The Signal Leak Isn’t The REAL Scandal—Forever War Is

0:00 yes don't use WhatsApp or signal to plan the next military incursion but maybe we shouldn't be planning as many military incursions and that's what I want to talk about actually hey there friends fans and foes of dad Saves America John paa here and I thought I would take this Friday to of course talk about the Scandal that everyone is talking about the leaking of military planning in The Signal app by basically all of the leaders ership of

0:30 the executive branch aside from president Trump himself it is a big story it is a big deal and below the surface there's far deeper questions worth asking than simply did we use the wrong tools for the job latest Fallout from the national security breach in the Trump Administration a reporter mistakenly invited to a group chat about an attack on Yemen on a widely available messaging app uh I get a message request um to connect with Mike Waltz who's the

1:01 National Security adviser or someone who is purporting to be Mike Waltz um not an unusual thing in Washington I'm a journalist I've met him in the past um so I accept it nothing happens I sort of forget about it then a couple days later I'm added to a group of seemingly very very high National Security officials of the United States I think that this is a spoof I think that someone is running a hoax like a disinformation campaign at

1:28 this point every time I hear disinformation campaign my back stiffens a little bit but I think that was a reasonable concern you could imagine foreign adversaries constructing what Mr Goldberg was experiencing for the sake of trying to manipulate the US press but I digress the main reason I thought that actually was that it seemed completely absurd to me that uh the the National Security leadership of the United States would be meeting in a on a messaging app

1:57 to discuss uh forthcoming milit AR action and that that they would also sort of uh invite the editor of the Atlantic magazine yeah of all the guys to invite to this app he's probably the worst so there's obviously a mistake and um and a pretty terrible one and I think those who are supporters of the president whove tried to downplay this mistake are themselves in error I think they're falling prey to partisan politics this was a blunder and the

2:27 responses to it in the immediate aftermath these stories haven't been particularly good nobody's texting more plants I'm I know exactly what I'm doing exactly what we're directing uh and I'm really proud of what we accomplished successful missions that night and going forward I never like when you have to say I know exactly what I'm doing I not to dunk on Pete heg Seth this actually wasn't even his fault he's not the one that set up this thread but don't ever

2:55 say that don't say I know what I'm doing just let that be assumed there were no sources methods locations or War plans that were shared doubling down in their denials us intelligence heads insist that details about a strike in Yemen discussed in a signal chat where reporter Jeffrey Goldberg was President were not classified and so the Atlantic called their Bluff publishing highly sensitive material detailing what military assets like Jets and drones would be used and crucially the precise

3:26 timing of the launches information that could have put us service members in danger the administration sees it differently I think the American public should decide them for themselves based on the outcome of this operation the unexpected access now an embarrassment for the National Security adviser Mike Waltz president Trump's National Security adviser Mike Waltz saying the blame lies with him I take full responsibility I built the I built the group embarrassing yes and I think that's fair and I think good on him for

3:55 just straight up saying I I did this this is my mistake I'm taking responsibility for it does he deserve to be fired for this uh I don't know that's frankly above my pay grade this is the kind of thing that um mistakes can happen right we make these kind of mistakes on our own lives we include somebody that we didn't intend to include um but others have covered how there's supposed to be procedures for this kind of communication that are that

4:20 are very tightly controlled to avoid using consumer apps with your own personal address books that might get be adding the wrong person by AC accident so not a small boo boo kind of a big boo boo and when you look at what was being talked about it's not good it's not good at all it's Fox News Alert for you the Atlantic has now just published brand new messages from the defense secretary Pete heg and others from that signal

4:49 chat group he texted the group at one point uh at 210 more f18s launch second strike package then at 215 strike drones On Target all caps this is when the first bombs will definitely drop pending earlier trigger-based targets it goes on to explain and by this it's literally like hours in advance so this is like a real time playback of the exact tactics times and Technologies being used it's

5:21 if this isn't sensitive military planning information I don't really know what is but I guess what the hell do I know F18 uh strikes and then he says more to follow he says they were currently clean on OPC Democrats are seeking accountability as probes deepen about how many of these text chains exist or existed on a chat platform only approved for non-classified material this is just a mess and it it's it's just a bad look it's it's a mistake um and plenty of

5:52 other people are going to talk about what a disaster and they're going to beat up the Trump Administration for being incompetent and oh Pete head hegets a drunk and blah blah blah blah blah that's your usual talking points uh I think that's all real boring I think what's much more important to think about is why are these operations happening yes don't use WhatsApp or signal to plan the next military incursion but maybe we shouldn't be planning as many military incursions and

6:23 that's what I want to talk about actually but first let's hear from president Trump about why this was happening in the first place do you still believe nothing classified was shared well that's what I've heard I don't know I'm not sure you have to ask the various people involved I really don't know I I can only tell you this you know you don't want to talk about it the hooes have been horrible to the world what they've done killed a lot

6:49 of people and knocked down a lot of ships and planes and anything else you know it's not just the ships and they have been hit they have been hit harder than they've ever been hit and they want us to stop so badly and they've got to stop they've got to say no M I don't I don't think they're going to say no Moss because they don't speak Spanish in Yemen that might be like a hold over

7:15 from a prior conversation about Venezuelans or something but um it's not actually a laughing matter it's a serious matter uh along a 100 Dimensions so if you aren't familiar with what's going on in in Yemen in the Red Sea and why it matters why it could be at least arguably construed as in American interest and Global interest uh well let's take a look this Strait is called the bandab meaning the Gate of tears off to a bad

7:47 start the Gate of Tears the Gate of Tears indeed vessels have to go through the passage to get to the SE Canal which handles about 12% of World Trade and is a Maritime choke point but this is also one of the most dangerous shipping areas on the globe in the months following the Hamas Israel war a commercial ship was hijacked here another was targeted by a drone here and these circles represent other attacks by militants on boats in the Strategic Zone

8:20 avoiding it means adding thousands of nautical miles by traveling around the cape at the bottom of Africa an expensive and timec consuming Venture and said some vessels are looking to Boler security to avoid disruption in the Red Sea and mitigate against delays that could see consumer prices rise here's how and this footage right here is pretty crazy this is actually from the houthi media center a body cam footage it looks like it's straight out of Call of Duty but

8:49 these are actually houthi Rebels boarding a ship recent attacks on Commercial vessels in the key Waterway have been launched by the houthis an iran-backed militant group in Yemen an iran-backed military group I'm going to come back to the history of the houthis because that is a shorthand but um it is a lot more complicated than that the houthis are using positions next to the B mandav to Target Merchant vessels and what it says is a response to the Hamas

9:17 Israel war this body cam footage shows the moments armed militants land a helicopter on the deck of a cargo ship before storming into the bridge The Vessel was traveling on the Red Sea a vital passage for shipping Goods through the SE Canal from Asia into Europe to the rest of the world it's the first time that Merchant vessels have been targeted by anti-ship ballistic missiles according to us officials and you may remember that this

9:47 is the same area where Somali pirates had attacked vessels for years years ago but nothing like this nothing like this level of sort of military sophistication shipping companies are also turning to security analysts for advice on dealing with another new threat drone attacks this is a revolution in D of war that played out in Ukraine and is now um at at play in the Red Sea as well one possible measure is learning how to spot drones as they're incoming early so that

10:16 a ship could then you know sail to a to a safe location and I I got to say and again I'm not some military strategy wizard but the emergence of these very small drones is fundamentally transforming everything because you can cause a lot of Havoc for not a lot of money and one of the things that's been happening for the past couple years is that the United States military has been using multi-million dollar missiles to knock

10:44 down multi thousand drones and you can see the incentives there oh every missile an adversary puts up is basically draining our bank account for millions of dollars while only hitting theirs for thousands uh this is just one of the things that is changing uh Warfare on the planet really profoundly and it's been accelerated by the war in Ukraine but for now one of the safest ways for vessels to travel through the Waterway is to lean on help

11:13 from Allied militaries meaning America Team America World Police a us-led multinational task force moved to the area in December to escort vessels and shoot down projectiles however attacks continued the US is looking at different options to try and end the trouble in the Waterway one is a more forceful military response measures that could take out uh the houth military capabilities at their route and let me just say this video is

11:43 actually from a year ago so this has been going on for years in fact it goes back to the Obama Administration and Beyond uh you know the conflict with the houthis and Yemen but uh this idea of actually striking the targets on land essentially getting into serious military conflict and hostilities this is part of what's new a lot of people say that ultimately the best way to stop this becoming a crisis is to diplomacy Saudi Arabia a key us partner in the

12:14 Middle East for example is in talks with the houthis about ending the Civil War in Yemen halting attacks in the Red Sea and in turn helping the world continue with global trade could be another item on the agenda during those negotiations how should we think about what this is it's not like we're simply throwing bombs around for no reason this is a serious issue it is a serious issue for global trade and in fact houthi missiles have hit military targets for

12:46 several years we have had us warships being hit by these houthi Rebels uh directly this whole thing actually reminded me of something that I didn't know all that much about and that is the attack by the barbery Pirates during Thomas Jefferson's presidency so this is these kind of problems have been going on for a long time in fact the uh the Marines sing about this in their [Music]

13:16 hym ofp we our and with drones and with cyber warfare uh yeah Tripoli that was the barbery Pirates so just as a quick trip down American history what was that all about immediately after the Revolutionary War the US lost the protection of the naval forces of Britain and France in the Mediterranean

13:48 and the Barbie Pirates were the naval forces of the uh satellite states of the Ottoman Empire who essentially demanded tribute or would seize commercial vest and hold as prisoners and hostages their Crews and sometimes even put them into slavery and this is little side note that um slavery was really something these guys loved in fact the word slave comes from slaves Slavic peoples who the

14:18 Arabs of this area were enslaving on mass so for for for those of you with kids getting Social Studies classes that talk about America's great sins during 1619 they use this opportunity to maybe reintroduce them to the origins of slavery which go way farther back and to this day have been more strident practiced elsewhere like in the Middle East when the issue came up in Jefferson's time Jefferson did explicitly authorize the naval forces

14:50 that Congress had provided him to defend American Commerce and if they saw a tropolitan uh barbery pirate ship coming out to attack an a US commercial vessel they were given instructions to go ahead and prevent that attack and and to attack those vessels he did not inform Congress of those Specific Instructions sounds pretty similar right you have foreign vessels uh Merchant trade

15:21 happening in the Middle East through those Seas through the Red Sea and the Mediterranean Sea um foreign Pirates trying to take us out and a US president without declaring war um taking it back to him these were considered fundamentally defensive actions um this was meant to be defending the ships against actual aggressive attack and I think that's one area where what has been done this month and in the past few weeks is different

15:53 we are not merely running our warships alongside commercial vessels and deflecting attack we have now gone on the offense to hit the houthis in Yemen I am more skeptical in general of US foreign adventures and I get it honestly from several people one of whom is a former congressman from Michigan Justin amamos he's been on a tear on Twitter talking about this and and uh from a principled place and I think he lays

16:26 some foundation for argument because the question is does the president even have the authority to do what he's doing to actually launch military actions of this sort not merely to be defensive but to retaliate and and to hit Targets on another country's soil so so let me give you a tiny bit of background here article one of the Constitution sets forth that the US Congress must declare war and actually really controls a lot

16:58 of the mechanisms of how that would go about in terms of the setting up of the Navy and um the funding of all of these things it is the president that's the commander-in-chief but the president does need to seek acts of Congress in order to engage in hostilities that has been refined by a law called the War Powers Resolution which was passed in the 1970s to try to basically respond to the Vietnam War and to further constrain and Define the role

17:29 that the president has and so something most people forget is that we as a country have not declared war since World War II every military action North Korea Vietnam Afghanistan Iraq the houthis in Yemen all matter of stuff this has all been done without a formal declaration of war many of these things we call Wars right like the Iraq War uh and the war on terror which is it own sort of

17:59 strange thing war on an idea but this is the New World Order Of War in the United States and it's not just here in the US it's beyond the US declarations of War have become increasingly rare but as a matter of Law and what our constitutional republic is supposed to do and constrain the president has limited powers as does the Congress we have enumerated powers designed to limit the executive leg legislative and judicial branches so that we don't end

18:31 up in tyranny and the abuse of military power is probably worry number one for the descent into tyranny so with that backdrop the arguments being made right now for why the president feels he can do this and and why the the military and the Department of Defense believes they can simply say fire off a bunch of rockets and launch a bunch of aircraft and bomb Targets in this far country that we're not technically at war with

19:02 and because basically Saudi Arabia is our buddy they are relying on what's known as a aumf an authorization for the use of military force and specifically they're relying on the 2001 authorization that was put forward with regards to the aftermath of 911 and as former Congressman Amash points out that authorization for Force for the use of military force was very specific to be used against those

19:34 Nations organizations or persons he determines he being the president planned authorized committed or aided the terrorist attacks that occurred on September 11th 2001 or harbored such organizations or persons that is the fundamental basis being used for launching kinetic military actions against the houthis I don't think this he had anything to do with 9911 I don't see how that's justifiable I don't see how the president doesn't

20:05 need to go back to Congress and say look at what's going on here we got barbery Pirates 2.0 please authorize my ability to use military force in Yemen for X Y and Z purposes that seems that's my reading as is uh Justin amash's and others for what the President should be doing the fact that the signal stuff got leaked and that they're using the private encrypted app that's not a good look it's even worse a look when you

20:33 think about how much hay was made of Hillary Clinton using private email servers but it's a sideshow compared to the bigger problem that we all thought I think president Trump was more inclined to be skeptical about the other piece of the puzzle here and this is one that the leaked uh Communications lays be is the idea that in within the War Powers Act there is is a provision for the president to take unilateral action that is action without approval by Congress

21:05 if there is an immediate eminent threat to the US or its properties but what you see in these threads is something very different you see conscious planning for an attack that was explicitly said to be not urgent or even especially timely It Could Happen a month from now so the fundamental premise that this is an authorized action is is I think arguable at best simply a violation of uh statute and the law at worse and I think it is

21:36 the latter this brings me to a moment that I want to revisit it had a big impact on me and if you haven't seen this it's worth revisiting this is a debate moment from the 2008 election where then Congressman Ron Paul talking about our involvement overseas and what it does this was a moment for me and and I think for a lot of people who've come to be skeptical of US military Adventures overseas well I

22:06 think the uh party has lost its way because the uh conservative wing of the Republican Party always advocated a non-interventionist foreign policy Senator Robert Taff didn't want to be in NATO uh George Bush won the election in year 2000 campaigning on a uh humble foreign policy no uh nation building no policing of the world and just as a quick reminder for those of you who are too young to know about this President Bush George W bush did in fact campaign

22:33 on a humble foreign policy and it was in direct response to the Clinton administration's foreign adventures in places like Kosovo in the Middle East there's a strong tradition of being anti-war uh in the Republican party it is the Constitutional position it is the advice of the founders to follow a non-interventionist foreign policy stay out of entangling alliances be friends with countries negotiate and talk with them and trade with them and my argument is that we shouldn't go to war so

23:00 carelessly when we do the wars don't end Congressman you don't think that changed with the 911 attack sir what changed the non-interventionist policies no non-intervention was a major contributing factor have you ever read about the reasons they attacked us they they attack us because we've been over there we've been bombing Iraq for 10 years we've been in the Middle East I think Reagan was right we don't understand the irrationality of Middle Eastern politics this made a a lot of

23:29 people's hair stand up on the back of their head it sounded like a justification for 911 for Osama Bin Laden but it was also straight out of the reports that would subsequently come from our government about the the origins of the 911 attacks two things can be true at the same time Osama Bin Laden can be a really bad guy who did awful things and some of his criticisms may have not been entirely Off the Mark

23:57 what would we say he if China was doing this in our country or in the Gulf of Mexico we would be objecting we need to look at what we do from the perspective of what would happen if somebody else did it to us are you suggesting we invited the 911 attack sir I'm I'm suggesting that we listen to the people who attacked us and the reason they did it and they are delighted that we're over there because Osama Bin Laden has

24:19 said I am glad you're over on our sand because we can Target you so much easier theyve already now since that time have killed 3,400 of our men and I don't think was necessary wend may I make a comment on that that's really an extraordinary statement as an extraordinary statement of someone who lived through the attack in September 11 that we invited the attack because we were attacking Iraq I don't think I've ever heard that before and I've heard

24:42 some pretty absurd explanations for September 11 now I understand the Clapping I was in New York during 911 I was living there at the time and um I mean it it was a big deal but years later I was in a different place and I think a lot of us were and I think Ron Paul was more cleare eyed on this than Rudy Giuliani and I would I would ask the congressman to withdraw that comment and tell us

25:09 that he didn't really mean that [Applause] Congressman I believe very sincerely that the that the CIA is correct when they teach and and talk about blowback that if we think that we can do what we want around the world and not incite hatred then we then we have a problem they don't come here to attack us because we're rich and we're free they come and and they attack us because we're over there I mean what would we

25:36 think if we were if other foreign countries were doing that to us this is a major fault line and frankly it has been a an area where the parties have truly reverted back to their earlier form um president Trump now gets or has over the past several years gotten Applause lines for saying the things that Ron was saying back in 2008 and uh this attack on the houthis even if it is perhaps Justified on the basis of

26:06 retaliation for attacks against our ships and shipping um the way it is going about is at odds with that and in the signal thread vice president Vance says as much he voices skepticism and push back about the plan and says it's at odds with the president's broader message about foreign policy and as well as about bailing out Europe one thing you will see in the um in the thread and we will put a link to all of

26:35 this stuff over at Daves america.com so you can read the full thread in case you don't have a uh an a subscription to the Atlantic but there is disagreement here and and vice president Vance frankly comes out looking pretty sober on it although you know bashing of Europe uh well in addition frankly I wanted to take a little time in this video to to share some background on the houth not because you should care that much about

27:04 the houth you probably shouldn't we're here in America we've got busy lives to lead but since this is at the center of our discourse at the moment I think it's important to see just how crazy things are just how entangled things have been and just how wise I think Ron Paul's warnings were with regard to being involved olved over there and having it blow back onto US years and years and years later one more

27:35 thing this video has some disturbing images of some of the children who have suffered through starvation as a result of the blockades and the various things that have happened in this mostly ignored disaster in Yemen so with that warning let's dig in since 2015 a Saudi lead Coalition has been waging a war against the huy rebels in Yemen unleashing one of the most severe humanitarian crisises in recent history but who are the huthis the huthis make

28:05 up around 25% of Yemen's population although they belong to the Shia sect of Islam they are zis they follow a branch that's different to the 12 or Shia Islam the dominant practice in Iran Iraq and Lebanon zis take their name from Zade Ali the great-grandson of Ali who was killed in an uprising Zade is revered as a leader that fought against a corrupt regime the zi believe that it is their religious duty to fight against unjust

28:30 rulers that contrasts with most Sunni and Shia doctrines that usually encourage Unity over disorder are you already getting a little sense that what are we doing with this why are we involved in any of that is that what's that got to do with us cuz I am for a thousand years zis have lived in the mountains of former Northern Yemen in what is present day Sada Province bordering Saudi Arabia in 1978 Ali Abdullah aadii came to power in former

28:57 North Yemen 12 12 years later North Yemen and South Yemen were united into one country salah's rule lasted until 2011 in the late 80s Saudi funded copy institutes were established in the north of Yemen with State support this made zes feel marginalized they responded by trying to revive their religion and culture under the leadership of Hussein Badin alui and the Hui movement was born again complex stuff doesn't have anything to do with uh the United States

29:25 of America so far with one exception and that is that we have always been in Alliance with the Saudis for 75 years Saudi Arabia has been our Ally and it is worth noting that of the 19 hijackers on 911 15 were Saudi but it was the 2003 war in Iraq that made the group more politically active the houthis opposed the US Le invasion of Iraq Hussein Al huthi began criticizing s calling him a usback dictator when some huies

29:55 protested in mosques in the capital SAA sah tried to crack down on the movement by sending troops to arrest Hussein alui this triggered the first armed conflict between the government and the huis Hussein alhi was killed in 2004 and his brother Abdul Malik alhi took over Saudi Arabia backed the government and despite religious differences Iran began supporting the houthis the houthi movement accepted Iran's support but resisted direct interference for the Iranians the huthis being a counterforce

30:24 to Saudi interests was enough and a counter to Saudi interests is seen in that part of the world as also a counter to us interests and they're not wrong the houthis achieved initial military success which provoked more saudi-backed government force with us weapons and US money the parties then reached a ceasefire agreement in 2010 a year later when the Arab Spring reached Yemen the huthis were one of many groups calling for Salah to step down and when he did

30:51 the huthis joined a national dialogue but they were unhappy with the outcome as it would reduce their territorial autonomy the new president Abdu Ru mansur Hadi also backed by the Saudis had trouble stabilizing the country he couldn't stop alqaeda attacks and fuel prices and unemployment began to Skyrocket this provoked a new Rebellion this time the houthis Allied with their once sworn enemy former president sa if you're getting confused that's okay but we got there's a lot of moving moving

31:22 chairs musical chairs former dictator we hate him no now he's our Ally but just you wait he'll he'll be hated before he's killed by 2015 houthi Rebels had toppled the government and gained control of Yemen's major cities when they entered s they rebranded themselves as ansar Allah or the helpers of God and opened air traffic between tahan and Yemen promising cheap oil across the northern border Saudi Arabia's King Salman bin abdulaziz ascended the throne and saw the houthis as a dangerous and

31:53 an important Pawn in the proxy war against Iran Saudi Arabia formed a coalition with other Arab states backed by the US UK and France and began strikes on the houthis this bombing of Yemen began in Earnest by the United States under Barack Obama 3 years later the houthis still control large parts of the country and the war has been costly more than 10,000 people have been killed and almost 2 million children under the age of five are considered acutely

32:19 malnourished maybe we shouldn't have been bombing the heck out of them maybe they wouldn't be going after our worships if we hadn't been bombing the heck out of them you know on behalf of their neighbor Saudi Arabia who also has historically run extremist wahhabi camps and 15 of whom flew planes into our tower on 911 I mean I you see where Ron Paul's sense of the entanglements and the blowback this is the CIA term blowback takes place this it worth

32:52 reminding all of you and myself that we backed the muja J Haden um in our proxy wars with the Soviet Union we uh played both sides of Iran versus Iraq and the installing of the Ayatollah and the Islamic revolution in Iran is at least partly a result not fully but partly a result of our meddling over there so we need to find a way to disentangle from all this stuff we really do it is

33:25 complicated but what I'm saying is founded in our founding because upon exit George Washington himself our first president had this to say and I think it is prophetic the Great rule of conduct for us in regard to foreign Nations is in extending our commercial relations to have with them as little political connection as possible so far as we have already formed engagements let them be

33:57 fulfilled with perfect good faith here let us stop so President Washington was like look let's let's get out of the foreign entanglements business and I think the existing ones was probably mostly France for helping with the war why forgo the advantages of so peculiar a situation and by this he meant the fact that we were now separated by an ocean from Europe and all of its squabbles why quit our own stand upon

34:28 foreign ground Why by interweaving our destiny with that of any part of Europe entangle our peace and prosperity in the toils of European ambition rivalship interest humor or Caprice he sounds a lot like uh vice president Vance there doesn't he's like I don't want to be involved in Europe let's get out of here it is our true policy to steer clear of permanent alliances we're looking at you Saudi Arabia with any portion of the foreign

35:01 world so far I mean as we are now at Liberty to do it for let me not be understood as capable of patronizing infidelity to existing engagements I hold the maxim no less applicable to public than to Private Affairs that honesty is always the best policy I repeat it therefore let those engagements be observed in their genuine sense but in my opinion it is UN necessary and would be unwise to extend them and let me tell you something

35:33 extend them we sure have as we sit here there is something like 750 military bases in 80 countries all around this planet doing things like keeping global trade alive and much less Savory things along the way all In The Name Of Us interest all probably defensible by somebody but all shocking and horrific to our founding fathers and for that we pay a great cost

36:06 the United States spends more on defense than the next nine Nations combined that includes China Russia Iran North Korea and the Venezuelans the Cubans and everyone else that we think might want to do us harm never for good reason but maybe for some Pro provocation so I think it's time for us to reth think all that and to look at what's going on with clearer eyes and just a quick reminder we're putting all of my research materials over at Daves

36:36 america.com and it post with links and embedded videos to all this stuff that I was reading to try to understand what's going on so head over there and if you love what we're doing please subscribe you can even become a paid subscriber and there'll be benefits to come with that as well as helping to keep this show ad free and of course I know you'll let me know what you think in the comments below I hope you have a great

37:01 weekend in the councils of government we must car guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence whether sought or unsought by the military industrial complex the potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist we must never let the weight of this combination endanger our liberties or Democratic processes we should take nothing for granted only an alert and knowledgeable

37:32 citizen rate can compel the proper meshing of the huge industrial and Military Machinery of Defense with our peaceful methods and goals so that security and Liberty May Prosper together