Edward Turzanski - National Security Analyst Joins Houston's Morning News

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Seven, twenty three, Our time here in Houston's morning News. Right,
let's let's talk to Ed Trzanski about the pep talk
that the Secretary of War Pete Hegseth gave yesterday. Before
we do, Ed, let me just share a little clip
for those who haven't heard of any of it yet.

Speaker 2 (00:16):
Should our enemies choose foolishly.

Speaker 3 (00:19):
To challenge us, they will be crushed by the violence, precision,
and ferocity of the War Department. In other words, to
our enemies. Fa fo. That sends a bit of a message.
What did you think of the speech?

Speaker 2 (00:39):
Ed Zrwsanski, Jimmy, it's such speech that people should both
view and read. There's a lot in it. I think
you did a great job in pulling out what is
the most important part of it, and that is to
get across to our own leadership and then by extension

(01:04):
to our adversaries that the days of PowerPoint and diversity,
equity and inclusion and equity, all of that it's gone.
And I think this was a come to Jesus speech.
It wasn't as much a pep talk as it was

(01:28):
a shot across the bow to say.

Speaker 1 (01:30):
It was marching orders.

Speaker 2 (01:32):
Yes it was, and a lot of people in that
room have played the political game. So we've got too
many flag officers. We've got too many flag officers who
have played the game of politics. And Hegxeth has said, look,
we need a warrior ethos because there are other elements

(01:57):
of government that do negotiations. There are other elements of
government that donation, that do bridge building and the light.
We're the only one in the military who actually has
to go out and impose our will in a lethal way,
so that first of all, our adversaries aren't inclined to

(02:19):
try us out, and secondly, if they make the mistake
of doing it, we're going to win. Period.

Speaker 1 (02:27):
So when you get right down to it, what it's
all about is re establishing that war is what the
so called Defense Department no longer the Defense Department, the
War Department does. So that sends a message right there,
just changing it from Defense Department to War department. We're
not here to defend. We are here to conduct whatever
needs to be done to protect the United States of America.

(02:49):
And that may be a subtle difference, but I'm sure
it's not a difference lost on our enemies.

Speaker 2 (02:54):
No, and words matter so far too long Apartment of
Defense has languished in terms of mission because it's been
asked to do all sorts of things that have nothing
to do with actually fighting and winning a war. And
I think it's not an incorrect observation to make to

(03:17):
say that after the National Security Act in nineteen forty seven,
when they changed the name from War Department to Defense Department,
our capacity to win wars has largely gone away. Gulf
War One is the one example, but the rest look
at what happened in Afghanistan. Look at the way in

(03:37):
which we wound up getting bogged down in nation building
instead of war fighting and winning a war so that
we could get the message across, eradicate the problem, and
then leave.

Speaker 1 (03:52):
Yeah. So this was welcome, And I'm glad you said
all that because I remember, as a young, much more
liberal person, I'm talking to my father about Vietnam and
trying to convince him that the problem with Vietnam is
that we weren't there to win. We were, you know,
we were there to try to prevent Communism from spreading,

(04:14):
but we weren't there to defeat North Vietnam. We were
just there to help the South Vietnamese. We did that
in Korea. We did that in Vietnam, and we've done
it in many places since, and it hasn't worked out
very well, has it.

Speaker 2 (04:27):
No, it has not. And I think that it's an
absolute crime to those who put the nation's cloth on,
put themselves at harm's way, and then find out that
they've been given rules of engagement that in effect put
them in short pants and handcuffs and said, now, don't
do this, don't do that, instead of go out find

(04:50):
the problem, eradicate the problem. That sounds harsh. Guess what
war is harsh? Yeah, well, I like our new military.
Let's hope we can keep past this administration. Thank you, sir,
appreciate your time. Ed Trzanski, national security expert. It's time
to take a look at your money.