Judging Freedom - COL. Lawrence Wilkerson : Will Israel Go Nuclear?

Episode Date: April 16, 2026

COL. Lawrence Wilkerson : Will Israel Go Nuclear?See 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? the government? What if 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, April 16, 2006, my dear friend, Colonel Lawrence Wilkerson, joins us now. Colonel Larry, it's a pleasure. Thank you very much for coming here. I do want to talk to you about how desperate Israel is, and I do want to talk to you about whether this is a real ceasefire.

But the breaking news is that the president announced a ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon, which, of course, is beside the point because the issue is between Israel and Hezbollah, And the issue is Israel's theft of land. Is Israel returning the land that it stole? Let me say, first of all, Judge, that every time I watch your introduction, I get a lump in my throat. It's beautiful. James Madison would say, onward, judge. Well, Chris put it together, but it's Ron Paul in part and me in part.

Thank you, Colonel. It's very nice of you. I think President. Was Trump trying to dupe into believing that there is peace between Israel and Lebanon? Well, President Aoun has pretty much summed it up as he only can at this point. I'm not going to talk to the bastard. I mean, that's essentially what he said. So how are you going to affect some kind of agreement, Trump, Netanyahu, anyone,

if the president of Lebanon knows what you're trying to do to him once again. Maybe not that Aoun, but previous Iouns and many other Aoun-like characters have been just absolutely destroyed by the United States' diplomacy in Lebanon, particularly when it pertains to Israel. And it almost always does because, Judge, since Israel decided it wanted to be bigger than its britches allowed, it has been trying to destroy Lebanon, the Paris of the Eastern Mediterranean,

the country that had more entrepreneurial people than anyone else, the country that everyone wanted to visit, the city that everyone went to for its beauty and its people, and its multiplicity of languages, and its multicultural atmosphere. Israel has been trying for 40 freaking years to utterly destroy. That's why they bomb them periodically. Watch their bombs.

They don't drop their bombs on enemy. They drop their bombs on Lebanon's infrastructure, economic infrastructure. Every 10 years, for the past 50 years, they have done that to try and destroy Lebanon. This is no different, except I think Netanyahu has gotten the idea he's going to take the whole damn country. Well, but this is really a charade to give Trump. something to boast about him. The Iranians see right through this. There's no peace in Beirut. You're absolutely right. There's no peace and there's not going to be any peace as long as Bibi is pursuing his wider agenda. And Donald Trump is trying to use this to give some semblance

of talks bringing success. Islamabad talks have brought nothing but further Iranian demands to go back to the 10 points and quit talking about the other crap. And, the Lebanon talks are basically Aoun has said, okay, we can we can say that we're talking, but I don't have a whole lot of hope for it. And I don't have much hope at all because B.B. Netanyu, you've involved him in it and he's going to do what he can to destroy us. And I know that. And I know his tactics and I know his strategy. I've seen it many times before. My relatives have seen it and previous presidents have seen it. We know what Israel once, all of us.

Is the ceasefire between the United States and Iran a serious, legitimate bona fide ceasefire with serious, legitimate bona fide negotiations? Or is this just some sort of preparation for the next round? I bet. Plus, I think both sides

are sort of taking stock of the other side right now. And Iran has taken the better stock as far as I'm concerned. You can herbal bush, you know, the carrier bush into the arena. You can increase the number of carriers. You can't do too much more in that regard, though, because we're running out of carriers. You can do all you want in terms of, you know, flexing your muscles such as they are with regard to Iran. But I go back to that headline in Horat's, all Iran has to do to win this conflict is not lose. What B.B. Netanyahu and Donald Trump need is a spectacular victory. And they're a very good.

There is no spectacular victory in spite, and I will opine. There is none possible. Do the Israelis ever abide a ceasefire? Never. I don't think the Hebrew word must mean the same as the English word. He doesn't seem to know what it is. Look at what he's doing in the West Bank. Look what he's doing in Gaza, East Jerusalem. We're not even paying attention to these things, Judge. He's massacring people on the West Bank. He's massacring people in East Bank. Jerusalem. His intent is to use all this brouhaha over Lebanon and Iran to consolidate the

settlers' position in every place where the settlers are. It's incredible. I've been wondering because he's not moving as rapidly as others would like, Nafthali Bennett, having illuminated that most dramatically, that some settler would do to him what he encouraged them to do to its acrobin, shoot him. Because he's not moving fast enough for them. They want the entire thing and they want it done and they want it part of Israel. Do you think Trump even knows the U.S. is paying for all this killing? He has to. I don't see how he could not know that. That's one of the things that I would think he would be apprised of almost on a daily basis in terms of what laws he's violating and in terms of what monies and arms he's giving to Israel,

especially now since there is a meaningful opposition in the Congress developing. They finally found some courage on both sides of the aisle because there's some Republicans looking at it too this morning, Judge. One of the Republicans whom I never heard of before actually stood up on his hind legs and said, this $1.5 trillion request for the defense budget is ridiculous. This is crazy. We didn't spend this much money in World War II, and he held his chart up to that effect. And he's absolutely right. We did not spend this much money in World War II. So you got some people on the Hill finally acting like they're the people's representatives with regard to appropriations.

Secretary Hegseth recently described by a retired general as a 12-year-old boy and a playpen with new toys. related this morning, the administration's mantra that things are going well in Iran because we're dealing with a new administration, a new regime. Isn't this absurd? Isn't this ridiculous? You're still doing. You claim that they brought about regime. Change of anything. These people are as hardline or more hardline than the Ayatollah that Netanyahu murdered. They're dealing primarily, I think, with well, they're dealing with the president, of course, but I think they're dealing primarily with Abbasarichi, the foreign minister who I compare now to Sergei Lov and Wang Yi and China.

But on the other side of the coin, what is happening right now, I think, can be best characterized as Trump still trying to find a way to declare victory and leave, and he can't see through the mist, as it were, in order to do that. So we're at a dangerous period right now because I know Iran is primed and cocked and ready to go with the second tier of targets that will be devastating. We're talking about targets that if they are even three-quarters successful in destroying and they were almost 100% successful with the first tier, asked by rain and that oldest and largest refinery in that region, if they hit those targets, Economists tell me that by June, we're in global recession, and by August, we're probably in global depression. So this is a humongous effort that Iran could execute and inflict this pain on the world that would not be any more pain for them,

but would be significant pain for the rest of the world, particularly that part of the world that depends on the products that flow out of the Babel Mandeb, Suazcanal, and out of the Strait of Hormuz. And more than that, really, because we're looking at a real shift right now. For example, the Chinese made an overture to Manila, our principal ally.

We still have a treaty with the Philippines. Mutual Defense Board meetings with the Philippines. They are our treaty ally in the Pacific. Beijing made an overture to them that simply said you're going to run out of oil. We'll take care of you. Well, Manila

stood up on its hind legs and said, great, we're willing to talk. So China is peeling our allies away from us, in addition to causing us many, many troubles in Iran, one of which is, I've learned, that they have made one of the most sophisticated satellites in the world overhead available to Iran. Now, this explains what I couldn't figure out before was how their first-tier targets were so precise, so carefully executed, and so devastating. Well, I kind of know now if they had satellite help from China. This is sort of akin to us giving Zelensky in Ukraine the satellite data

to hit the Russian nuclear response facilities, if you will. So this is truly developing into a war by proxy of China against us and us against China. Been that way all along for us, as I think you know, we've been bombing the hell out of that Southern Railroad, which is China's base road initiative. Well, what happens if the Navy stops a Chinese vessel with a 100 million gallons of oil in it? The Chinese will enter the war, but they won't enter it overtly. They'll enter it the way the Chinese would enter it. You will have a war with China going on, and you will have it going on in a very furtive, what? but it'll be devastating for us.

We cannot take China on, Judge. We cannot. Not on the sea. Doug McGregor can talk about the Chinese, not understanding blue sea operations. Bull, bull, Doug. They have a 6,000 ship deep water fishing fleet that plies the oceans of the world every single day,

catches more fish and the rest of the world combined, has more ships in it, and the rest of the world combined, they know Blue Sea operations. And if we want to challenge them, we're going to get our ass handed to us in a handbag. Well, here's Admiral Kane trying to please the 12-year-old, or excuse me, General Kane, trying to please the 12-year-old who was standing next to him, Chris, number six. Let me be clear, this blockade applies to all ships, regardless of nationality,

heading into or from Iranian ports. The U.S. action is a blockade of Iran's ports and coastline, not a blockade of the Strait of Hormuz. Enforcement will occur inside Iran's territorial seas and in international waters. In addition to this blockade, the joint force through operations and activities in other areas of responsibility, like the Pacific area of responsibility under the command of Admiral Paparo will actively pursue any Iranian flagged vessel or any vessel attempting to provide material support to Iran.

That's a war. That's a declaration of war with China and Russia. No question about it. It was just plain to ask you, what does Beijing think about this? And he can't carry it out. He cannot execute it. So it's just a braggadocio tongue. He can't carry it out. We don't have the ships, Judge. We don't have the craft. We don't have the stretch and the movement criteria. We don't have in the Pacific Ocean. You're you kidding me, Kane? You came from the Pacific Ocean. You know how big that dude is? Well, here's the 12-year-old himself saying that we are locked and loaded, Chris, number one. We are reloading with more power than ever before and better intelligence.

even more importantly, better intelligence than ever before, as you expose yourself with your movement to our watchful eye. We are locked and loaded on your critical dual-use infrastructure, on your remaining power generation, and on your energy industry. We'd rather not have to do it, but we're ready to go at the command of our president and at the push of a button. This is a man, Judge, that at his latest prayer meeting, looked down into some helmet device or whatever, and uttered a prayer that he said was from the Bible. It was from Quentin Tarantino. Oh, geez. It was a horrible, horrible, horrible prayer.

That he associated it with Jesus Christ is absolutely abominable. But this is Pete Exx. If you knew him, I think, at Fox. I know very well. I never saw this maniacal side of him. The Pete that I knew was frivolous, happy, joke-telling, easy to work with. I never saw this maniacal pray for the death of our adversaries, Hegg Seth. Something's happened to him.

Yeah. These prayer meetings, this is 13 months now of them. 13 months where he calls people by written invitation to this room in the Pentagon. And it says very specifically, flag officer and admirals will sit in the front two rows. They are reserved for you. Guess what he wants to do with those front two rows. Who's here? This is sort of like Quantico every month with Jesus presiding.

And everyone else sits in the back rows. And oh, you don't have to come. We have to maintain the Constitution here. You don't have to come, but if you don't come. Well, here he is this morning, admonishing the press. Number five, Chris. Your politically motivated animus for President Trump nearly completely blinds you from the brilliance of our American warriors.

The Pharisees scrutinized every good act in order to find a violation only looking for the negative. The hardened hearts of our press are calibrated only to impugn. I would ask you to open your eyes to the goodness, the historic success of our troops, the courage of this president, and this historic moment for a deal that could end the Iranian nuclear threat, the incredible battlefield victory laid before your eyes. The not one, but two incredible rescue missions, miracles. Where's the coverage of the new spirit in the country, the new spirit in the ranks,

the surge of Americans wanting to join the greatest military in the world? Nothing from the fake news. We sense a pattern. The American people with goodness in their hearts see past the Pharisees in our press. I don't even know how to start addressing the lies. For example, the people who process conscientious objector status for the military have never seen as many conscientious objector status requests that they're getting now. It's underwhelming, if you will, in terms of what he has just said.

What he just said is a series of lies that tell me. he's trying to create through these lies the images that he's describing in them because the press is not picking up on it, which is good, I think, but it isn't the way it should be. If they were picking up on it the way they should be, they would be damning him every day because nothing that he said there is true. Everything is obfuscation of reality or an outright lie, just like the prayer from Quentin Tarantino's movie, which was supposed to be from Jesus Christ or from the Bible. I don't know what's wrong with him, Judge. I guess he's running scared and so scared that he has to fabricate.

But this is not the truth, and it's not what should be coming from a Secretary of Defense anyway. Look at his first proposal there, where he says that these things are all good and wonderful and the American people should be applauding them. Petey, everything you have done since this war started, this war of choice, is a war crime. Why on earth should the American people applaud that? But that's what he's asking them to do. He made a reference to the incredible battlefield victory laid before your eyes. What in God's name is he talking about?

What battlefield victory? Good question, good question. If we had the videotapes that I've seen of what happened to those CJ130s and that Warthog or A10 and the troops, I'm told the casualties are much higher than they've reported too. In fact, I've told they're 10 or 12 times as high as they've reported from fairly reliable sources. So, I mean, I don't know what he's talking about, Judge. I don't know what he's doing except trying to obfuscate in disguise reality and paint it over with the rosy picture that simply doesn't exist.

And the American people are not that stupid. Tell me about military planning. Who failed to realize the Strait of Hormuz would be closed? Who failed to recognize that the Israeli scheme of collapsing the government in 96 hours was hairbrained and would never happen. Who failed to plan for a war beyond one week? That is difficult to answer, and then on the other hand, it's not. When Colin Powell came to be chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, he implemented Goldwater Nichols 100%. Amher Crowe before him had been a little fearful of doing it, but Powell was not. Powell felt he had the power of the

president behind him. He did. George H. H. W. Bush told him twice that I know of, probably more than that, go ahead and do it. And what that means is the chairman is for the first time in American history and since the creation of that position in post-World War II, the most powerful man in the American military in many respects. And so what Powell did was he used that and the other provisions of the act to bring the very finest officers in the U.S. military to Washington. Judge, what was happening before was the worst of the Army, the worst of the Navy, the worst of the Navy, the worst to the Air Force were coming to the joint staff in Washington because it wasn't

in their service and therefore wouldn't get them promoted. Goldwater Nichols changed that completely, altered it 100%. And so the finest of the finest came to Washington in all the services. That staff that Powell left in the Pentagon was the finest general staff on the face of the earth. So the answer to your question is Hegseth, Kane, and maybe a few others, because that staff is not making these mistakes. Here's Secretary Hegseth denying, it's tough for me to say this for the straight face, Colonel, that there is any Israeli influence on President Trump. Cut number seven, Chris. Not a single thing has been foisted upon the President of United States.

President Trump makes his own decisions about the interests of this country and defending our interests. And then working with allies and partners, in this case, Israel who's got a lot of will and a lot of capabilities, which we're grateful for. Nothing gets foisted on President Trump. So those people who are not in those meetings who like to say things about that are just flat wrong. Footnote, don't pay attention to Epstein. Wow. Wow. Our dear mutual friend, Ray McGovern, is now more convinced than ever that the Israelis have dirt on Trump.

I was just with Ray in Columbus, Ohio for our Eisenhower Media Network meeting. Absolutely. I think I can't explain it any other way, Judge. Epstein must have real, real dirt. or Netanyahu who does now on both Melania and Donald Trump. Well, she unfortunately for her husband, regenerated all that with a bizarre. First thing you learned the first day of the law school, at least in the course of the criminal laws, don't deny something until you're accused.

Yeah, exactly. Oh, it's preemption, Judge, preemption. Right. The kind of preemption PD would probably approve. Yeah. Colonel, it's a pleasure to chat with you, my dear man. Thank you very much. You're doing any fishing this weekend?

I'm going next week, three days. All right. Well, let us know so we can work around your fishing trip so you can be with us because the week is not the same without you. Well, thank you. Chris, I'll be gone on Thursday. All right. We'll work it out.

I'd love you, Colonel. Thank you. All the best. Take care, Judge. A great man. Coming up at 3 o'clock, Colonel Douglas McGregor. Judge Napolitano for judging freedom.