Judging Freedom - Pepe Escobar: Yemen During Wartime.

Episode Date: April 2, 2025

Pepe Escobar: Yemen During Wartime.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

you Hi everyone, Judge Andrew Napolitano here for Judging Freedom. Today is Wednesday, October 2nd, 2025. Pepe Escobar joins us now from Midnight in Thailand. Pepe, you're so intrepid. But of course, what you went through in the absence of sleep in Yemen is nothing compared to what you're doing now. Welcome here, my dear friend. My pleasure, George. My enormous pleasure. Big picture, big picture. Your impressions of Yemen in wartime.

Well, I wrote two columns. I think I sent it to you the second. You did you did I read both of them. Yes, they're they're riveting, but I just want you to give us the big picture of the Yemenis people the Yemenis landscape the attitude towards the US what it was it like for you to live in Yemen during wartime knowing the US was trying to kill the people you the US. What was it like for you to live in Yemen during wartime knowing the US was trying to kill the people you were with? It's an indescribable feeling in words. You can

feel it. It gets under your skin. Everything, the atmosphere, their purity, their moral clarity, their purpose, the absolutely extraordinary landscape, in the case of the souks, especially in the souk in the old city in Sana'a, is absolutely magnificent. But most of all, you feel that you are in real Arabia. The purity of ancient Arabia, classic Arabia, what the Roman Empire called Arabia Felix, happy Arabia. And obviously, even the Prophet Muhammad himself, through Islam for him, was Southern Arabia, was Arabia Felix, what is then became Yemen. So you feel it, you feel it in the air. And when I was on the road to Isfada, which is a spectacular road in some stretches, reminds

us a little bit of the built, the raw beauty of the American Southwest. You feel it, it's in the air and then it gets inside you. And when you start talking to people, that's another story. From high level officials to people who are part of the high political council, to the people in the souq, which I had the privilege to exchange at least a few words, both in Saada in the Northwest and then in Sana'a. You know, it's unique. One of them told me, you know, nowadays the whole of Yemen is houthi.

What he said, the meaning of what he said is that everybody in Yemen understands what we're doing, what we're fighting for. And then, of course, us, a small group of foreigners from East and West, we're always telling them, do you know who you're up against? You have an enraged empire who wants to destroy you, literally. And then they look at you, there's this Yemeni smirk. They are naturally gracious and very elegant as well.

It doesn't matter, we will win in the end. You met with senior religious and political leaders. You literally met with some people that the American government in its misguided way wants to kill. What can you tell us about their determination to resist the genocide in Gaza and to resist the United States bombing campaign? and to resist the United States bombing campaign. Exactly. This goes all the way from the leader, Abdulmalik Alhuti, which is the younger brother of Hossein Alhuti who founded Ansarala, to the nine members of the High Political Council,

and we're very privileged to meet four of them, in fact, and talk to them. One of them visited us and he spent over two hours answering our questions in our hotel. And a wonderful meeting that I had Friday, two days before Eid, on Al-Quds day, in fact, Jerusalem day all over, Muhammad al-Bakaiti, sorry, Bakaiti, and he's a provincial governor, he's part of the leadership, he's part of the political

council, and he said, you know, straight away, look, there feel surprises for the Americas along the way. So, you know, they still have, they haven't played all their cards. Do they, do they grasp what the U.S. is doing as a war crime? I mean, unless my, my history is wrong, the government of the United States of America has been killing civilians in Yemen for 23 years, since 2002. How do they cope with that? What do they think of Americans? What would they think if some of the people on this program were to take a trip to Yemen? Well, we had two Americans in our group who were treated royally. It's not it has nothing to do with the American people and Americans per se. It's different American administrations and of

course, the US deep state. They understand pretty well how politics in the US work not as sophisticated in a more sophisticated vein like the Russians, the Chinese or the Iranians, but they understand the basics of how the system works in the US and why they are on the firing line now. But their position is spiritually, ethically and morally ironclad. We need to defend our brothers and sisters in Palestine because there's a genocide being committed against them. We were respecting the ceasefire before.

Israel broke the ceasefire. So now, you know, they are on our firing line again. And the Americans supported them, so the Americans are on our firing line. The USS Truman is on our firing line. So they understand perfectly how it works. But above all is a principled position. They are the only ones on the planet who are doing something tangible, practical,

to try to defend the Palestinians and to try to end the genocide, which ultimately we can say that they know it's practically impossible. But at least they are trying with their means and paying with their own blood for the consequences. This in terms of a moral position, you cannot beat that. It's light in the middle of this dark cloud coming down to, you know, remember our good friend Bob Dylan over all of us. And especially now when everybody was expecting that Trump 2.0 would be a sort of peace administration. No, they already relaunched an illegal war against the poorest nation in the Arab world To defend the interests of a genocidal gang in Israel

Completely absurd and they understand this perfectly the poorest nation This is quite a line and it's true They they unleashed a torrent against the poorest nation in the Arab world to defend the genocide perpetrated on their brothers and sisters by Israel. Is the IDF in Yemen? I'm sorry? Is the IDF in Yemen? No. Israeli intelligence in Yemen is less than zero and American for that matter, Judge, they don't know for instance where the mobile military deployments of the Yemeni Armed Forces are. They are bombing civilian installations.

Another example, yesterday they bombed the water management system in the port of Hodeida. Civilian casualties so far, only civilian casualties. So they are bombing. Now would that have been an error? Where the bomb didn't go where they wanted it to go? Or was that intentional? Because if it's intentional, it's a war crime.

Of course, it's intentional. Just like Israel, everything that they bombed in Gaza is intentionally planned, meticulously planned. In the case of San Chrome, they are bombing at random, like a surrealist act. Oh, let's bomb anywhere. Doesn't matter. Are there American troops on the ground in Yemen? No, no, absolutely none. And if there were, of course, they

would have been spotted by, by the way, the interactions that I have with people from Yemeni Intel, they are very, very good. Super pro and commandos as well. Very, very, very well trained. Is the CIA or Mossad on the ground in Yemen? As far as we could tell, no. And as far as we, of course, we ask that question to many Intel ops in in SADA and especially SADA. SADA is if there would be CIA MI6 on the ground they would have to be in SADA because SADA is the heart of the resistance and is the birthplace of Ansarala. I would say that it's nearly impossible for these people to be there because they... I'm sorry. No, no. The reason I ask about Masada is

because Mike Walsh and his colleagues, after they were embarrassed by the signal text chatting that was published in the Atlantic magazine leaked that they learned that a certain missile expert who worked for the Houthis was about to visit the apartment of his girlfriend, I mean, itself kind of absurd that that would happen in an Islamic society. But anyway, they claimed that they learned that from Mossad. So if true, would Mossad have learned that he was about to enter the apartment building of his girlfriend from a satellite

or from a human being on the ground? Well, the only possibility, which obviously that we cannot, none of our sources or ourselves can confirm, a Saudi spy. Don't forget that, for instance, the northern border of Yemen, the southern border of Saudi, Saudi Arabia stole vast areas

that used to belong historically to Yemen. So they come from the same region, they speak with the same accent, and these Saudi spies could pass as local Yemenis, dressed as Yemenis, speaking with the same accent, etc. These are the possible informants for the Americans and for Mossad. And some of them may be around Sana'a at least. Not in Sada because Sada is much smaller,

much more concentrated, and they will be instantly detected. I think I told you last time, Judge, there's no internet in SADA. Everybody uses dumb phones. There are two or three guys who have a 3G modem. So it would be a sort of... That's ancient by Western standards, 3G. It's ancient by Western standards, 3G. Yes, it's completely ancient history, exactly. Yeah.

Did you ever feel that your life was threatened by SEDCOM, which is the technical abbreviated name for the American forces? Absolutely correct. No, no, no, not at all. And in fact, the way that they took us to the decoy white SUV convoy through which we got from Sana to Sada very, very early in the morning was a brilliant operation because it didn't look like a convoy. They were just mingling with other vehicles in the highway. And the fact and how we were protected while we were in SADA. I put my trust on that absolutely and they knew that we were a target. If Centcom wanted it, of course. Well, we went to the place that they bombed two days

before we arrived. We arrived on Wednesday and sent con bombed that in progress cancer hospital in Sada on Monday and we went there on the spot. Well, this is a place. Sent con bombed. One of the American bombs, judge. Sent con bombed a cancer hospital? Yes, we discussed this on our last Friday on our meeting. And I have images. And these images went everywhere.

And in most of my columns, there are images of the bombing and images of some of the fragments that we collected. With the manufacturer name and the contract number. These are all in the possession of a Yemeni. Exactly. That's the hospital. Now the Yemeni investigative team, they have this evidence. Of course, they're starting their investigation now.

And just I showed a few seconds ago, I managed to sneak this fragment of an American bomb in my backpack through three airports Nobody's nobody Are the Houthis being financed or armed by the government of Iran No as far as we could tell directly, no. In that directly possible, very, very possible. For instance, it was impossible in only one week to track

the financial chain of Ansarala. We would need more time and we need to be more time over there. And of course, this is information. For us foreigners is I would say totally off limits. But the financing of the Yemeni armed forces is pretty pretty solid. They are about to review one of these surprises in the next few days. They are even sort of announcing it on tweets on X. Be ready for a big big surprise. Probably a new missile. And this is something that we discussed, Judge, last week. This comes a long way

since the past Yemeni engineers and physicists went to study in the USSR and China. So this comes a long way. It's not from one day or another somebody from the IRGC disembarks in Sana'a with the military secrets. No, not at all. It's a long way. And they are very, very capable militarily. And at the same time, for instance, we visited the Zakat authority who takes care of the needy, the poor, the needy, the people who need clothes, food, et cetera. It's a nationwide system where people register themselves

with a digital card and they have access to social services, and if they are in dire straits, to food as well. So it's a very sophisticated system, even for a very, very poor country. Naturally rich, but as you mentioned, because the Saudis essentially are at war against Yemen since the 1960s. One of the members of the High Political Council

gave an exact date, in fact, 1967. And the war in 2015, we were inside that exactly 10 years after the start of the renewed Saudi war against Yemen. With that famous coalition of the willing led by the Saudis, with the Emirates as well, with the US leading from behind. And the Saudi planet never, never changed. They have the Wahhabis of the Saudi family, they hate Yemen with the vengeance because they know that the real

Islam, the purity of Islam is in Yemen, is not in Saudi Arabia at all. You know, it's the, you know, it's the hate of the upstarts against the old aristocracy in terms of Arabia as a whole, you know. So and this will, it's worse. This will continue. And one of the conversations that we had in the last few days involving this military buildup in Diego Garcia, I was talking to Larry

beginning of the week, George, about that. This may be at first not directed against Iran in the next few days and weeks. It could be directed against Yemen as the prelude of a massacre, of a state terrorism massacre against the leadership of Ansarallah and the Yemeni people as a whole. We hope this is not the case, but this is a very plausible scenario for the next- In the past 10 days, the American Secretary of Defense has denied

that the discussion about the plans to bomb Yemen discussion about the plans to bomb Yemen were classified has boasted that the effect of the bombing was successful has told the Taiwanese people that the United States would militarily defend Taiwan against mainland China. Does the Secretary of Defense know what the hell he's doing? No, he doesn't, Judge. And I'm very sorry to say that a clown that keeps boasting that he does one million pushups a minute and has a Kaffir tattoo in his arm, you cannot take a person like that seriously.

He's a joke, he's a clown. And his interventions in the Signal Gate prove that he is the clown, who has no idea what he's talking about, especially on everything concerning West Asia. How I wish that, because very powerful position how I wish that President Trump had a saner head in that job who would Caution the president before he does these things rather than a excuse me enable him for example We all read the transcript of those two or three days of texts and writing Signalgate. Not one word about the morality or the lawfulness of killing the Yemen people. It was all about process. It was not about why and should we do this?

Absolutely correct. One wonders if Donald Trump even knew that they were having this conversation. We don't know. Exactly. We don't know exactly. We don't know. And that's what makes it even more worrying, because it's a bunch of, I would say, with a few variations, clowns, very horribly informed clowns

or totally misinformed clowns with unrestricted power and discussing launching an illegal war, another one, on a map. Why? In their own words, because we need to send a message. Because we can, because we are the sole superpower, and because we need to send a message because we can, because we are the sole superpower and because we need to send a message. Let me switch gears before we conclude.

In your opinion, if the United States joins Israel in a military assault on Iran, will Moscow and Beijing just sit back and watch? Well, that's the one zillion dollar question, Judge. I'm trying to organize a column for the next few days trying to answer this question. Because the treaty that they signed in late January in Moscow, the strategic partnership between Iran and Russia, it's not a military alliance at all. But at the same time, we're talking about the three top bricks. Let's exclude India. The new Primakov triangle,

which used to be Russia, China, and and India at the time of Primakov, the former foreign minister at the end of the millennium. Now the new Primakov triangle is Russia, China and Iran. So an attack of one of these top ricks, Iran, from the point of view of Russia and China is inadmissible. What Vice Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov, which I had the honor to meet in person last year, said earlier this week is essential. He said, if there would be an attack like that, the consequences for the region would be catastrophic. So this in terms of Russian diplomacy means all hell will break loose and obviously Russia will not be sitting down because

Iran from a Chinese point of view is a matter of national security as a provider of energy and as a conduit of the Belt and Road initiative of the New Silk Roads across Central Asia and West Asia. And Russia now with this extremely sophisticated partnership, which is also geo-economic because it includes the North-South Corridor. And the three members of the North-South Corridor are Russia, Iran, and India, three bricks.

So if there was an attack like that, for the moment, Judge, there is an enormous blah, blah, blah. Nobody knows what they're talking about, sorry. I will be in Iran in one month. I will be reporting from Iran in one month. And then I want to get the Iranian position in detail. At the moment, what we have is pure speculation. For instance, Zionists saying that there's going to be the largest attack since the Second World War against Iran soon. So it's a narrative, essentially. Nobody knows what they're talking about. But what Russia and

China know exactly is an attack on Iran is an attack on both of them and an attack on bricks as a whole because this is a war against bricks as well. And all these Trump terrorists as well, they are mostly directed against bricks nation. But they ask a bar. Thank you, my dear friend. Thank you for staying up as you always do in the wee hours. We will look forward to that reporting from Iran. Some of our friends, some of the guests, regular guests on the show will be there with you

more about that as the time approaches. But more importantly, we look forward to seeing you alive, well, happy, courageous and brave every week. See you again soon. Thank you. Thank you so much. And thanks, my friend. Thank you. God bless. Thank you so much. And thanks for all your friend. Thank you. God bless you. Thank you. Sure. And coming up later today at two o'clock, Aaron Matea at three o'clock, Phil Giraldi at four fifteen, Max Blumenthal, Judge Napolitano for Judging Freedom. MUSIC