The Team House - TERROR ATTACK ON MOSCOW | EYES ON | Ep. 15

Episode Date: March 24, 2024

Support the show here:https://www.patreon.com/TheTeamHouseToday we run down the awful news of a terrorist attack in Moscow killing and wounding hundreds by ISIS-K. We also talk about General Gray, the 29th Commandant of the Marine Corps. who passed away this past week at the age of 95.Find Andy here:Twitterhttps://twitter.com/i/flow/login?redirect_after_login=%2Fandymilburn8LinkedInhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/andrewmilburn2023Substackhttps://amilburn.substack.com/Andy's bookhttps://www.amazon.com/When-Tempest-Gathers-Mogadishu-Operations/dp/1526750554#moscowattack #russiaBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-team-house--5960890/support.

Hey guys, it's Jack. I just wanted to talk to you today about a way that you can help support the podcast if you're not already. We would really appreciate it if you guys went and reviewed us on Apple or Spotify. Those reviews really help people find the podcast and help it get recognized. And, you know, if you've been enjoying the show, we really appreciate your support. Another thing that you can do to support the channel is to become a Patreon member. So we have Patreon memberships that start at just $5 a month. And, you know, when you sign up you get access to all of our episodes ad-free. That's the big bonus for that. I mean, we also do some Patreon bonus episodes for our subscribers. But this is the biggest and best way that you can support the Team House channel and podcast if you'd like to. And we really appreciate that. So go in and check us out at patreon.com slash the team house. Hello, everyone. Welcome to another episode of Izon. I'm Andy Bilburn. With me, it's Jason Lyons and Dee Tacos. And we're going to jump right into it today because much to your relief, we have a limited

amount of time. And there's a couple of really big news stories. Dee, what do you want us to start off on here? The Moscow shooting? Yeah, I mean, that's, uh, so I cut some fresh gouge on that. You want to hear it? Please, yeah, because that's dominating. Okay.

So, uh, this is quite literally breaking. I hate to use that term. But this is from Russian telegram accounts in Moscow. I would argue and I would venture if we release this today that no one else has all of the information that I'm about to give. That sounds a dreadful boast. So let's go ahead. All right.

So the death hall, anyway, backtrack for a moment. Okay, there was an attack on the Russian, on the Russian Crocus City Hall in Moscow. it's this massive, what's a large kind of emporium, includes an auditorium. There's a train station there. I mean, it's a showpiece kind of location within Moscow for the young. And so evidently what happened, four suspects walked into the foyer of the auditorium, and they started shooting.

Interestingly enough, there was a concert, and they walked in about just as the concert was beginning. And they started shooting at latecomers in the lobby, and they walked into the auditorium itself. As I said, death toll around 149. Russians expect that to rise several hundred wounded. Russian special forces were involved. Despite the footage shown at the site, no gunmen were killed or arrested at the site. Now, get this. This is where it gets crazy. The Russians are reporting that they've arrested four terrorists. in the Brijansk region of Russia. Okay, I'm going to help you guys out here because I had to look it up.

That is on the Russian-Ukrainian border. So what they're claiming, think about this, all right, they're claiming that terrorists were fleeing back towards Ukraine, right? And that they captured, okay, one of them is saying that he was paid half a million roubles to carry out the attack, not saying by whom,

but you see what I'm, I mean, the Russians clearly are kind of doing the door piece here of laying out the breadcrums saying, well, look, you know, we don't know who did this, but they're trying to escape to Ukraine. At the same time, the Islamic State is saying, no, wait a second, we did it, we did it. U.S. intelligence is saying they don't know for sure. Islamic State seems like a safe bet, but there are several other potential groups, you know. I mean, remember, Russia has ongoing counterinsurgencies, and not just in Chechnya, but Dagestan. on two, both places in which they, you know, Putin has, has pissed off a lot of people.

And, and of course, Syria, you know, and which is the reason why the Islamic State would be hitting them. So, I will pause there for a moment, in case you have any questions. Oh, hey, the last thing is, the Russians just announced that this is on telegram, and it's a Russian telegram channel, I should be more specific. It's a Russian-backed telegram channel. And they're claiming that it was the Russian volunteer call. Remember we talked about the Russian volunteer core? That's who they're saying they

that that's who it is and that they conducted a purge or rather they arrested a bunch of them before the incident. And this was a this was a revenge. Anyway, back to you guys. Yeah. So what? questions you have. What I'm being told and what I'm reading is that as little as three days ago, U.S., the embassy warned Moscow that, hey, there is something coming. They didn't have specifics, but it was dismissed by Putin as divisive propaganda, you know, just trying to divide the country up, which is the exact same mistake that the Iranians made not long ago. We tried to warn them,

about an imminent attack. They dismissed it and it happened. So, you know, I think that's a part of the, at least the intel community that the most citizens don't know about that we do, despite our differences with Russia and Iran. We do share intelligence with them on that level. As, you know, if there's an imminent attack coming, because despite what some people think, while we disagree and we have issue with the Russian and Iranian governments, we don't hate their people.

So we don't want to see innocence killed. So, well, something we do. It's a policy of reprisso. Reprosity? Yeah, too, right? It's like, okay, so even if you guys don't agree to this, we're going to do this, which leaves the door open for collaboration. Absolutely.

Absolutely. And that's a, yeah, that's a great point. Hey, Jason, I just want to say what Putin actually said when he was warned on March the 19th, all this resembles outright blackmail. and an intention to intimidate and destabilize our society. That's from the U.S. warning. I mean, once again, you know, how, what more example do you need? Yeah, I'm curious to see how that gets walked back that statement now that it's happened.

Putin was just talking. He just, like, addressed Russia, like, probably 30, 40 minutes ago. Oh, he has made an official statement. Yeah. Yeah, and the method of. who's the deputy head of the, you know, Derek Quillan, of the Russian Security Council has, has, is already blaming Ukraine. I mean, him specifically.

So it isn't just on telegram. He says, if it, well, he says if it is established that these terrorists are connected with the Kiev regime and he goes on to issue dire threats, you know, I mean, how much more dire can it get than you've already invaded that country? Right. So like the med-de-de-de-de-de-day. They're getting ready to put the blame on on Kiev's door. step because it certainly serves

Russians better to do so than to blame the Islamic state and bring up their whole sorry venture in Syria. Yeah, we touch on the transformation that Medvedev's gone through when he was the Russian president and like boys with Obama and like, oh, this could be maybe a glimmer of hope. And then he's gone full like black trench coat.

No, I don't think there was any transformation there. I think they were just always playing us all along. You know, and this is this is where we mix our, kind of our own culture with our attempts at real politic.

You know, we want to always, always inject the personal level in personal relation, in these geopolitical relationships. And these are, you know, whether you're ahead of state, I mean, regardless of where you're

ahead of state, your country, your national interests come first. And, but we in the U.S., We recognize that in ourselves, but we demand kind of friendship and loyalty from foreign diplomat. I mean, foreign states, heads of state, which of course doesn't make sense. And especially when we're talking about adversaries. So you get things like, you know, George Bush saying about Putin, he seems like a man I can deal with. Yeah, yeah. Looked into his eyes.

And then all the crap that other presidents have talked about, both Putin. and members of Russia of the Kremlin. I mean, it's absurd. No, these guys are all very, I mean, they're shit. They're, you know, former Soviets. And if they're not, and they're steeped in that culture. And we never understood that culture anyway. Yeah.

But we kind of understood it during the Cold War. And what kept us on the good side is we never got sucked in, even at the end, to, oh, hey, listen, Khrushchev's being nice to us today. So, you know, let's start making concessions. Yeah. Yeah. It's our, it's our own mirror imaging and it's our own weakness. Geopolitics is a hard game.

And very few U.S. statesmen realize that. Kissinger, like him or Hayden, did understand that. Absolutely. Anything. It's on all that on Moscow. So watch this space, guys. Very interesting. And we will, you know, continue to track what's being said in, in, in, in, in,

on this. What was interesting was like, especially right after the attack, probably like an hour or two after attack, they had that picture of that white van with old Ukrainian plates on it. Yeah. And it's like, hey, guys, if you came really did this. Bit obvious. Yeah. What are we doing?

Like, are they really doing that? Like, let's, let's be serious here. Like, who's running this? Slob Ukraine. Slob Ukraine stickers on the enemies on a van. Yeah. An early story I saw too said that during the attack that, um, a Ukrainian flag was raised. above the building and then it disappeared then I never saw something about it again

so I mean they also said they were wearing fake beards like guys what are we doing like can we just find out who did this and you know and like I mean the Russians won't be honest anyway so yeah but I mean you know how these things are I mean remember the well most recently 7 October and you remember the the attacks in Paris in 2015 and the initial reports are always lowball, unfortunately, on the extent of the casualties and how bad the event was. So I think, sadly, we're going to see that the casualty numbers rise because, you know, reading behind the lines, Russian Special Forces did not get there on time. And so, yes, I don't think this is going to be a story that covers the Russian security services and glory.

but that doesn't you know i mean we we've all made these mistakes um so that isn't me being smug it's a tragedy regardless de yes um before so i i i really i mean you've got two marines here and i really okay three richie stop reminding me yeah um so i'd really uh you know today saw another not a tragedy but uh a milestone event in a general gray former combe down the marine corps more importantly, oh, General Gray, by the way, easily, the most easily, the most influential commandant of the last, I don't know, since Lujun, John A. Lujun, probably, and some people would argue the most period. Why was he so influential? Because he, don't worry, I'll get rid of him in a moment. Not in a bad way that he's got things to say about General Gray, obviously.

You know, General Gray, bottom line is he brought the Marine Corps from this kind of, woes me, Vietnam, fixated culture, which was very, you know, despite what we may say, very hierarchal, very zero tolerance. And it was a very bad time, not just in the Marine Corps, but in every service in the 70s, post-Fietnam, drugs, racial tension, you name it. And Craig came in and did two things. He cleaned house, you know, from top down, the Institute implemented things like drug testing and all this stuff, you know. But it was a concerned, compassionate leadership. He was loved by the rank and file in a way that no other commandant has been. And why it wasn't just because he could talk to the Marines and drop the F-bomb.

It was because he genuinely cared about them and showed it in his policies and proving barracks like blah, blah, blah. But he, you know, at the same time, he raised, he raised the standards from rank. That was internally, externally, he, oh, and also internally, he emphasized mission command in a way that has not been emphasized by any other common. I would add, you know, for all sins, but possibly the current one will be. And so he brought us a, so all these things about initiative-driven command, he brought in

the war yeah it's right to change our whole doctrine war fighting right maneuver warth which is not about moving pieces on the map it's about the mentality which is always

putting your enemy in a horns of a dilemma on the horns of a dilemma thinking deciding in a manner that that makes your tempo faster than that of the adversary It was all about the mental game, the three-dimensional chess board, as he described it. Gray was also, very interestingly, a self-made man in every sense.

He was a construction worker, right? He enlisted in the Marine Corps at the age of 22, went to Korea, fought for two years in Korea. As a rifleman made sergeant, like in a battlefield, promotions and then subsequently was a commission as an officer in Vietnam interestingly when he got a silver star he was on a he was his official title was he was an artillery observer with an artillery unit but he was also at the time he's working in intelligence communications and signals intelligence he had a communications background I want a silver star for bringing

Marines out of a minefield minefield I'm going to turn over to you you because I got to take care of this dog. Yeah, General Gray, I had the pleasure and honor of meeting him. It was long after his retirement. I was at an event and he was there. And we got to talk me a little bit and mentioned to where I was from in New Jersey. And he grew up right next door at Point Pleasant, New Jersey, from originally from Rawway, New Jersey.

And his family moved to Point Pleasant. And he played football. we played three sports, football, baseball, and basketball, I believe. And, you know, great athlete, really, really easy to talk to. And, you know, like Andy said, he was a Marines Marine, especially enlisted. He is noted for when he would address new officers, he would tell him that your sole reason for raising your hand. Yes, it's to defend the Constitution. Yes, it is to defend, you know, the nation. but it's also to be first and foremost there for your enlisted and subordinate Marines. That was his most important, his credo.

Like Andy said, maneuver warfare was a big thing with him. And it was pretty timely because of Desert Storm and, you know, and all that. But he truly believed in every Marine being a rifleman so much so that he was the first, and I don't know if only, but the first commandant to have his. official portrait done in his utilities, his camis. Every other one were in dress uniforms, dress blues. And he was the first to do that to show that every Marine is a rifleman. And that really stood out to me.

So he will surely be missed. I mean, 95 years old, he lived a hell of a life. So, you know, great Marine. He was active right up to the end, too. Yeah. He was, you know, he ran the instrumental in running the Potomac Institute. which is a think tank and um but uh you know one one really interesting point i think this will come out i hope it comes out and um you know presumably there'll be books about a book about him but

he took over the marine corps at a very uh at a you know the marine call is in crisis back in the late 80s people forget about this or in the 80s and it was um part of it was post fiatan you know the the army, the Navy can absorb some of the moral, the morale problems and all the other things that were going on. But the Marine Corps, as a small organization now facing, it's just, you know, justifying its existence, yet again, not doing well across the border, none of the services were. But in particular, the Marine Corps had a hard time in the 80s. Remember, in 83 was Marine Corps bombing that killed 240. there were all kinds of operational and tactical and indeed strategic level decisions that were made there that frankly led to that tragedy and they weren't all political decisions.

A lot of them were made by people in uniform and they were very poor decisions and not a lot of people really were held responsible. But Gray came in, you know, in the aftermath of that, realizing that yes, Marine Corps had to be need to hold its own accountable. And then, you know, the same year he came in, we had, I don't know if you remember, Clayton Lone Tree. He was the primary player in a scandal in Moscow Barrett, in Moscow at Embassy, U.S. Embassy, Moscow in 1987.

He and one of his cohorts, I think two of his cohorts, definitely one, another one, went to jail, sold secrets. They were caught in a Russian honey pot trap and and continue to give secrets to the Russians for a period of time before they were caught. And then finally, remember Oliver North facing criminal charges for his involvement in the Iran-Contra affair. And within the Marine Corps, Oliver North was not regarded as being the hero that the U.S. public was. You know, there were people who had, you know, I'll just say this. let me put it this way.

I don't mean to defame Oliver North. I just mean to say, yes, he was a very brave man. And yes, he was a hero in Vietnam. But my point is that there were people within the Marine Corps who were concerned about the way he was acting, concerned that he was violating integrity while wearing uniform. I didn't say he did. I said they were concerned, and Gray was one of them.

So he felt like the Marine Corps had a black eye. And indeed, it did. and part of what he was doing, and people didn't realize this, perhaps at the time, was setting the Marine Corps completely on a new course. Remember, he's the one who coined Special Operations capable for the Mews. He's like, okay, we are going to be a lighter, more agile force. We're going to be closer to special operations.

And indeed, look, we're doing this again now. We went through this whole period of going, being sucked into, as we had to, you know, the counterinsurgencies, the land wars, but now again, we're looking at getting, kind of moving towards soft in how we operate. And you mentioned books about him. There is one that had been recommended to me. I still haven't read it. It's called Grayisms and other thoughts on leadership from General Al Gray, USMC retired, 29th common ground in the Marine Corps.

It's by Paul Ott, O-T-E. It's the biggest issue. Yeah. What's that? Yeah, Potomac Institute. Yeah, yeah, Potomac Institute. Yep, so that looks like a really interesting one. So if anyone's interested, definitely pick that up.

I plan to. Yeah, that's actually, it's a great book. I mean, I've just flicked through it because I'm too cheap to have bought it. It's a lot of his quotes, and he has some great quotes. Hey, you know, everyone, everyone has this image of him as being, and he was like this rough, ready, marine, tough guy. And he was all of those, yes, truly. But what makes him, what gives him such a legacy is his intellect.

Really, you know, a brilliant guy. And also his, I mean, his intellect, what he's done for the miracle, blah, blah, blah. But also his compassion, you know, and that's why he was popular. He really, you know, we talk about tough love, tough leadership, but he really exemplified that. It wasn't a false bull in his. body. You know, one of the things we laughed about when he, uh, when he and I briefly spoke was, again, he went to, uh, Point Pleasant Beach High School.

And I went to Manuskwan High School. And we weren't big rivals, uh, with sports. We did play each other in certain sports, but Point Pleasant Borough, which was the town connected in between his and mine, uh, we, they were a big rival. And, uh, we used to, it was a huge, nasty rival in football, especially. And so one of the things he asked me is, uh, um, So what's the secret? You know, sir, what's secrets?

Why he's like, how does you guys cheat every year and be, you know, poor girl? And I just looked at him like, shit, is he being serious? He's still holding that grudge from 80 years. Exactly. Yeah, so the other thing, you know, the other legacy that he has among junior Marines is, is a memory of or a habit of physically assaulting Marines, right? I mean, what would be called physically assaulting now? You know, he would, when, if you were standing, and I know this from personal experience,

because I was a PFC and reached the Dizzy Heights of Lance Corporal as a security guard in Sincland Fleet headquarters, North of Virginia, 1980 through blah, blah, but 1990. Anyway, so junior, you know, PFC, Melbourne are sending outside the Opcon, you know, control headquarters and he'd go in and out every time he would punch the marine in the stomach right the the guy standing guard at parade first and so it didn't matter who he was with you know see you know whatever he you you're going to get punched can you imagine that happening today and then and so yeah of course you know and i i promise you this is true that were guys who even put like their log books in you know under their charlie shirt so he would end up fucking i mean uh

Or and sometimes he'd walk by you and then just elbow you in the kidneys. And it was hard. You know, I mean, it really was. It's love. Yeah, but, but now can you imagine that? Someone would complain. And sure enough, it would be on, it would be on security camera. General assaults, you know, L'Aupro.

Some L'Ascorpal, you know, snuck grass would be appearing on my ribs. Oh. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, man. Hey, T, we're pushing the time. then is there anything you want to wrap up with no just uh that Putin in his speech uh he also like echoed saying all the terrorists that were apprehended en route to Ukraine trying to cross the

border he said that in his speech okay and I don't think we said it but uh Ukraine has vehemently denied any kind of uh anything to do with any of this whether or not it's true I I can't say but they immediately said it has nothing to do with us. There's, there would be absolutely nothing, nothing to mean. Yeah. A lot to be, a lot to be lost. Although, you know, driving up to the building in a van with Ukrainian flags might be, you know, the best, a really good method of doing this, you know, hiding plain sight. Yeah. Anyway, all right, on that note, everyone, great, great, great.

great talking at you and we look forward to your comments uh as usual in fact we're going to start reading out some some of our questions and comments yeah de why do you close this out with any uh any any any commercial words from the sure little house cleaning um housekeeping don't forget to like and subscribe guys it's very important if you're listening to us on the audio platform's rate and review at five stars it's also as important um check out andy's book very good writer I get 10 cents yeah

everyone that's born so check out the page when the tempest gathers yeah the link will be in the description for everything Jason doesn't have a book

he's gonna write one soon and we'll put the link in that this in the description then soon as I get a ghost writer yeah so don't forget because being engaged is very important it helps the channel it helps the shows

uh it's very important so do us a comment too comment if you don't like us I don't give shit just comment say whatever you want but don't forget to like and subscribe be engaged tell a friend too so and the patreon patreon patreon dot com slash the team has great great comments uh from a lot of french people great comments uh on

on the on the french episode from people in france yeah and uh i mean a great some some of times reposted um some of it was uh was abusive uh thank you for that um someone said uh you know how come you don't know that, you know, the National Fund is not called the National. I'm sorry. I am not. Oh, yeah. That I didn't know that. He missed their last meeting.

I'm not as steeped in French politics. And there is a reason for that. We try and now are our attention to superpowers. You know, anyway. All right. Hey, see you in a few days, guys. All the best. Thanks, everyone.