Judging Freedom - COL. Lawrence Wilkerson: What Ceasefire?

Episode Date: January 16, 2025

COL. Lawrence Wilkerson: What Ceasefire?See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Thank you. Hi, everyone. Judge Andrew Napolitano here for Judging Freedom. Today is Thursday, January 16th, 2025. Colonel Larry Wilkerson joins us now. Colonel Wilkerson, it's a pleasure, my dear friend. Thank you. The breaking news today in the international world, of course, is the on-again, off-again seems like it's going to be on a ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas. And I want to spend some time exploring your views on this. But before we get there, a few questions about Ukraine. How close is the special military operation, the war in Ukraine, to its end?

That all depends on the parties that are contesting it, including the United States, of course, and subsidiary to that, NATO. We could keep it going on for some time if we wanted to, simply by giving a few weapons here, a few weapons there, a few dollars here, and a few dollars there. And if our purpose, and I think Biden's purpose was not Ukraine in any form or fashion, but to bleed Russia and to use that bleeding of Russia into an avenue, a more vulnerable avenue to China, ultimately. If that was the purpose and if Trump adopts that purpose, then we could keep it going on for ad nauseum. I noticed that General Kellogg and Sebastian Gorka, well, Gorka has been silenced and Kellogg is whistling a different tune. Neither of them is threatening President Putin as they had been.

I also noticed that the president-elect has said, well, I know I promised I'd end it in 24 hours. I now think it's going to take six months. Can we draw anything from these events? I think we can draw that many of the aspirants to political appointee, to Secretary of State, Secretary of Defense, and so forth, and Kellogg himself as the envoy, have been persuaded, shall I say, by the people they're replacing in the Biden administration that this is necessary. Whether they'll persuade Trump to that decision or not remains to be seen, and I personally hope not, because just drawing it out just means more dead people. And it also means more wasted American dollars in ammunition. I mean, they don't even have, but just by any objective

standards, does Ukraine have the troops sufficient to resist this inevitable, inexorable, slow but steady Russian onslaught? They do not. But let's face it. We don't care about money anymore. We simply do not care about money. We think the printing presses can run interminably and produce all the cash we need because our word behind that cash is sacrosanct. When Dick Cheney said Ronald Reagan proved deficits don't matter anymore, the Republican Party picked up on that mantra and so did the Democrats, actually. And they said, OK, that's great. We'll just prep money whenever we need it. And indeed, we can until the hegemony begins to fray so decisively that people begin to lose their trust in the United States and therefore in their currency. I don't think that's that far away. $50 trillion in debt we're going to have,

the CBO says, the Congressional Budget Office, in another 10 years. That's our faith and good trust eroding majorly, in my view. But until then, we'll keep printing the money. Well, the other event that could stop those printing presses, a euphemism for digitally adding zeros in Chase's account, I'm just picking on Chase, at the Federal Reserve, would be our inability to pay the interest. Right now, it's a trillion dollars a year. That's about 20% of the revenue collected by the IRS. 20% right off the top, gone. And two trillion, the CBO also adds two trillion in probably eight to 10 years. Wow. Wow.

That's a pretty bidding prospect. Right, right. Moving over to the so-called ceasefire, I'm a little skeptical, and maybe you'll agree or maybe you'll correct me. Is your understanding, is it your understanding of this ceasefire, that it is a defeat for Prime Minister Netanyahu? Let me say first that I could not believe that the sitting president right now, Joe Biden and his team, Lincoln and Sullivan, that they admitted forthrightly that they had presented this very same plan to Bibi Netanyahu eight months ago in May of last year. They're also admitting at the same time

that they had either no sway over him at all because 50,000 plus deaths later, he's finally implementing, or they were complicit. I vote for the latter. Well, Colonel, they had sway over him. They just chose not to use it. Yes. Well, he had to turn the spigot off, which may very well be what Trump's emissary, Steve Whitcough, threatened. Could be. I choose not to say that anything but he was doing our purposes. And so we didn't want him to implement it. Well, were any of Netanyahu's goals achieved? Bring home all the hostages? Completely degrade Gaza?

No. No and no. Nothing. Nothing at all. In fact, the way he stated them in the beginning, which was hyperbole par excellence. But anyway, we have to take him at his word the way he stated them. He hasn't even come close. Why do you think he accepted a deal that he has rejected a half dozen times in the past eight months? I don't trust him any further than I could throw a rock. And I'm old. I can't throw a rock very far. I think probably

we're probably hearing the truth, or at least a shade of the truth from Smotrich and Ben Dregeer, who this day said, essentially, at the end of the first phase, the only way we won't leave your party and do everything we can to wreck your prime ministership is if you resume the war after the end of the first phase. You must resume the war. That's their ultimatum to it. So even though he may have put together a coalition he thinks will stick together without them, I think that that's probably a threat that might be dangerous for him. You know, one of the Israeli newspapers, not Haaretz, one of the other ones, I think it's an independent journalist who some of our colleagues say is a respectable individual professionally,. The manufacturer is called NSO. The product is called

Pegasus. ZeroClick is a pernicious software that allows the owner to enter anybody else's digital venue, computer hacking, without tricking them into clicking on a link, hence it's called zero click. When Joe Biden found out that the FBI was using it to Biden's credit, he prohibited its use and forced them to store it, sounds like it's out of The Sopranos, in a garage in New Jersey. It is true, it's in a garage in New Jersey, but they don't use it anymore, and he imposed an embargo on it. This Israeli journalist says Trump's people promised Netanyahu he'll lift that embargo. The other two parts of the side deal are, this is to satisfy Smotrich and Ben-Gabir, at the end of the 42 days, if Netanyahu goes back into Gaza with the IDF, Trump will support it. And the third part of the side deal, none of this is in writing. None of this is on the front page of the New York Times or the Washington Post or the Wall Street Journal.

The third part of the side deal is Trump will not lift a finger to oppose, but will in fact publicly support the repopulation by Israeli settlers of the West Bank. Even if they knew about it, it wouldn't be on the front page of those newspapers. If those things were made public, I would think they would be deal killers, would they not? Yes, and it wouldn't surprise me at all that something like that was ticking in the background, either as a subterfuge to lead Netanyahu on or whomever, or as a reality. In either case, I think it's probably prophetic of what is to come, because here's what I think, ironclad what is to come, because here's what I think ironclad is to come.

The settlement of Gaza in exactly the same way or worse as the settlement on the West Bank. And let me add the settlement that's coming in the extended parameters of the Israeli control, dare I say, occupied portions of the Golan Heights, which grow by kilometers every day that goes by. That's the future. It's not a Palestinian future. It's an Israeli, greater Israel future. Does Netanyahu stay in office for the next year or so? I think he's created so many enemies and so many people who would like to get rid of his dirty little ass, pardon my French, that that's going to be a really onerous task for him. I never put anything politically beyond him, but I think he's dug his own grave. I'm going to show you a clip in a minute of a reporter getting roughed up by State

Department police. I didn't know that the State Department had police, but you would know this better than anybody. You ran the State Department. Security people. Security people for regional security and embassies and consulates and things like that. This is in the briefing room at Foggy Bottom. So it's about two minutes long. That's probably the secretary's detachment. Okay. It's Secretary Blinken purporting to give his swan song to the press.

He was interrupted by Max Blumenthal. We'll play that for you later. That was just Max. He was interrupted by this fellow, Sam Hussaini, who eventually sat down and calmed down. And then after he sat down and calmed down, you'll see what happened to him. Chris,

Blinken number two. I carry with me... Miller says he doesn't know about the Hannibal harassment. Again, I'm happy to address questions in just a few more minutes. Do you know about the Hannibal arrest? Do you know about the Hannibal arrest? Do you know about the Hannibal arrest? Do you know about the Hannibal arrest? Do you know about the Hannibal arrest? Do you know about the Hannibal arrest? Do you know about the Hannibal arrest? Do you know about the Hannibal arrest? Do you know about the Hannibal arrest?

Do you know about the Hannibal arrest? Do you know about the Hannibal arrest? Do you know about the Hannibal arrest? Do you know about the Hannibal arrest? Do you know about the Hannibal arrest? Do you know about the Hannibal arrest? Do you know about the Hannibal arrest? Do you know about the Hannibal arrest?

Do you know about the Hannibal arrest? Do you know about the Hannibal arrest? Do you know about the Hannibal arrest? Do you know about the Hannibal arrest? Do you know about the Hannibal arrest? Do you know about the Hannibal arrest? Do you know about the Hannibal arrest? Do you know about the Hannibal arrest? Do you know about the Hannibal arrest? Do you know about the Hannibal arrest? Do you know about the Hannibal arrest, would you like to be escorted out? Go ahead. You don't have the responsibility to tell me where to go.

Do you want to be escorted out or not? I look forward to answering questions. I look forward to answering questions in a minute. Thank you. I'm not a potted plant. Everyone will have an opportunity to ask a question in just a minute. Thank you. Mr. Miller has explicitly told me he will not answer my questions.

I'm justified in what I'm doing. I have no greater pleasure in this job than crossing off a list I carry in my pocket the names of those who had been arbitrarily detained and unfairly held hostage, unjustly held hostage, and bringing them home, returning them to their families, returning them to their loved ones. Finally, I just wanted to share this morning. Get your hands off me. Get your hands off morning. Get your hands off me. Get your hands off me. Get your hands off me.

Answer a damn question. I look forward to answering questions in finance. You know about this, those nuclear weapons. Everybody from the ICJ, I was sitting here quietly, and now I'm being manhandled by two or three people. You pontificate about a free press. You pontificate about a free press. You pontificate about a free press? You are hurting me.

You are hurting me. You are hurting me. I am asking questions after being told by Matt Miller that he will not answer my questions. Please, sir, respect the process. We'll have an opportunity to take questions in a few minutes. Wasn't the point of the May 31st statement to block the ICJ orders? You blocked the ICJ orders? Please, sir, respect the process. Thank you. Respect the process. Respect the process.

While everybody from Amnesty International to the ICJ is saying that it's all through genocide and extermination, you're telling me to respect the process? Criminal! Why aren't you in the hay! Why aren't you in the hay? Why aren't you in the hay? Why aren't you in the hay? What happened when Colin Powell was the Secretary of State? I don't recall anything even remotely like that when he was Secretary of State. But let me tell you what I've just heard.

Through sources, I won't name them, but you would know them if I named them because they have already become very public dissidents. I've learned how many dissent channel messages, cables we used to call, have gone up to Blinken. It's historic. It's a record since the dissent channel was created, and almost 95% of them are about Gaza. They used to be about- Okay, so the public knows the dissent channel is for employees of the State Department to dissent against the policy of the State Department. Am I right? Right, exactly. Go ahead, exactly. And, you know, in ideal world, they go straight to the secretary. Some of them used to come to me with foul. I would pass the ones I thought he ought to see onto him. Mark Grossman would do the same thing.

But basically, it's to let the Secretary of State know that you aren't happy with his internal policies or his external policies. This is just overwhelming what's gone up. And of course, we all know how many people have officially resigned and several people have left just they didn't want any notoriety. They just left. And that gentleman's expression of dissent, as it were, is the same thing that they have expressed over this time period. And this is really something for Foreign Service officers to do these sorts of things. They are committed unpolitically, non-politically, apolitically, pick your term that says they don't do politics, to the nation's policies.

And so when they leave, it has to be a really egregious issue. And Blinken has been responsible, as far as I can tell, for more than any secretary in the post-World War II era. Here's our friend and colleague, Max Blumenthal. Now, the event that you'll see with Max preceded the one that you saw with the gentleman whose name is sam husseini whom they uh carried out chris blinken number one i have even greater respect even greater appreciation uh for you asking the tough questions for you holding us to account um being on the receiving end sometimes that's not always the most comfortable thing, not

always the most enjoyable thing, but it is the most necessary thing in our democracy. 300 reporters in Gaza were on the receiving end of your bombs. Why did you keep the bombs flowing when we had a deal in May? MR. I'm happy to address questions. We all knew we had a deal. Everyone in this room knows we had a deal, Tony, and you kept the bombs flowing. MR.

I'm happy to address questions when we get a chance. Why did you sacrifice the rules-based order on the mantle of your commitment to Zionism? Why did you allow my friends to be massacred? I'm happy to address your questions when we get to questions. Thank you. You helped destroy our religion, Judaism, by associating it with fascism.

Yeah, I have a statement to make. Thank you. You waved the white flag before Netanyahu. You waved the white flag before Israeli fascists? I look forward to taking questions when I get a chance to finish my statement. Thank you. Your grandfather was an Israel lobbyist. Are you compromised by Israel? Why did you allow the Holocaust

of our time to happen? How does it feel to have your legacy be genocide? How does it feel to have your legacy be genocide? You too, Matt. You smirk through the whole thing every day. You smirk through genocide. Thank you. Thank you. Max was not arrested. He actually went home and came right before our cameras and explained what he was attempting to do there. Do you agree with much of what Max said?

I do, except for one thing. And I've only, you know, I'm a slow learner, Judge. I finally came to this conclusion after doing a lot of research with my students and others. the person in this country, Paul Wolfowitz in my administration, whose office and Douglas Fythe, whose office even more so was invested by Mossad during the seminal years of the 2003 Iraq war. I've come to the conclusion they're doing our bidding, Judge. They're doing our bidding. They're doing Tony Blinken's bidding.

They're doing Jake Sullivan's bidding. They're doing Joe Biden's bidding. They did Bill Clinton's bidding. They did George W. Bush's bidding. Israel is our poodle, our attack dog. This business of us not being able to control them is a facade. They are doing what we want them to do. On the floor of the Senate, Lindsey Graham slipped up and said the truth when he said, quote, if they weren't doing it, we'd have to be there doing it. Would you rather that? Wow. Chris, cut number 10. Tell me if you know this man, Colonel.

Most of the bombs come from America. Most of the technology comes from America. And all of the fighter jets, all of Israel's fixed-wing fleet comes from America. There is a linkage between every single bomb that is dropped in Gaza and the U.S. because every single bomb that is dropped is dropped from an American-made plane. These Israeli airstrikes, you could say, are made in America. They are. This is a 13-year veteran of the State Department. You may know him from year to years, even though you've been away.

He's absolutely correct. Gideon Levy said every time that 250-pound bomb falls off that wing pile on the F-16 with USA on the side of that bomb and kills people on the ground. It is an American airplane, an American bomb, American JP-8 in that airplane powering it, and we are complicit in killing that person. Will this ceasefire hold? I doubt it. I seriously doubt it. Even though I think there are a lot of parties on both sides of the conflict, if you will, that want it to hold, parties mostly affected by the conflict, I doubt it will hold. And I would suspect that even if it looks like it's holding,

underneath that holding will be preparations for and then execution of the same kind of policies we've seen already on the West Bank and East Jerusalem and elsewhere. They will, in other words, occupy Gaza. Do you expect any material change in what Josh Paul just articulated, Americans supplying the Israelis whatever they want from the Biden administration to the Trump administration? I do not. I see perhaps a little more scrutiny of what happens with it and a little more, I know this is going to mystify my Democratic colleagues, but a little more intelligence, assessing whether or not that is really in a public interest of the United States. I emphasize that public interest of the

United States has already lost its reputation in the world. Our reputation is in tatters right now. And even though Trump speaks about America first, America second, America third, I want Greenland, I want the Panama Canal and everything else, I think he understands viscerally just what our reputation in the world means to us and how much damage we have done to it. I'm not sure it's repairable. Last question, Colonel. Why do you think Prime Minister Netanyahu accepted a deal he had previously rejected six or seven times. Did Trump threaten him? I wouldn't be surprised if there wasn't some sort of conversation that Netanyahu didn't think he ought to abridge or defy. Not to say that, as I said, he won't do it later.

He certainly will. But I think this transition right here is a danger. He thinks he sees this as a dangerous point if he doesn't handle it correctly. And he sees his own capabilities as being fully up to that task, but he's got to be careful about doing it. And that explains to a certain degree where we are right now with the ceasefire and why I say nothing will change even if the ceasefire appears to hold. They will be in Gaza, occupying Gaza, building settlements in Gaza, just like they are in the West Bank. In fact, probably with a greater ferocity.

Colonel Larry Wilkerson, thank you, my dear friend. Always a pleasure. No matter what we're talking about, you're not a slow learner. You're one of the smartest people I know. Thank you very much for all your time. Thank you. Okay. Coming up later today at three o'clock, Professor John Mearsheimer, and at four o'clock, I can't wait to ask him about all of this. Colonel Douglas McGregor, Judge Napolitano for Judging Freedom. Hey there. Ritual here to give a big shout out to you for making it through the hectic holiday season.

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