Doug Macregor Speaks Hard Truths About Israel; US Begins Talks To Withdraw From Iraq

Doug Macgregor’s reactions in the immediate aftermath of Hamas’ October 7 raid into Israeli was what I took to be reflexively pro-Israel. Like many career professionals in our military he has had close ties to Israel—Israel cultivates such contacts assiduously. Over time, however, he has gradually fine tuned his views. Today, speaking to Judge Napolitano, featured his most hard hitting comments yet—that I’m aware of. I’ve transcribed some brief portions of the discussion:

Colonel Macgregor on US Military Overreach.

Shortly after the video begins Judge Nap raises a point that Aaron Maté had made yesterday, namely, that Ukraine and Israel are both “client states” of the US. Judge Nap asks Macgregor for his views on that. Macgregor responds that, of course, Ukraine is a client state of the US—certainly ever since the US, in 2014, overthrew the Ukraine government and installed a vassal regime in Kiev. What Russia refers to as the “Kiev regime”. But then Macgregor turns to Israel, and draws a distinction:

6:53

A: Now, Israel is a little different because, frankly, we often wonder whose client is who [sic], is whose client? In other words, are we not the client of the Israeli state or is the Israeli state the client of the United States? It is confusing and difficult to establish because, as I point out routinely, at this stage of our history I think President Netanyahu has evidently more influence over the conduct of our foreign and defense policy than President Biden. And despite whatever President Biden has said publicly or whatever Secretary of State Blinken has said, there's not much evidence that anything has happened that Mr. Netanyahu does not want to happen. Calling them [Ukraine and Israel] "client states" is not unreasonable, it's just that in Israel's case we need to sort out that relationship.

7:46

Later in the video there is a discussion of the current state of affairs in the Middle East. Macgregor raises the issue that I, following Will Schryver, discussed this morning. Namely, doesn’t the Israeli offers of a ceasefire to Hamas simply demonstrate that Hamas is in the driver’s seat? Macgregor agrees—Israel is revealing its weakness. Before getting to that, however, at 24:15 Macgregor begins a discussion of the ways in which Russia, Turkey, and Iran--traditional enemies--are coming together and are uniting against Israel. He points out that the leaders of Turkey and Iran are meeting today. Parenthetically, the US is desperately trying to sell Turkey F-16s, in an obvious bid to bribe Turkey into staying on side. Then:

25:05

A: Israel is in a very tenuous position, because these sorts of [ceasefire] offers signal to the opposition in Hamas--and not just to them but to hundreds of millions of Muslims in the region--that Israel is weak, not strong. And I think, if anything, they've concluded--based on their interaction with the Israeli Defense Force at this point--that Israel is far, far more vulnerable than anyone imagined. The real question in their minds is, Where do we fit in? And I think [that most regional nations are] assuming that, if Israel doesn't come to some sort of agreement, which seems frankly unlikely, that [the US] will be drawn into the war on the side of Israel and that they will have to fight us as well. And I think that is why there are discussions all over the region between the various leaders about how they're going to cooperate in that event. I think that should give everyone in Israel and everyone in the United States real pause, because behind them once against stands Russia and, more distantly but not remotely, China. And again, as I point out, the Chinese have a keen interest in supplying themselves at home with oil and natural gas and so forth that comes out of the Persian Gulf and that region, and also food out of West Africa. They don't want to be cut off from that by a major war in that region, so they'll do everything they can to hinder it, but if it happens they'll do everything they can to help Iran and Turkey and Russia and anyone else who is engaged in that war against us and Israel. I think that's what we need to keep in mind.

Q: President Biden has attacked the Houthis now seven times in the past ten days. It doesn't seem to have dented them. However, does that not exacerbate what you just described?

A: Oh, absolutely! There's no question about it. At every turn we and Israel have done the same thing--we've escalated. When in doubt, escalate. I think that's the theory in Washington and the theory in Jerusalem. There's no talk of any sort of serious discussion or peace arrangements or anything else, because that's something that Washington will not accept. It's back to what you witnessed with Anthony Blinken--it is escalate or nothing, because it's either our way or the highway. ... I think it's a very dangerous position to take ... because we are not as strong as we once were. Our country is fragmented and divided in many ways, has serious economic problems, and is financially at high risk.

Again, the same people lying about Russia, lying about what's happening on the ground in the Middle East, are also lying about the true state of affairs of the US economy, the underlying fundamentals in the financial [?]. So I think we're in a bad position, because no one knows what to do other than escalate. And escalation is where we're headed, and we're not prepared for a regional war, just as we were not prepared to supply Ukraine with the degree of support that was needed to fight a regional war against Russia. We're not prepared, we're not organized, and that means we're going to escalate. It's incomprehensible to me as a professional soldier but I don't think rationality has much of a role in any of the decision making. There is no strategy. Everything is impulse driven. And the impulse in Washington is to attack, and attack, and attack, and attack. And it will eventually escalate into what I was talking about earlier. The Houthis are on the outer edge, on the fringe, but they will not be alone as this develops. They will not be easily defeated, because we've already seen.

29:22

Events are moving quickly. This morning we reported that the US is seriously considering withdrawing from Syria. This evening brings reports that the US ambassador in Baghdad has reached out to the Iraqi government to initiate talks on a US withdrawal from Iraq:

Megatron @Megatron_ron

BREAKING:

After the reports from Syria, report on US withdrawal from Iraq as well.

The U.S. and Iraq will begin talks regarding the full withdrawal of all American military presence in the country – CNN

The Iraqi Foreign Ministry has received 'an important message' from the United States; Iraq says it will take the 'necessary steps and preparations', the content of the message has not been disclosed, Tasnim media reported.

http://t.me/megatron_ron

2:02 PM · Jan 24, 2024

OSINTdefender @sentdefender

The U.S. Ambassador to Iraq, Alina L. Romanowski is reported to have Delivered a Meno today to the Iraqi Foreign Ministry regarding “Preliminary Steps” to begin the Withdrawal of U.S. and Coalition Forces from the Country; the Withdrawal comes amid Public Calls by Members of the Iraqi Government for U.S. Forces to Depart the Country due to the War in Israel and continued Attacks by Iranian-Backed Forces, this is despite the Prime Minister of Iraq, Mohammed Shia' Al Sudani still being a Supporter of the Military Coalition in the Country led by the United States.

3:49 PM · Jan 24, 2024

As we’ve been predicting, the US is being forced out of much of the Middle East due to Russian and Iranian pressure. We retain our bases in the Gulf Arab states and in Saudi Arabia, but those will likely also come under pressure—access to those bases is threatened by Iran’s military. The question for now is, Do these moves to withdraw from untenable positions in Syria and Iraq represent a simple recognition of the realities on the ground—our vulnerability that can’t be remedied—or do they also represent a sort of clearing of the decks in preparation for wider hostilities? I can’t believe that the Zhou regime is simply pulling out of the region.