of course, the head of Syria is the former... Al-Qaeda. I'll use Pepe Escobar's phrase, head chopper or throat slitter.

Exactly. Operative for the CIA, I call them. Yeah, but this... This is going to... really expand things now if Syria gets involved on the side of Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia's got supposedly a defense pact with Pakistan and Turkey. Why in the world would anyone of Sainman and Damascus decide to join, as you've just indicated, when Bibi Netanyahu is on the cusp of invading Syria and taking Damascus?

Wow. Which he could do. I mean, the only real competent still component of the idea of and just kill babies and children, in other words, is the armored corps, the one that Mosheed Diane was so proud of, and rightfully so. Blitz Creek type. That highway to Damascus is wide, concretized, nice, and fast.

He could take Damascus. in a heartbeat and there's nothing they could do about it in Damascus. Now, the guerrilla war that might follow would be something, but look up north and say, hey, Ankara, you like what I just did? Wow. Here's another thing that the Pentagon didn't prepare for. This is Secretary, well, here's Reuters, or most transits at lowest in over two months after a tax data shows that yesterday, October 7th, here's the Secretary of State this morning in Greece.

The Straits of Hormuz are open. There's almost as much oil flowing out now as there was before this conflict began, so they've lost complete control of the strait. He's lying through his teeth. He's lying through his teeth. They wouldn't be paying the insurance rates they're paying. They wouldn't be paying the seamen thousands of dollars more than they normally get, and they still don't get enough of them. They wouldn't be paying these captains 100,000 plus more than they normally get if that were the truth. Rubio is either giving bad information, which is a possibility, or he's lying through his teeth. Is the Donald Trump war expanding or regressing? Is he about to attack again, or is he in retreat? Question of the day and the night.

I can't figure it out because we do not have sufficient combat power in the region. Israel does not have sufficient combat power in the dimensions that it needs. This armored core attack on Damascus could be pulled off in a matter of hours. But in terms of going after Iran, they simply don't have the combat power. So how are they going to do it? Now come to my suspicion, which has been confirmed more or less by some inside the story people that Trump has let it out the psychological warfare campaign, if you will, between him and Bibi and Iran, has let it out, and Iran has responded to it that Trump is giving Bibi permission,

permission to go to Demosa. And that's got Iran, so on the alert that they have issued orders to their militia force, about two million, as I understand it, their regular force, a regular Army, about 2 million. And then to the IRGC forces, they issued orders for what are called CBR preparations, chemical, biological, radiological, which means that you're ready to be attacked with either chemical, biological, or more likely nuclear weapons. So it's working in the sense that Iran responded to it. Is it a genuine threat? Is it a threat that even if Trump didn't mean to make it genuine and was just propagandizing, that nonetheless B will act off? because he doesn't have any other combat power with which to do it.

Huge question. Is Trump enthralled with BB or under the control of the Israel lobby? A little bit of both, but I think it's very difficult for anyone to conclude that Donald Trump, in his present condition and deteriorating more every day, if you look at him closely, is under anyone's control. Yeah. Yeah, Foreign Minister Rachi earlier today, it's a little bit of a gaggle as he's moving on a street, but you can hear him, said the following. In the name of God, the most gracious, the most merciful. The negotiation process is still ongoing and messages are being exchanged through intermediaries.

We have presented our proposal, which was titled the Seven Day Plan, and we have heard the Americans' views in response. We are currently in the process of reviewing them. I think we will respond within a few days, and as I mentioned, the negotiation process is ongoing. Would you like to... He may be reversing the procedure. He may be using diplomatic words to deceive the United States and Israel. I mean, he's being impeached in the Majlis for having gone too far with his diplomatic words, if you will, in New York. And I think that's a kibuki game to disguise what's really going on.

Now he may be practicing our form of diplomacy on us, which is essentially deception and deceit. Wow. Great conversation, Colonel. Deeply appreciated, my dear friend. I know we're all across the board from a bare-chested Pete Hague, Seth, to a bearded Foreign Minister Arachi. But thank you very much for your time and all your analysis, my dear friend. Take care. Sure. Thank you. And if you're watching us live in 33 minutes on all of this, including some breaking news about an assistant to Israeli ambassador Mike Huckabee,

doctoring Huckabee's reports before Donald Trump can see them. Who else? The Golden Boy, Max Blumenthal. Josh Napolitano for Judging Freedom.