January 29, 2024 • 8 mins
Things are escalating in the middle east with Iran and Iraq. We have now lost American soldiers and the Biden administration is doing nothing.
Talking to A&G, military analyst Mike Lyons breaks it down for us.
Hear the entire conversation in a new episode of Armstrong & Getty's Extra Large Podcast....
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is a TAC number of one sixty or so.
So Joe, I am one who is always let's try
the diplomacy, let's try the incremental steps here. I think
we are at the point where what is necessary is
a hammer blow against the proxies. I'll expand on that
(00:21):
in one moment if that doesn't have the intended effect.
And yes, it's time to go after Iran.
Speaker 2 (00:28):
That's former NATO commander James trevetis Man. I took in
a lot of cable news yesterday after this news broke,
and I didn't see a military analyst who didn't say
deterrence has not worked. We've known this for a long time.
That seemed to be pretty upset with this result. And yeah,
I think they were holding back. Help said they were well.
(00:48):
Mike Lyons joins us.
Speaker 3 (00:50):
Mike the excellent military analyst from CNN among other places. Mike,
it's always great to have you. It's a frustrating day, though.
Speaker 4 (00:58):
Oh coome on, guys. This is particularly bad because we
fail to protect our forces. That's really what this comes
down to. This throne was able to get to the
air defense platform whatever we had there to protect them
and basically attack soldiers while they slept. Now, if there's
one thing that we expect as a soldier in the
United States is that our government will take care of
(01:20):
us and protect us. And we have great equipment. But
this is inexcusable, the fact that this got through, in
the fact that the airspace was violated the way it was,
And again, yeah, I have no words. This is a
very predictable event. We've talked about this for months and
now the administration has come home to roost and now
we're going to see what happened because we run out
(01:41):
the clock. There's no way We've all have this DISI
will reaction. We want to attack back, but what are
we going to attack. There's all these militia groups that
scattered to the winds. There's no real target out there,
So this is just going to go on for a
long time before we get any kind of revenge on
this attack.
Speaker 2 (01:55):
Well, why don't we hit Iran hard and then hope
they can rain in their groups. Isn't that the easiest
way to do it?
Speaker 4 (02:01):
Well, that would be terrific. I'd like to see, for example,
you know, take their navy and put it at the
bottom of the Persian Gulf and there's lots of things
we can do, but this is still an administration that's
just not willing to escalate. And it's we've got this
almost like a twenty year now malaise of not wanting
to win, and we've just we've forgotten how to win.
(02:22):
And what it takes is just that we've tried to turns.
We've tried all of these things from the diploma, you know,
diplomatic perspective. But to Admistrebuss point, it's now it's over.
I mean, we're at a we're in a low grade
conflict with Iran, and it's surely want to when they
want us out of there. And the question is just
going to bounce to is what you know, what we're
going to do about it.
Speaker 2 (02:41):
By the way, your tough talk is echoed in the
Wall Street Journal, their editorial board today said, put Iranian
ships that have been prowling the Red Sea on the
ocean floor. That's from the Wall Street Journal.
Speaker 4 (02:54):
Yeah, here's one in particular, that's yeah, that's supporting the
housies and collecting intelligence. And we know it's all there,
and you know, we just don't feel its own issues
right there could be on the brink of someone of
a collapse themselves internally, They've got their challenges, and we
just we just are whatever reason, we just fail to
(03:15):
you know, put them over the top, and we just
we're not willing to protect our forces at the same time, So.
Speaker 3 (03:20):
I have I have struggled to come up with a
you know, a diplomatic excuse, reason, rationale for this lack
of a serious response, and that was the only thing
I can come up with. But at some point I'm
reminded of Maya Angelou's famous phrase that you know, when
somebody tries to tell you what kind of person they are,
(03:40):
believe them. Well, when an administration tries to show you
what sort of administration it is, over and over and
over again, from the abandonment of Afghanistan, the disastrous exit,
to the lack of response here, it's just it shocks
me how feckless they are, how they will take no action,
remind the right or wrong action.
Speaker 4 (04:01):
It's just in action, right, It's a it's a world
they want to believe exists, of more globalism. We're all
going to get along. You know, America has enemies. It's
a challenge every day to think it through. But you know,
this is not an administration, And the problem is this
is now going to be It's going to go on
for months and perhaps years if we don't start to
(04:22):
fix it. We've got to start rearming. We have to
start doing things to make sure that other countries don't
feel the same way. Look, this situation could easily spill
over to the Pacific with regard to China. China looking
at us and saying, how are they reacting to this?
Will they do anything if we go into Taiwan. I
think that's pretty clear we won't.
Speaker 2 (04:41):
Yeah to your point about the troops sleeping in their barracks,
my brother spent many a night sleeping in a whole
bunch of different places around the Middle East when he
was active duty, and I would be horrified if this
were going on. If you're so, I mean, it's just
it's just it's just hard to even believe it's real.
Speaker 4 (05:00):
Yeah, it's a one soft target out there. If you
look at that part of the world on a map,
it's one of the most auste places on the planet,
and everything has been brought in built up there. There's
not you know, there's not a lot of hard stands,
there's not a lot of ways to protect yourself and
and and again you look at the fact that they
let someone come in, and we should create that entire
no fly zone. Now, nothing now should be flying in
(05:20):
that that part of the world. We're gonna have to
put the Air Force and Navy.
Speaker 3 (05:23):
Back to work.
Speaker 4 (05:24):
But that's that's the kind of thing that we in
our forces.
Speaker 3 (05:28):
Speaking of navy, Mike, I know several of our allies
have taken a pretty active role in protecting shipping in
that part of the world, from the Brits to the Indians.
Do you have any sense of how much naval brawn
they could bring to backing us up and whether they
might be willing to.
Speaker 4 (05:47):
It's not as much as we would like. We'd have
to deploy another carrier group. I think from the people
I've talked to in Norfolk, we know that the the
Eisenhower just got there was a General four that just
got back. But I wouldn't be surprised if they turn
around and go back here within the next nine to
twelve months. They recognize that the only way to project
power there is to bring destroyers and cruisers into the region.
(06:08):
Those other navies don't have that same level of objection
of naval assets. So while while I think it's good
we're gaining allies, it's the kind of thing we did
during Desert Storm. They just don't bring enough military to
the table, unfortunately.
Speaker 2 (06:22):
So I came across this nugget, and now I was
trying to look up whether it was true or not.
I heard that we had not had any forces killed
by an enemy air strike since the Korean War, right,
because we have controlled the airspace whenever we have troops
you know, in harm's.
Speaker 4 (06:40):
Way, right exactly, We've always controlled the airspace. And that's
what's most concerning about this, which is what this administration is,
you know, wants to slide under the rug. Here is
the fact, you know that we've lost control of the
air domain and we allowed an enemy to come in.
And again it's a nation state, you know, a bunch
of Hooti rebels or she A militia groups are not
(07:02):
assembling drones within their within their purview. That's coming from
a state, It's coming from some kind of sponsor there.
So that's where this I think is really the most
egregious of the entire operation.
Speaker 3 (07:14):
CNN military analyst Mike Lyons on the line with US Mike,
speaking of the drones, as you know better than I do.
The history of military conflict is a history of technology.
I think this introduction, and it's been huge in Ukraine
of these cheap, easily acquired and armed drones is going
(07:36):
to have huge effects on warfare going forward, and or
just the stationing of troops.
Speaker 4 (07:42):
No question. And we still haven't seen them deployed in
even more creative ways. We haven't seen them, for example,
in swarm formations. This was a suicide drone that you know,
leaves its station, comes never to return one target has
payload on it, you know. And our drones are equipped
at rocketter more like planes that decline and return back
(08:05):
to base. But we've not seen these. If they just
just deployed a thousand of these at once, I mean,
if they would completely overwhelm air defense systems, and so
we still haven't yet seen. We're at the beginning of
what the drone technology is going to bring to the battlefield.
And I think that as our enemy gets more creative
and than we are, unfortunately, they're going to start doing
(08:26):
those kinds of things and creating more kinds of damage.
Speaker 3 (08:29):
Military analyst Mike lyons, Mike, thanks, we appreciate the wisdom
very much and look forward to chatting again soon.
Speaker 4 (08:36):
Thanks thanks for having me Armstrong and Getty
This is a TAC number of one sixty or so.
So Joe, I am one who is always let's try
the diplomacy, let's try the incremental steps here. I think
we are at the point where what is necessary is
a hammer blow against the proxies. I'll expand on that
(00:21):
in one moment if that doesn't have the intended effect.
And yes, it's time to go after Iran.
Speaker 2 (00:28):
That's former NATO commander James trevetis Man. I took in
a lot of cable news yesterday after this news broke,
and I didn't see a military analyst who didn't say
deterrence has not worked. We've known this for a long time.
That seemed to be pretty upset with this result. And yeah,
I think they were holding back. Help said they were well.
(00:48):
Mike Lyons joins us.
Speaker 3 (00:50):
Mike the excellent military analyst from CNN among other places. Mike,
it's always great to have you. It's a frustrating day, though.
Speaker 4 (00:58):
Oh coome on, guys. This is particularly bad because we
fail to protect our forces. That's really what this comes
down to. This throne was able to get to the
air defense platform whatever we had there to protect them
and basically attack soldiers while they slept. Now, if there's
one thing that we expect as a soldier in the
United States is that our government will take care of
(01:20):
us and protect us. And we have great equipment. But
this is inexcusable, the fact that this got through, in
the fact that the airspace was violated the way it was,
And again, yeah, I have no words. This is a
very predictable event. We've talked about this for months and
now the administration has come home to roost and now
we're going to see what happened because we run out
(01:41):
the clock. There's no way We've all have this DISI
will reaction. We want to attack back, but what are
we going to attack. There's all these militia groups that
scattered to the winds. There's no real target out there,
So this is just going to go on for a
long time before we get any kind of revenge on
this attack.
Speaker 2 (01:55):
Well, why don't we hit Iran hard and then hope
they can rain in their groups. Isn't that the easiest
way to do it?
Speaker 4 (02:01):
Well, that would be terrific. I'd like to see, for example,
you know, take their navy and put it at the
bottom of the Persian Gulf and there's lots of things
we can do, but this is still an administration that's
just not willing to escalate. And it's we've got this
almost like a twenty year now malaise of not wanting
to win, and we've just we've forgotten how to win.
(02:22):
And what it takes is just that we've tried to turns.
We've tried all of these things from the diploma, you know,
diplomatic perspective. But to Admistrebuss point, it's now it's over.
I mean, we're at a we're in a low grade
conflict with Iran, and it's surely want to when they
want us out of there. And the question is just
going to bounce to is what you know, what we're
going to do about it.
Speaker 2 (02:41):
By the way, your tough talk is echoed in the
Wall Street Journal, their editorial board today said, put Iranian
ships that have been prowling the Red Sea on the
ocean floor. That's from the Wall Street Journal.
Speaker 4 (02:54):
Yeah, here's one in particular, that's yeah, that's supporting the
housies and collecting intelligence. And we know it's all there,
and you know, we just don't feel its own issues
right there could be on the brink of someone of
a collapse themselves internally, They've got their challenges, and we
just we just are whatever reason, we just fail to
(03:15):
you know, put them over the top, and we just
we're not willing to protect our forces at the same time, So.
Speaker 3 (03:20):
I have I have struggled to come up with a
you know, a diplomatic excuse, reason, rationale for this lack
of a serious response, and that was the only thing
I can come up with. But at some point I'm
reminded of Maya Angelou's famous phrase that you know, when
somebody tries to tell you what kind of person they are,
(03:40):
believe them. Well, when an administration tries to show you
what sort of administration it is, over and over and
over again, from the abandonment of Afghanistan, the disastrous exit,
to the lack of response here, it's just it shocks
me how feckless they are, how they will take no action,
remind the right or wrong action.
Speaker 4 (04:01):
It's just in action, right, It's a it's a world
they want to believe exists, of more globalism. We're all
going to get along. You know, America has enemies. It's
a challenge every day to think it through. But you know,
this is not an administration, And the problem is this
is now going to be It's going to go on
for months and perhaps years if we don't start to
(04:22):
fix it. We've got to start rearming. We have to
start doing things to make sure that other countries don't
feel the same way. Look, this situation could easily spill
over to the Pacific with regard to China. China looking
at us and saying, how are they reacting to this?
Will they do anything if we go into Taiwan. I
think that's pretty clear we won't.
Speaker 2 (04:41):
Yeah to your point about the troops sleeping in their barracks,
my brother spent many a night sleeping in a whole
bunch of different places around the Middle East when he
was active duty, and I would be horrified if this
were going on. If you're so, I mean, it's just
it's just it's just hard to even believe it's real.
Speaker 4 (05:00):
Yeah, it's a one soft target out there. If you
look at that part of the world on a map,
it's one of the most auste places on the planet,
and everything has been brought in built up there. There's
not you know, there's not a lot of hard stands,
there's not a lot of ways to protect yourself and
and and again you look at the fact that they
let someone come in, and we should create that entire
no fly zone. Now, nothing now should be flying in
(05:20):
that that part of the world. We're gonna have to
put the Air Force and Navy.
Speaker 3 (05:23):
Back to work.
Speaker 4 (05:24):
But that's that's the kind of thing that we in
our forces.
Speaker 3 (05:28):
Speaking of navy, Mike, I know several of our allies
have taken a pretty active role in protecting shipping in
that part of the world, from the Brits to the Indians.
Do you have any sense of how much naval brawn
they could bring to backing us up and whether they
might be willing to.
Speaker 4 (05:47):
It's not as much as we would like. We'd have
to deploy another carrier group. I think from the people
I've talked to in Norfolk, we know that the the
Eisenhower just got there was a General four that just
got back. But I wouldn't be surprised if they turn
around and go back here within the next nine to
twelve months. They recognize that the only way to project
power there is to bring destroyers and cruisers into the region.
(06:08):
Those other navies don't have that same level of objection
of naval assets. So while while I think it's good
we're gaining allies, it's the kind of thing we did
during Desert Storm. They just don't bring enough military to
the table, unfortunately.
Speaker 2 (06:22):
So I came across this nugget, and now I was
trying to look up whether it was true or not.
I heard that we had not had any forces killed
by an enemy air strike since the Korean War, right,
because we have controlled the airspace whenever we have troops
you know, in harm's.
Speaker 4 (06:40):
Way, right exactly, We've always controlled the airspace. And that's
what's most concerning about this, which is what this administration is,
you know, wants to slide under the rug. Here is
the fact, you know that we've lost control of the
air domain and we allowed an enemy to come in.
And again it's a nation state, you know, a bunch
of Hooti rebels or she A militia groups are not
(07:02):
assembling drones within their within their purview. That's coming from
a state, It's coming from some kind of sponsor there.
So that's where this I think is really the most
egregious of the entire operation.
Speaker 3 (07:14):
CNN military analyst Mike Lyons on the line with US Mike,
speaking of the drones, as you know better than I do.
The history of military conflict is a history of technology.
I think this introduction, and it's been huge in Ukraine
of these cheap, easily acquired and armed drones is going
(07:36):
to have huge effects on warfare going forward, and or
just the stationing of troops.
Speaker 4 (07:42):
No question. And we still haven't seen them deployed in
even more creative ways. We haven't seen them, for example,
in swarm formations. This was a suicide drone that you know,
leaves its station, comes never to return one target has
payload on it, you know. And our drones are equipped
at rocketter more like planes that decline and return back
(08:05):
to base. But we've not seen these. If they just
just deployed a thousand of these at once, I mean,
if they would completely overwhelm air defense systems, and so
we still haven't yet seen. We're at the beginning of
what the drone technology is going to bring to the battlefield.
And I think that as our enemy gets more creative
and than we are, unfortunately, they're going to start doing
(08:26):
those kinds of things and creating more kinds of damage.
Speaker 3 (08:29):
Military analyst Mike lyons, Mike, thanks, we appreciate the wisdom
very much and look forward to chatting again soon.
Speaker 4 (08:36):
Thanks thanks for having me Armstrong and Getty
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Joe Getty
Jack Armstrong
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