Judging Freedom - Kyle Anzalone : Lindsay Graham Wants to Nuke Gaza

Episode Date: May 16, 2024

Kyle Anzalone : Lindsay Graham Wants to Nuke GazaSee 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, May 16th, 2024. Kyle Anzalone from antiwar.com joins us now. Kyle, it's a pleasure, my friend. Thank you for joining us. Let me say, if any of you are interested in the latest news from an antiwar perspective, the latest excesses of military killing, the latest analyses of all this, antiwar.com sends out an email a little bit after midnight Eastern time every day, and I go to it first thing in the morning. It's extremely valuable. Antiwar.com, Kyle is responsible for a lot of it. Kyle, thank you, as always, for being here. I see in one of these pieces, after all the criticism that the Israelis got for using this AI software called Lavender, which directed the killing of people, no matter where they were or who they were with,

because they reached a certain number on the algorithm that the Defense Department itself is toying with AI directed killing. Is that true? Yeah. So the Pentagon is already using AI targeting programs, particularly Project Maven. And we do know this has been deployed both in Ukraine and in Israel. We don't really know what it's done there, but they say it's been used in the Middle East and Ukraine. It doesn't seem like it's particularly accurate. It has a 60% accuracy rating, which drops to 30%. The snow is not very good if there's really any adverse weather conditions. So who knows how well it works in densely populated areas. But yeah, the U.S. is working on Project Maven for AI targeting. Did the U.S. develop Lavender or did

the Israelis develop it? Because it is, in my understanding, absolutely hideous. It must be criminal just to use this stuff as an instrument of killing. Yeah, my understanding is Lavender was developed by the Israelis, but the Americans are working on this technology too, and I'm sure there's a lot of sharing between the two sides on these kind of programs and joint programs between the two countries on defense spending and defense projects and things like that.

So it's not as if the Americans are unaware of Lavender and they learned about it with the rest of us when the Israeli outlet 972 Magazine published their story on it. Did the Congress authorize the Defense Department to experiment with AI or did the DOD just do it on their own or is it unclear? Well, the Congress does allocate money for it in the National Defense Authorization Act annually to develop these AI technologies. So Congress is certainly aware that they're funding it. Now, do they actually know what's going on? I'm not convinced the individual congressmen read any

of the legislation or anything like that. So it's quite possible that they may be surprised by it, but they are signing off on it. So I once printed the National Defense NDAA, the National Defense Authorization Act. It's three inches thick. I can't imagine that members of Congress read it. They didn't even read the Patriot Act before the monstrosity that that was before they enacted it. I doubt that they even read the extension of Section 702, spying on Americans without warrants before they voted to extend it. It's hard to believe they read the NDAA and they wouldn't even know

that this stuff was in there. How does it get in there? Do Defense Department officials just collaborate with officials on Capitol Hill and they put it in there and members of Congress don't even know it's there and they vote for it? So the Pentagon draws up a budget and then that's given to the White House and the White House makes amendments and then that's given to the White House and the White House made some amendments. And then that's supposed to be given to the House of Representatives and then they pass it and then supposed to go to the Senate. But how the NDAA typically works is the House and the Senate pass a different version of of the bill. And then it goes to conference committee and they make a whole bunch of changes in the back room and then it's reintroduced. So that's where a lot of this maybe questionable money is plugged into it. Or they

strip out any kind of accountability measures or any measures aimed at reining in executive powers over war making. That's always removed during this conference committee point in time. And so there's a lot of places for these bills to be changed. You know, a lot of times the Department of Defense will recommend cutting certain weapons programs, TANEs or warships that they don't believe are effective on the battlefield anymore. But because congressmen have the parts for those warships and TANEs made in their districts, they're unwilling to cut those programs. And so it gets stuffed back into the Defense Department acquisitions bill, even if they don't actually want those particular weapons platforms.

Do they have these offensive names like Where's Your Daddy, which was the other one of the viewers just reminded me that was the name of the other Israeli AI as if to mock children, Palestinian children whose fathers have been slaughtered, although most of those children aren't around because the Lavender directed the killings to certain adult males when they were in the presence of their wives and children. Well, the American names for weapon systems, I think, are more propagandistic, where they're aimed at sounding cool like a Reaper drone or a Predator drone, or we use words to sanitize our warfare. You know, we have surgical strikes and things like that. This Where's My Daddy program is just sick and disgusting. And to call it that is pure evil.

And so it's really unbelievable that the Israelis have done this. But that is the program. And it was exposed by Israeli media. Has the floating dock off of Gaza that Joe Biden offered to the country been installed? And is it there? This podcast is sponsored by Talkspace. You know, when you're really stressed or not feeling so great about your life or about yourself,

talking to someone who understands can really help. But who is that person? How do you find them? Where do you even start? Talkspace. Talkspace makes it easy to get the support you need. With Talkspace, you can go online, answer a few questions about your preferences, and be matched with a therapist.

And because you'll meet your therapist online, you don't have to take time off work or arrange childcare. You'll meet on your schedule, wherever you feel most at ease. If you're depressed, stressed, struggling with a relationship, or if you want some counseling for you and your partner, or just need a little extra one-on-one support, Talkspace is here for you. Plus, Well, they claim it is. Match with a licensed therapist today at Talkspace.com. Save $80 with code SPACE80 at Talkspace.com. Well, they claim it is. I've seen some pictures of this thing, and it looks like a floating Frankenstein. It's hard to imagine that they're going to be able to move much aid on it. And already the construction has been delayed, and the opening of the pier has been delayed

because of even mildly rough weather conditions. And so Kelly Vlahos at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft has been doing a pretty good job of writing a series of articles on the development of this pier. It's already doubled in budget. It's over $300 million. And again, if anybody looks at a picture of it, it looks like a bunch of semi-rusty floating platforms. It's apparently about the size of five football fields put together. And then they're going to take, this is anchored two to three miles off of the coast of Gaza. They're going to take aid from cargo ships from Cyprus where it will pass an Israeli inspections regime.

Then it's going to go to this pier. Then it's going to be transferred to truts where it's going to use a floating causeway to get to the shore. I'm not sure how much aid they could reasonably bring into Gaza through this system. They estimate about 90 truts per day, and that's a minuscule amount of aid. The UN is saying that the absolute minimum that the Palestinians need per day is 500 truts per day, So this is very minor. Well, this is what it looked like. Chris found it. According to the now infamous or famous interrogation by Congressman Gates of Secretary Austin, there will be a thousand Marines on that

platform, all of whom will be armed. I mean, would the Israelis dare to shoot at Americans to try and stop this aid from coming? The Hamas is not going to do this. They're going to welcome the aid. Well, I'm not sure that Hamas wouldn't be unwilling or some Palestinian in Gaza wouldn't be unwilling to try to shoot at an American based on the fact that their country is littered with the casings of bombs that say made in the USA on them that ripped apart their families and their children and their homes. And so I'm sure there's a lot of animosity in Gaza towards the Americans at this point in time. It may be a Palestinian that shoots at an American

and causes the U.S. to start dropping bombs on Gaza. But it's also important to remember the USS Liberty. And at a point in time, Israel was willing to attack Americans in the Mediterranean Sea. And so that's a possibility as well. I think Netanyahu will look to utilize this pier more than actually bomb it to try to stop it. So he'll slow down aid to a minimum. And then maybe even this has been suggested that this pier was actually Benjamin Netanyahu's idea. And his goal is to use it to ship the Palestinians out of Gaza without sending them through Egypt

because Egypt won't allow it. He's just going to put them on a boat and let them float out into the Mediterranean. How unhumanitarian is that? What is the status of military conflict in Gaza now with respect to Rafah in the south and now these skirmishes in the north where five Israeli soldiers died yesterday supposedly by friendly fire? Well, Judge, I just want to say, I don't think the Israelis plan to just leave them floating in the Mediterranean. I think the plan is to pay countries like the Congo, Rwanda, and Chad to take the Palestinians. And I think it's possible some of that money in the supplemental defense bill, that $95 billion monstrosity, there's about $9 billion in aid for the Middle East there. And maybe even some of that money could be used to bribe these countries to allow them to resettle Palestinians. Okay. Thank you for correcting my misunderstanding. Much appreciated.

No problem, Judge. And as far as the battle for Rafah goes, it seems Israel is really ramping up. It's offensive there. They've captured the road that divides east and west of the city. Tanks are rolling into different neighborhoods and things like that. Biden said that, of course, there would be red lines if Israel attacked the population centers in Rafah. But Israel is explicitly doing that this time. And we have American officials saying Israel hasn't violated Biden's red lines either. How can they possibly say he hasn't violated Biden's red lines? How can they say the State Department is still studying whether or not the Israelis engaged in acts of war crimes or genocide?

How can the State Department not have concluded yet whether Israel has violated international law. They just want to, you know, Trump wants to delay his criminal trials. Biden wants to delay all this stuff until after November 4th, right? Right. And it seems that the State Department is more interested in acting as an Israeli ministry of truth than an actual diplomatic agency aimed at trying to end the war in Gaza. It's all about covering up Israeli war crimes. And this is, you know, in benefit of the Biden administration, who's committed to Israel. And we can't continue with Biden's policy and acknowledge that Israel is committing all these war crimes. So we had to pretend they're not happening when everybody could see it

every single day that it is. Here's Jake Sullivan on, we are pausing weapons to Israel to make sure they don't attack Rafah. And then we have another clip we'll play for you where he denies that there's a genocide. Cut number 11, Chris. We have paused the shipment of 2,000-pound bombs because we do not believe they should be dropped in densely populated cities. We still believe it would be a mistake to launch a major military operation into the heart of Rafah that would put huge numbers of civilians at risk without a clear strategic gain. The president was clear that he would not supply certain offensive weapons for such an operation were it to occur. Isn't this just hogwash and doublespeak?

Yeah, absolutely, Judge. The major operations in Rafah are already underway. The American government, the White House, will admit that Israel has not presented them with a plan for what to do with the civilians in Rafah, even as a third of them have already fled the city. The number of people fleeing Rafah is now up to about 500,000 Palestinians. There was about 1.5 million before. And so it's an absolute lie. It's not even close to the truth. Well, let's play Jake Sullivan that there's no genocide. We believe Israel can and must do more to ensure the protection and well-being of innocent civilians. We do not believe what is happening in Gaza is a genocide. We have been

firmly on record rejecting that proposition. Well, that's just political propaganda. There's no basis for it at all. Cut number four, Chris. Secretary Blinken on Face the Nation admitting Israel is not, these guys are all over the place, admitting that Israel is not acting within the law. Number four. It's reasonable to assess that in a number of instances, Israel has not acted in a manner that's consistent with internationally humanitarian law. So I understand you're still collecting evidence, but on the policy, can you clarify? Because even the lead Democrat on House Armed Services says it's not clear. Is the U.S. slowing down the delivery of any weapons to Israel at this point beyond the 3,500

so-called dumb bombs? As you know, Margaret, most of the population from Gaza, displaced from the north and from central Gaza, has gone to Rafah. There are about 1.4 million people there. And we've said to Israel that we cannot, will not support an operation in Rafah, a major military operation, in the absence of a credible plan to protect civilians. And they still haven't delivered it. So are you slowing the delivery of any weapons beyond these 3,500 bombs? Are you pausing, for example, precision munitions, as some Republicans have planned? The answer to that is no. What the president said and what he's been clear about in private conversations with the Israelis, which unfortunately leaked to the press, so the president responded forthrightly when he was asked about it.

But what we've been clear about is that if Israel launches this major military operation into Rafah, then there are certain systems that we're not going to be supporting and supplying for that operation. But at present, the only thing that we've delayed um and are holding back are these high payload bombs because we're in an ongoing conversation with israel given the impact that those weapons can have when they're used in densely populated areas nobody can take this seriously he can't say anything uh with a straight face according to ritter and mcgregoror, the Israelis have all the weapons they need to carry out their extermination of the Palestinians and destruction of Gaza. Right. And the Israelis have said that as well. Additionally, I think they're

overstating it when they say the 3,500 dumb bombs, because initially it was reported by the Washington Post that the Biden administration was pausing a shipment of 2,500 pound bombs to Israel. at antiwar.com, Dave DeCamp emailed the State Department and they told him to refer to Sullivan's statement when he asked for clarification if they were pausing the 500 and 2,000 pound bombs or just the 2,000 pound bombs. So it seems like the case is that it's only the 2,000 pound bomb. So it's even less than what Lincoln and the host there is claiming. I'm going to play a clip from a United States Senator. I won't tell you his name, but you know who he is as soon as you hear his voice, as soon as you see him. But he makes Blinken and Sullivan sound like Bernie Sanders by comparison. Cut number eight, nuclear bombs. Listen, you know, here's what I would say about fighting an enemy who wants to kill you and your family.

Why did we drop two bombs, nuclear bombs, on Hiroshima and Nagasaki to end a war that we couldn't afford to lose? You don't understand, apparently, what Israel is facing. They're facing three groups. Iran, who has received $80 billion in aid. When Trump left office, they were exporting 300 barrels of oil a day. Now they're at 1.3 million a day. They've been enriched by Biden. They're taking that money to kill all the Jews. So when we were faced with destruction as a nation after Pearl Harbor, fighting the Germans and the Japanese, we decided to end the war by bombing Hiroshima and Nagasaki

with nuclear weapons. That was the right decision. Give Israel the bombs they need to end the war they can't afford to lose and work with them to minimize casualties. How he could think 80 years later that the greatest mass murder in history, you know, measure number of deaths per second perpetrated by an American president was somehow moral is beyond me. But before you reply, but she follows up and he loses his cool. Here's number nine. Same interview. Historians would say, why is it OK for Reagan to do it and not President Biden? But let me ask you about.

Well, why is it OK? Well, can I say this? Why is it OK for America to not to to drop two nuclear bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki to end their existential threat war? Why was it OK for us to do that? I thought it was OK to Israel. Do whatever you have to do to survive as a Jewish state. Senator, again, military officials say technology has changed, but let me ask you about how all of this could impact. Yeah, these military officials that you're talking about

are full of crap. Well, I don't think he really persuades anybody. I also think he represents the most extreme of you. But do you think he's seriously suggesting that the Israelis would use nuclear weapons on land that they intend to occupy and develop? What he's suggesting there is that the Israelis could go ahead and vaporize all the Palestinians living there if they so choose to, because that's the way he sees America ending World War II. Of course, it shows he knows very little about history and understands absolutely nothing about the current conflict in Gaza and what's happened to the Palestinians in the history there. But it's absolutely terrifying to me, Judge, of course,

because not only does this man have an absurd amount of power in Washington, D.C., his viewpoints are also far closer to what his colleagues believe than our own. All of them believe in this almost religious belief that everything the Americans did in World War II was just and right. And so everything they do since then, all the wars they wage, they always refer back to World War II and compare it to World War II because they think if they could fit the current war into that context, then they could justify it as a moral war and a part of the American empire. And it's absolutely disgusting, but it's a very entrenched belief in Washington. Well, I appreciate your comments on him. I don't know what there's anything we can do about it. The state of South Carolina keeps sending him back there. And by those extreme, over the top, ahistorical, immoral comments, the comments are not immoral, but purporting to defend immoral behavior. He gives cover to the rest of the members of Congress who just want Joe Biden to continue America's perpetual wars. I mean, the war party in Congress, you know this better than I because you count the noses, it's got to be three quarters of the Congress. And he's one of the

cheerleaders, as extreme and excessive and fanatical and irrational as he sounds. Yeah, I think it's probably closer to 90 to 95%, Judge. There's a handful of Republicans in the House Freedom Caucus, Rand Paul, Bernie Sanders, and a handful of Democrats who are kind of labeled as progressive squad members in the House, but nearly everybody else is subservient to the war party and will go out of their way. We recently had a couple Democrats, 26 of them, condemn Joe Biden for just pausing that one 2,000-pound weapons shipment to Israel, and they actually said that they would vote to override a presidential veto on a Republican-led bill to force Biden to send those weapons to Israel. And so the commitment to Israel will even fracture the Democrats' commitment to Joe Biden.

I guess this is the same mentality as that which was led by Tom Cotton, Senator Cotton of Arkansas, the 12 members of the United States Senate Republicans all, who signed a letter threatening a prosecutor in Brussels not to indict Netanyahu, threatening, come after him and we'll come after you. I mean, that's a crime to do that, but they did it on congressional letterhead. I guess they'll claim the speech and debate clause insulates them from saying whatever they want to say and they can be as extreme as Lindsey Graham. Yeah, well, Congress is willing to trample all over the Constitution to protect Israel's image in the United States. We have multiple members of the House

introducing multiple bills, either stripping financial aid from college students who participate in the pro-Palestinian protests, deporting them if they're here on student visas. One Tennessee representative proposed a law that would deport all Americans who engage in the pro-Palestinian protests on college campuses to Gaza, where he thinks that they will be killed. Congress is using their congressional committees to send letters to the Treasury Department to demand letters on 20 different groups that they say are fueling the protests, including, if not now, in Jewish peace action. I believe that the group are Jewish Voices for Peace, one or the other.

So they're even targeting these Jewish-led groups that are organizing these pro-Palestinian protests. Congress is absolutely rabid on this issue. How bad is free speech on college campuses now, or can we not answer that since most of them are in the summertime? Most of them, graduation has already been had. Yeah, graduation's been had at a lot of these campuses. The encampments have mainly been taken down either by police force or just because students have left. Over the past few days, there's been graduation ceremonies. Jerry Seinfeld was speaking at one, and several students got up and left in protest. And so they are carrying on protests. I think we will see some protests going on in cities this summer, particularly in Chicago around the Democratic Party Convention. You think Chicago 24 is going to be like, I know this is long before you were born, probably before your parents were born, Chicago 68? Well, I'm not sure.

I have talked to my boss at Antiwar.com, Eric Garris, about it a little bit. And he has a lot of memory of the, you know, past anti-war demonstrations and things like that. So, so he gave me some insight to it. The only way I think it's going to be different is if they move it to like a solely online convention, which is something they're apparently talking about doing, like having a lot of pre-recorded speeches. A few people will go to Chicago and give speeches, but all the actual convention business will be handled online. Where will old Joe be?

Probably in his basement somewhere, just like in 2020. His basement in Wilmington. Kyle, thank you very much. A pleasure to chat with you. No matter how bad these times are, your youthful insight and encyclopedic grasp of the facts in both Ukraine and Israel is very welcomed by the audience. Thanks for joining us. Thank you so much for having me, Judge. Of course. We'll see you again soon. Coming up later today, 4 o'clock Eastern, Max Blumenthal, Judge Napolitano for judging freedom. Thank you.