BIll Roggio On The Brett Winterble Show

Tune in here to this Wednesday's edition of the Brett Winterble Show! 

We’re joined by Bill Roggio from the Long War Journal to talk about the growing violence and instability across Africa and how the U.S. should respond to global conflicts. Roggio explains the complex situation in Nigeria, where Islamic State-linked groups like Boko Haram are targeting Christians amid deep-rooted communal and land disputes. He warns against U.S. military intervention, saying “every problem in the world isn’t our problem.” Brett and Bill also discuss U.S. naval movements near Venezuela, with Roggio suggesting the deployment of the USS Gerald R. Ford may be a pressure campaign against the Maduro regime. The conversation expands to Syria, where Roggio criticizes Washington for legitimizing former al-Qaeda affiliates, and finally touches on renewed tensions between India and Pakistan, which he describes as a recurring but contained rivalry between nuclear powers.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:09):
News Talk eleven, ten ninety nine, three WBT. It's my
pleasure to welcome back to the program. I always get
smarter and we always get smarter when we have him
on the show, despite his Eagles feelings. Bill Rogio joining
us here from the Long War Journal. It's good to
be with you. Bill. Thanks so much for being on
the show today.

Speaker 2 (00:30):
Thanks Brett. We're all smarter for being Eagles fans.

Speaker 1 (00:32):
Oh, hey, my screen, my guy, my producer Nick, he's
one of them too. I'm surrounded. I'm good. He's a
very good man, right, yeah, he is. He's a good dude.
Let me ask you this question. Looking at this picture
in Africa, there's a number of flare ups that are

(00:54):
happening and some stuff that's just absolutely beyond the pale.
Can you help us under understand what's going on in
terms of the genocide or what looks like a genocide
as it relates to Christians they're in Nigeria And is
it possible that we might find ourselves intertwined with this?

Speaker 2 (01:18):
Bill Well, Bradfast, I'd like to say that I hope
that we don't find ourselves intertwined in this. We've sure,
you know, the last twenty five years of the War
on Terror, we haven't been able to win conflicts that
are far simpler than what we're witnessing in Africa. These
are very I mean everyone says this about every issue,

(01:39):
but these are extremely complex, often communal issues. Communal violence
that's occurring. So, for instance, in Nigeria is without a doubt,
the Islamic State and Boko Haram, which is sort of
an Islamic State adjacent type group. They have murdered Christians
in Africa, particularly in Nigeria. That is certainly true, but

(02:01):
there's other violence that's occurring there between. There's this complicated
farmer herder dynamic over land and grazing rights, and you
have Christians killing Muslims, Muslims killing Christians, Muslims killing Muslims,
Christians killing Christians. You want to jump in the middle
of something like this. We thought Iraq was difficult, if
we thought Afghanistan was complicated, Welcome to Nigeria. I would

(02:27):
caution the administration to take care. Going in Bombing the
Islamic State a couple of times isn't going to solve
any of these problems, and in some cases it might
actually drive some Muslims into the arms of the Islamic State.
I you know, every problem in the world is not
our problem. I do hope we've learned the lessons of

(02:49):
the War on Terror, but I fear we haven't.

Speaker 1 (02:51):
And and look, there's there's a whole lot of destabilization
that is happening that on that continent, right, I mean absolutely,
we look at we look at and look at Malli.
We can look at Sudan or South Sudan or whatever
the whatever it's calling itself. At this stage of the game,
who is who is responsible for policing this? And and

(03:12):
I know it's a crazy question to ask. It's a
huge continent. You can hide in a whole bunch of places.
All that kind of stuff can happen. But we don't
want this stuff to leak out into the Western world. Uh,
and have people like you know, Charlie Hebdo happening again
and things like that. Isis is obviously very much still
a presence. So what's what's the what's the answer for this?

Speaker 2 (03:37):
Yeah, look, you know, the first line of defense should
be the Nigerian government, But like most African countries, it's
either incapable or unwilling or a mixture of both competence.
Then you have you have the continental institutions like the
African Union and Ecoast and others that are out there.
And then you know, look, I'll say this, Europe is

(03:59):
spark closer to Africa than the United States. And you know,
most of these countries in Africa were former European colony.
Many of the problems created by them. I just I
keep coming back to this, Bret. You know, look, if
you were to talk to Bill from fifteen years ago,
I might have had a different opinion. But I've witnessed
our failures. I witnessed you can't jump into these things.

(04:22):
And let's face it, with President Trump, he likes quick fixes.
He's going to go in, he's going to try and
bomb something and then walk away and declare victory. And
that is not the way these conflicts work, and it's
not the way they're going to be resolved. We're just
better off. You know, every problem in the world can't
be our problem. I do hope we've learned that over

(04:43):
over time.

Speaker 1 (04:44):
Can I can I hit you with some uh, with
some Monroe doctrine, because it looks like we've got we've
got the Gerald Ford absolutely coming coming right off of
off Venezuela with a with a strike package. Does is
that going to be the next big thing you think?

Speaker 2 (05:01):
You know, I have a feel and look, this is
an area closer to our home that this isn't you know,
with drugs and immigrant legal immigration and violence coming across
the border, this is where maybe we should be focusing
more of our energy. I would also cause you to
be take care and how we act. But this one,
you know, to me, seems more is more suited to

(05:23):
what we should be doing. I get the feeling. I mean,
given the amount of times that the US Navy has
been off coast and these strikes on the boats, that
this is really a pressure campaign that the US hopes
that the military threat to the Maduro regime will cause
the military is military to overthrow him. We haven't seen
evidence of this so far. I don't know how effective

(05:46):
this will be, but you know, look overthrowing a government,
these are just not easy things to do. I would
say there is probably a large base of support for
US if we did decide to do that, but you know, again,
this should be more. This is more in our ballpark.
If we want to solve some problems internationally.

Speaker 1 (06:05):
And we've done it in the past, right, like with
Noriega and stuff like that. Right, we just knock out
of the box and then you hope for the best. Okay, finally,
I need you to unpack this for me, and this
is going to be towards a more conventional place. Syria.
Ahmed al Sharrah meets with the president yesterday. What is

(06:26):
your thought about this guy? Is he? Is he a warlord?
Is he somebody who wants to genuinely interface with our
side of the equations?

Speaker 2 (06:38):
Are?

Speaker 1 (06:38):
What are we seeing with this guy?

Speaker 2 (06:40):
Bill well Brett, He just made my blood pressure go
up about twenty points. I have no idea why we
are so eager to seat the former head of al
Qaeda's branch young Syria. This guy has murdered Americans, he
and he has done nothing to receive the treatment that
he has gotten. He's refused to exect foreign fighters from

(07:03):
his ranks, and they have been integrated in the military,
many of whom are absolutely loyal to al Qaeda, which
he claims to have disassociated from. Keep in mind he
never renounced his oath to al Qaeda. He has conducted
two massacres in the first eight months of his rule.
He appointed himself president president and it is going to

(07:24):
put a parliament in that rubber stamps things for him.
And yet he is the darling of Washington. I don't
trust him as far as I could throw him, and
I'm sure I can't throw him very far. I don't
understand the brand. There's this, you know, on both on
the left, on the right, Republicans, Democrat, President Trump, Congress.
They love this guy. He is somehow he has captivated Washington.

(07:50):
Everyone loves Shara. I think we should create a comedy
show with that. But he but he has probably he is.
He refuses to do anything we ask of him. I
don't trust him. He's going to play us. He'll take
our money, he'll take our the all of the praise
that we give him, all of the international support, all

(08:12):
of the legitimacy, and he's going to give us nothing
in return. Mark my words on that.

Speaker 1 (08:16):
All right, final bone, I'm gonna hit you with a
bonus question really quick. Uh, what's going on with the
Indians and and and the pakistanis this this thing looks
like it's starting to wabble a little bit. Uh, what's
what's your thought there?

Speaker 2 (08:29):
I always the India Pakistan conflict. It always it flares
up and it goes down. It's like gout of the
of Asia. And it's though I did both are nuclear
on country, yea a wise enough to stand down at
the appropriate moment. It's a lot of flexing for domestic

(08:51):
don't get me wrong, because they are two nuclear powers.
Of course these are dangerous things. We should watch it.
But history has shown that they've never gone past the brink.
Even in two thousand and seven with those heinous Mumbai
attacks that were directed by a Pakistani tiro group. The
Indians didn't go haywire on that one. So it's always
a tip for tap between these two. We'll just sort

(09:13):
of it the latest iteration.

Speaker 1 (09:15):
Maybe maybe maybe they need to go up to the
top of that mountain and where they slam the doors
at each other and all that sort of stuff.

Speaker 2 (09:21):
Exactly, you know, they just you know, get the get
the clubs out and go out.

Speaker 1 (09:25):
If that's that's yeah, well that does happen. We have
seen that it does. It's true, Bill Bill Roger, Bill Roggio.
Always we get smarter when we talk to you, man,
Long War Journal dot org. Long War Journal dot Org.
Appreciate you man. Thanks so much for jumping on and
good luck with the Eagles.

Speaker 2 (09:45):
Yes, thanks right, always a pleasure that do not go cowboys,
I know it all right.

Speaker 1 (09:50):
Good stuff man, Thanks Bill, I appreciate you.