All Episodes
March 1, 2026 - Bannon's War Room
53:40
Episode 5180: Day 2 Of The War In Iran; 3 American Soldiers Killed Cont.

Stephen K. Bannon frames the Iran conflict as a Trump-led "major military operation" after 47 years of proxy wars, with Rabbi Walicki reporting Iranian missile strikes killing 10 in Beit Shemesh while Jack Pasobic warns of IRGC repression stifling protests. Brian Kennedy justifies strikes to block Iran’s EMP-capable missiles, but Kurt Mills criticizes the shift from Trump’s anti-endless-wars stance, citing Tom Cotton’s push for ground forces and underreported U.S. casualties (five killed). AI tensions emerge as Anthropic aligns with Pentagon needs, while China exploits U.S. distraction in Taiwan and Russia fills energy gaps—yet polling shows only 21% support the strikes, risking political collapse without clear objectives. [Automatically generated summary]

Participants
Main
f
frank gaffney
05:02
j
jack posobiec
r 05:02
s
steve bannon
r 16:34
Appearances
b
bradley thayer
03:35
b
brian t kennedy
04:47
c
curt mills
04:16
j
jim fanell
01:53
j
joe allen
04:17
p
pesach wolicki
03:48
Clips
j
jake tapper
cnn 00:09
|

Speaker Time Text
People Have Had Enough 00:08:36
steve bannon
This is the primal scream of a dying regime.
Pray for our enemies because we're going to medieval on these people.
You're going to not get a free shot on all these networks lying about the people.
The people have had a belly full of it.
I know you don't like hearing that.
I know you've tried to do everything in the world to stop that, but you're not going to stop it.
It's going to happen.
jake tapper
And where do people like that go to share the big line?
MAGA Media.
I wish in my soul, I wish that any of these people had a conscience.
steve bannon
Ask yourself, what is my task and what is my purpose?
If that answer is to save my country, this country will be saved.
unidentified
Here's your host, Stephen K. Bannon.
steve bannon
It's Sunday, one March in the year of our Lord 2026.
We're about a little over 24 hours into this, I guess.
This major military operation, as the President of the United States describes it, war as other people describe it.
I want to thank Robin Parker Sig for making available the entire Real America's Voice apparatus so that we can give you seven day a week coverage.
This is the first kickoff of the Sunday coverage.
And we're going to go on this every Sunday for as long as we feel it's necessary to bring things.
So you can see what's happened over the last 24 hours.
And we're at war.
And our troops and our armed forces deserve people like the War Impossible to be totally informed of what's happening.
I want to thank our team in Denver and particularly my great team here at the War Room Now has given up even their one day off a week and they do it joyfully.
That great cold opening put together at the top.
I want to thank Grace and Mo and Elizabeth, everybody, all of our infrastructure for pushing things out 24-7, a team effort.
Rabbi Walicki, you join us from just outside Jerusalem.
And when I say just outside, I mean like Greater Jerusalem.
Tell us, there's been a lot of incoming into Israel, sir, I take it.
pesach wolicki
There sure has been.
We spent a lot of last night and a lot of yesterday, last night, this morning, this afternoon in the bomb shelters, air raid sirens coming in.
Everyone gets to the bomb shelters.
Israel, of course, has its famous Iron Dome and other air defenses, but they've been overwhelmed by the Iranian attacks.
There have been a number of hits.
Until this afternoon, there was really, I think there were only two casualties, meaning two deaths and there were some injuries.
But there was a mass casualty event, actually about a 15-minute walk from my house.
We actually heard the impact from inside our bomb shelter and they're still pulling bodies from the rubble.
Up till a few minutes ago, I think it was up to 10 dead and many and many are wounded.
It was a ballistic missile that hit in the town of Beit Shemesh.
We're about 25 minutes drive outside Jerusalem, kind of a commuter town where I live.
steve bannon
The citizens of Israel, though, this does not surprise them.
And particularly, they know if you go in and if you kill the Ayatollah and 40 of his top guys and you're pretty relentless in hitting, people there are pretty battle-hardened.
They know they're going to take some incoming.
pesach wolicki
Oh, absolutely.
Let me just explain the attitude here.
You know, I was thinking about this in light of the fact that three American servicemen were tragically killed.
And President Trump said in his comments at the start of this that there's going to be casualties.
And I was wondering to myself, I don't know how Americans are going to take that.
From an Israeli perspective, everyone knows there's going to be casualties.
And the attitude in Israel is, hey, look, this is just a small taste of what the Iranians' capabilities were and the threat that was hanging over us all these years.
Israel also came out with a statement.
The IDF said that they've destroyed about half of the ballistic missile capability of the Iranians.
And before that, you know, for years, we always had the Hezbollah threat with their hundreds of thousands of missiles pointing at us.
So we know that there's going to be casualties.
And we also know that whatever we suffer now is going to, as long as we degrade the Iranian capabilities to the point that we're safe, then we're actually, you know, this is just a tip of the iceberg and it's a small price to pay.
Of course, those families, you know, they've lost everything.
It's a tragedy for them.
And we all mourn collectively for them.
But yeah, the Israeli people are quite resilient.
And we knew that there'd be casualties going in.
steve bannon
Rabbi, hang on.
I'm going to get you back for some observations and analysis of the operation so far.
So thank you just hanging with us.
Jack Vasobic, your thoughts, sir?
jack posobiec
Well, Steve, one of the things that, of course, we're also tracking is the regime itself.
And as you were talking about in the prior hour, so, you know, this idea, are protesters taking to the streets?
Are we hearing any push for regime change as the president called for?
Are we seeing that level of popular support be able to rise up?
That has yet to be observed on the ground.
Clearly, opposition to the regime has been emboldened, but also supporters of the regime are now being galvanized.
And now, Steve, they have a martyr.
And for anyone who has any basic understanding of Shia Islam, this is a particular strain of Islam that emphasizes martyrs, that emphasizes martyrdom, that emphasizes what they consider the great heroes, the great leaders.
And so they are certainly going to be using the Ayatollah's image, his legacy, as a martyr for them going forward to try to achieve a rally around the flag moment for the regime in terms of any response.
Now, that being said, it still remains to be seen what more strikes continue and what leadership takes charge.
I believe that the Iranian president did release a statement on video earlier today.
And so it does look like, although they took out Ahmed Jinijah, the previous president, that the current president does still seem to be alive and kicking.
And so, and there are also, of course, real questions about how much operational day-to-day control that Ayatollah Khomeini, being almost 90 years old, 86 years old, really with really held or wielded within Iran.
And in fact, his son is considered as someone who is actually a lot of the power behind the scenes there, as well as these ruling councils.
And so we're hearing that these Islamic ruling councils are now stepping out to become the interim caretakers before a new Ayatollah is appointed.
steve bannon
Let me add, so you did have, by the way, particularly when it was announced, you did have people, some people pouring into the streets celebrating in Tehran, which has to be dangerous.
But the president called for the his basic premise over and at least publicly said he said he says, look, we're going to hit the regime and we're looking at regime change, but it's yours.
You have to rise up.
You're never going to have this chance again.
I think he said in generations if you don't do it, there was some sporadic support coming in the streets, but not overwhelming and certainly not some sort of mass where they're seizing buildings.
Is that because the Iranian people, particularly in cities like Tehran, understand that maybe what follows is even harder and tougher than what they've had before?
Because the Ayatollah didn't kill the 30,000 people.
It was the IRGC and their henchmen that killed the 30,000 people, sir.
jack posobiec
Well, Steve, that's exactly right.
I mean, these are the people who came in and they went full Tiananmen Square on the protesters the last time around, just back in December.
So, you know, you've got all of these people knowing that that's exactly what can happen to them.
And so they're still, you know, you see the youth were still willing to come out and show their support.
But at the same time, we haven't seen yet those mass protests like we saw, these mass demonstrations in December that, you know, I just compare it to the Tiananmen protests, which of course ended in the Tiananmen Square massacre.
That's the closest thing I can think of that it reminds me of there.
And so we've yet to really see that take place this time around.
Now, again, things can change.
We are only in day two.
This is D2 of the entire thing.
And so D plus one.
And so we're now seeing more American strikes.
We're seeing more Israeli strikes on Tehran, Americans hitting those ballistic missiles.
And of course, if the command structure, the commanding control of the military is severed, that of course is going to hamper any attempts from the IRGC or the Iranian standing army, standing military forces to be able to respond.
Submarine Threats and Torpedoes 00:02:02
jack posobiec
There's no question that that carrier, the Lincoln, is going to be the most high-profile target.
The submarines we talked about earlier and stunning analysis that was given, I totally concur with that.
I would also add that Iran also operates a small fleet of midget submarines.
These small submarines, they only carry a couple of torpedoes, but they're designed specifically.
They're short range, but they're designed specifically for this purpose, to try to be able to take out American large capital ships.
And of course, that's what you would see.
You'd expect to see combined attack, small boats from the IRGC Navy.
You would see anti-ship cruise missiles.
You try to overwhelm the defenses to be able to slip in one of those submarines, slip in a couple of torpedoes below the waterline.
And I'm sure, by the way, that the carrier strike group and the anti-undersea warfare folks, the ASW guys on all those destroyers are manning the watch 24-7.
I would guarantee you there at general quarters.
steve bannon
No, absolutely.
And it's tough to track submarines in that water.
Jack Pasobic, correct me if I'm wrong, we're going to have a human events daily at 2 p.m. today on Real America's Voice.
Are you planning on that?
jack posobiec
We're looking at that, Steve.
steve bannon
Okay, fine.
If we get an update, where do people go?
We know you guys spend some time with family.
Think about that.
If you decide to definitely do it, let us know.
We'll make the announcement here.
What's your social media?
You're putting up amazing stuff all the time.
Where do people go?
jack posobiec
Sure, it's at Jack Pasobic.
You can find that across all of the platforms.
If you want to go to HumanEvents Daily, help us out.
Hit subscribe on the podcast side, Human Events Daily, wherever you get your podcasts, Apple, Spotify, et cetera.
And yes, we will be there 24-7.
Right now, I'm working my chain.
And honestly, I just need some time to be able to talk to some of these sources, try to figure out exactly what happened.
If we can get at least which branch of the military these KIA and wounded were, that could tell us a lot or a location.
If it was Bahrain, of course, that's a Navy base.
Sharia Supremacism Threat 00:16:10
jack posobiec
So, you know, it could be members of the world's finest Navy that were taken out here.
Again, a lot of questions.
And we're working to get into high levels of the military as well as senior leadership of the White House.
And we know the president's been making a lot of phone calls.
So we're going to see exactly who we can get a hold of.
steve bannon
Fifth Fleet Headquarters.
Jack, the hoodie.
Are you doing a merch line now?
The hoodie?
Is that a naval intelligence hoodie?
What do you got there?
jack posobiec
I don't know.
This is your standard.
This is your standard Smurf wear for the United States Navy.
It's the standard United States Navy issued hoodie and wore this when we were doing the analysis of Iran and the strikes back last year with Charlie Kirk and just felt appropriate to be able to bring it out again.
steve bannon
Amazing.
The world's greatest Navy.
Thank you, sir.
Appreciate you, Jack DeSobic.
jack posobiec
Thanks, Steve.
Have a fine Navy day.
steve bannon
Thank you, sir.
Brian Kennedy, your thoughts?
We're now a little over 24 hours, maybe what, 30 hours into this?
Your thoughts so far?
brian t kennedy
Well, thank you, Steve.
First of all, on this Sunday morning, God bless our servicemen over there and around the world, and God bless President Trump.
Let me defend for a moment what President Trump was thinking here when he decided to do all this.
It seems to me, and obviously I haven't spoken to him about this, but it seems obvious he tried diplomacy, and that didn't work.
He gave that a very good shot.
I do believe he would be willing, would have been willing to move the Navy out of the region had they agreed to something, but they didn't.
It wasn't likely to work, but he gave it a good shot.
It seems to me that there's been a kind of misguided view by some here who are supporting this that they don't understand what the purpose is.
Our goal here is not to liberate the Iranian people.
It'd be nice if that happened, but that's their job.
The president has said that.
It's their job to liberate their own country.
When we talk about regime change, it's really all about having a regime in Tehran that will not produce nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles that can strike the United States.
That's what the president asked for, and they were not willing to do that.
Now, I would say, Steve, that the die was cast for this attack 25 years ago.
It was 25 years ago, almost to the month, that the Iranians practiced in the Caspian Sea the ability to launch a ship-launched ballistic missile.
They exploded it in the high atmosphere to simulate an EMP attack, presumably on the United States.
If the Iranians have a nuclear ballistic warhead and a freighter ship, and there are 50,000-some ships on the water at any given time, and they parked it off the coast of the United States on either coast and were capable of launching a nuclear warhead, they could attack the United States with an EMP weapon.
They could sink the ship.
steve bannon
Brian, we've had that warning.
They're two weeks away for the last 25 years.
Is that really legitimate?
Is that what had to go?
Is that what had to go?
Is that why we had to go?
Is that why we had to go yesterday?
I just don't think that arguments.
I don't think people are buying that argument.
I hear it.
I hear it a lot.
I hear it on Fox all the time.
I hear Mark Levin tells it to us every day.
I just don't think people are buying it.
unidentified
We'll tell you.
Hang on.
steve bannon
We'll get you on.
We're going to bring, we're going to come back.
We got Brian Kennedy.
We got Captain Finnell.
We got Frank Gaffney, Kurt Mills.
Kurt, Rabbi Willicki from right outside Jerusalem, where they've had a mass casualty event very near his house.
We are in it now, whether you like it or not, whether you agree with it or not.
And our troops and sailors and airmen are in harm's way.
That's our number one objective is to make sure the war room posse, one of the most powerful political entities in the world, are fully informed of everything that's going on.
Short commercial break.
Back in a moment.
unidentified
Here's your host, Stephen K. Battle.
steve bannon
Brian Kennedy, is your, since you're the co-founder of the Committee on Present Danger China, is your central concern that the MULAs and the Chinese Communist Party are actually allies?
And if they are allies, where's the CCP right now?
Your allies getting, first of all, your guys in Venezuela got blown up, nothing.
Your guys in Iran, the Persians that you're deeply in bed with, are getting tattooed.
In fact, the Ayatollah is gone and 40 of its top henchmen are gone.
If they are allies, particularly militarily and economically, is the Chinese Communist Party showing they're a paper tiger that President Trump can do with them what he wants, sir?
brian t kennedy
Well, it would seem that way, Steve.
It would seem that the Chinese, the Chinese use Iran as a proxy to do all sorts of things, but they supply them with all sorts of munitions.
There's no reason to believe they couldn't supply them with a ballistic missile.
They certainly provide them with technology.
There's certainly a possibility they could provide them with a nuclear warhead.
They'll use them as a proxy.
And like any proxy, if things are not working out, they'll be happy to throw them under the bus and let the Americans have their way with them, which right now it looks like we are.
But again, this is far from over.
The young people in America may not believe that nuclear scenario that I described is possible, but guess who does?
Donald Trump.
President Trump decided to do this, put Americans in harm's way to go through this great risk because he believes that that nuclear threat against the United States, not Israel, not anybody else, but against the United States is real, which is one of the things.
unidentified
Hang on.
brian t kennedy
President Trump believes in missile defense and the Golden Dome, and the Golden Dome is in its infancy.
If we had the Golden Dome, he wouldn't be doing this.
steve bannon
But we don't have to say that the anti-ballistic missile.
Brian, you're one of the president's biggest supporters and one of the biggest public intellectuals in the MAGA movement.
I'm jammed for time, but I want you to take one or two minutes about the timing of this and his call for the Persian people.
He's going to do so much.
They got to do the rest.
And what does that mean for the timing going forward?
Sir, the floor is yours.
brian t kennedy
Well, thanks, Steve.
I think the president would like the Iranian people, excuse me, to rise up.
That's not a very easy thing to do.
I think the president knows that.
They don't have guns, and the IRGC is a ruthless military force.
And so absent guns, it's going to be very difficult for that to do.
I personally do not believe our job here is to liberate the Iranian people.
Our job is to defend the American people and to make sure that the American people are secure.
I think this is part of World War III, truth be told.
Going after Venezuela was degrading China's ability to get oil.
Going after Iran is degrading China's ability to get oil.
Iran is, as a surrogate of communist China, if you take away their nuclear capabilities and their ballistic missile capabilities, you're taking Iran off the table as a potential attack vector against the United States.
So that if nuclear war did ever come to these shores, and no one likes to think this way, we would know that if attack did occur here that was a stealth attack against the United States, it would be China or Russia or North Korea.
It's not going to be Iran.
And the purpose of this mission was to make sure that Iran is not one key player in any kind of attack against the United States.
steve bannon
Brian, where do people go on your social media?
You've been putting up great stuff.
I know you're a big ally of the president.
So where do folks go?
brian t kennedy
On X, it's Brian T. Kennedy 1.
And Getter and Truth Social, it's Brian T. Kennedy.
And I should say, Steve, we could talk about it this week, but I have a very long essay on the blaze today about a common sense argument for nationalizing our elections.
That really is one of my main focus, making sure we have fair elections here in the United States.
steve bannon
I'm announcing now that Brian Kennedy is going to be our guest in the morning show tomorrow.
Yes, we'll push it out.
Make sure we get it.
Grace Mo and Elizabeth will push it out.
We'll have you back on tomorrow.
A topic that's at the top of the war imposes mind, sir.
So thank you, Brian Kennedy.
brian t kennedy
Thank you, Steve.
steve bannon
Nationalizing the elections, Brian Kennedy on it.
Frank Gaffney, Mike Pompeo, and Kurt Mills has just put it up on his Twitter.
Mike Pompeo said that the Iranians were prepared for a decapitation strike by the Israelis and by the president, the United States, the Commander-in-Chief, and they are ready for this and don't think this is going to be over anytime soon.
You have been someone that's worked this problem.
You've worked this file for 47 years, sir.
Your thoughts?
frank gaffney
Steve, I appreciate being on.
And I do want to just say I'm here to connect some dots because I think this is a vital moment for us to make sure we're on solid strategic grounds.
Nobody has understood better than you and done more, I think, to help the rest of us understand the phenomenon of what I call Sharia supremacism.
The problem with the Iranian regime is it is the Shiite version of Sharia supremacy.
And it has been pursuing, Jack spoke to this a little while ago.
Yeah, martyrdom, but the Twelver agenda, the idea that their Messiah figure will come out of the well that he's resided in for 1,200 years in the aftermath of an apocalypse.
The president of the United States, I believe, understood that that apocalyptic vision is what the regime, the Ayatollah and his subordinates, were pursuing.
What form would that take?
Well, it might well take a nuclear strike form.
They have demonstrated a ballistic missile capability to reach this country.
Brian's right that that could happen off of a ship.
The beauty of that is, unlike precisely hitting a moving carrier with ballistic missiles, all you need to do is lob an electromagnetic pulse weapon over our country, and we're done.
We're done.
Apocalyptic done.
I'm simply saying that whether you talk about Sharia supremacism in the hands of these Ayatollahs or you talk about it in the hands of the Qataris or the Turks, our putative allies, you're talking about people who have exactly one thing in mind, and that is bringing Sharia to be the dominant power, the ruling power in the world.
Western civilization is over the side.
Europe is over the side.
Israel is over the side.
The United States is over the side.
That's their express purpose.
It happens that you have also been at the forefront, and we're here in Texas together for the fight to prevent Sharia supremacism from becoming dominant in our own country, notably in the state of Texas.
The people of Texas have a chance, a final opportunity on Tuesday of this week to vote for the Republican primary ballot proposition 10, which simply says, this is so important.
They say simply Texas should prohibit Sharia law.
That is bringing this to the vanguard, the very forefront, I believe, of the fight we're in, but it's a worldwide fight.
And I commend the president from the bottom of my heart for having the courage to take the steps that he has here.
brian t kennedy
Is it over?
frank gaffney
It certainly isn't.
You've had brilliant people making that point.
Is it ridiculous to think that the people of Tehran, for example, or Iran more generally, would be in the streets en masse while it's an active war zone, while targets, including the targets of the IRGC that have been set out to kill them, are being taken down relentlessly by the Israelis and by the Americans.
unidentified
No.
frank gaffney
But again, this isn't going to be over tomorrow.
I pray it will be, but I don't think we should expect that.
Will we take more casualties?
I mourn the loss of three American servicemen as much as anybody.
But this is essentially cost-free to us at this point.
Will there be more losses?
You saw Rabbi Walecki talking about them in Israel.
Of course, there will.
Should we be operating on any basis other than this is likely to be a slog, a hard slog.
But the fight is incalculably important because if we do, in fact, render a decisive defeat of Sharia supremacism in Iran, it will help us with all of the other places.
If we do, in fact, have control, effective control of China's lifeline, its energy import lifeline between Venezuela and Iran.
We have a leverage on them about Taiwan and everything else they have in mind.
I haven't had until now.
steve bannon
And I'm glad we're doing this in the war.
It's one of the reasons we're doing it seven days a week, and we're going to get all the different voices in here to make sure the war room posse can think this through.
But I'm just going to be brutally frank.
If it's going to be a hard slog, I mean, that was not pitched in the 2024 campaign.
It just wasn't.
We are going to bleed support.
We just were going to bleed support.
That argument you just made, I think, and this is why I think that because the rationale the administration is giving now is that we're about to have attacks by the IGRC, IRGC, on our fleet, et cetera.
And that's what they did when they had to do.
But this type of argument you said has to be put out there, and you have to wash, rinse, repeat.
Wash, rinse, repeat.
As you know, in Texas, I think we've had a great response on Proposition 10.
But people should understand that the Democrats are playing, DSA and Working Family Party are playing a different game.
I believe they in early voting, and a lot of our folks don't like early voting, but they're at presidential year levels, 1.2 million.
I think we're over 900,000, which is actually big and maybe a record for an off-term election.
But the Democrats are playing a very different game here.
Anyway, Frank, I sit you and I are spending the day together.
I get a punch.
Where do people go to get all your contacts in this and particularly our fight against Sharia law?
frank gaffney
At Frank Afney on Twitter, securingamerica.substack.com for the television program and much more.
And most importantly, right now, Steve, is bansharia.com, the website of our Save Texas, Save America campaign.
It's where you can find out, among other things, about the Dogs for Freedom rally that we're sponsoring tomorrow in the city of Dallas.
We hope it'll be the first of many places where people can learn about what Sharia will do to your pet dog, which is take it away from you and kill it.
If you don't like that part of Sharia, you better join us in banning Sharia now.
Ban Sharia.
Why We Left Google 00:11:05
steve bannon
Frank, we'll see you later today.
Short break.
Back in the war special edition in a moment.
unidentified
Here's your host, Stephen K. Bannon.
steve bannon
I'm going to thank Patriot Mobile for all the support for everything we're doing here.
972 Patriot.
Talk to somebody with an East Texas accent, but the greatest phone service in the world and a phone service company predicated on Christian values that supports your values.
Check it out today.
Jenny and Glenn Story, two of the best people I know.
Do it today.
Captain Finnell, I know you got a bounce.
I want to thank you for being here.
Your observations in the first 30 hours of this war, and what do you anticipate we will see before we get back here than you back here in the next day or two?
jim fanell
Well, Steve, thanks for having me on.
And again, we remember those that have fallen today on the American side, obviously, the others and civilians that have been killed as well.
My view is, and I said yesterday there was maybe 2,000 targets.
I probably undersold that because I was thinking back of the Bosnian war with the Y 2K of 2,000 targets there.
This is going to have thousands of targets.
We're working through the list.
My concerns are what Jack already mentioned is this idea of a lucky shot from a ballistic missile against one of our big decks or any one of our ships that could have serious death.
That would be something we really have to be careful of.
But I will just say this is an organization, the military, U.S. military, that has been in these waters for 47 years, understands the threat, and is doing everything capable in our powers to make sure that that would not happen.
But we need to watch for all of that, but while we're continuing to drive forward and strike them, the new Ayatollah Ali Larjani said, they stabbed the heart of a nation, their heart will be stabbed too.
Listen to your enemy.
When your enemy says he wants to stab you in the heart, don't take that for granted.
We are on general quarters.
We have to be prepared for any kind of contingency while we continue to stab them in the heart.
Now, that may sound cruel, but that's what we're trying to do: defang them, take away all their military capability, and take away that military leadership and those police that are murdering Iranians, and then let the Iranians do what they need to do.
But for now, we have to be able to operate with impunity over the seas and the air in and around Iran.
And we have to be able to do that without fear of a shot being popped off or something like that.
So the strikes will continue for the next 24 hours.
steve bannon
Stabbed in the heart.
Captain Finnell, thank you.
Look forward to seeing you and talking to you this afternoon.
Great analysis.
Rabbi Waliki Bibi has just the Prime Minister of Israel has just announced that the attacks on Tehran will be even more intense and will continue over the coming days.
Your report from Jerusalem, sir.
pesach wolicki
Well, that's what we're gearing up for.
You know, I've been listening to the conversation this whole hour and the previous hour, and far be it from me to make the case for why this, you know, for what the American interest is here.
But I just want to be very clear, representing the people of Israel.
I live in Israel.
My kids fight in the Israeli army.
And Israel's interest really is to put an end to this war that's been going on against us for 47 years by this regime.
Every single war we fight, whether it's with Hamas or Hezbollah or with the other proxies, is a war against the Iranians.
So, yeah, Israel is going to continue hitting Tehran targets.
As of a couple hours ago, the IDF said that they had just about, they're getting very close to achieving full air supremacy over Iran, which really means that then you can hover your drones and you can really, it's like shooting fish in a barrel, and Israel will be hitting the regime targets.
Because look, and what comes after the regime and the chaos that ensues, you know, frankly, from our perspective, you know, FAFO, you know, when evil regimes take risks, they threaten the lives of their people and they threaten and they threaten the well-being of their people.
That's just the nature of the way it goes.
And Israel's responsibility is to our own defense and our own security.
And the best way for us to ensure long-term security for Israel is for this regime to fall.
It's up to the Iranian people to bring it down.
And it's up to the Iranian people to sort out the mess afterwards.
But Israel is going to do what it needs to do that's in its best interest to defend itself.
steve bannon
Rabbi Walicki, where do people go?
You're putting up great videos.
You've got great columns in the Jerusalem Post.
We're going to have you back on hopefully tomorrow.
Where do people go?
pesach wolicki
So you can go to the Israel 365 News YouTube channel.
I also have my own personal YouTube channel and go to Israel365Action.com.
There you can sign up for our newsletter.
And you can also see all the video postings there, as well as my author page at the Jerusalem Post and at RabbiPW on X. Thanks so much, Steve.
steve bannon
Thank you, sir.
Appreciate you.
Kurt Mills, you've been putting up self-honour.
How do we get here, Kurt?
And there's reporting at this news site you've showed me coming.
I guess I found it sent to you, but you know it quite well.
It's saying that President Trump, one hand, he's saying 30 days, but there's also discussion that he may be looking for an off-ramp in the next three or four days after he's pounded Tehran enough and eliminated enough of the leadership of Iran.
Your thoughts, sir?
curt mills
Yeah, I mean, we got here, frankly, at the behest of a foreign power.
I mean, as the rabbi notes, I'm not entirely clear or not entirely sure the appetite of the American people to absorb fatalities.
Three Americans have been killed, five apparently have been grievously wounded, and that's just what the government is conceding.
Very notably, they're not telling us how they died.
And very notably, the leading intellectual architects of this war, people like Senator Tom Cotton, are arguing now.
They're already moving the goalpost to a small ground force, as he told the Sunday shows this morning.
This is an out-of-control war.
And this is a war that is being driven, frankly, by an older generation that take a deep breath.
steve bannon
When you say out of control, as we're going through the day, militarily, it's pretty systematic how we're trying to take down their defenses and the leadership.
Is that part out of control?
Or are you saying the expanding nature of it is out of control?
curt mills
I'm not entirely sure.
I mean, the Fifth Fleet just got hit yesterday.
I mean, it's entirely unclear, with the exception of the Supreme Leader, if the Iranian, I mean, the bombings in a lot of ways were less severe than the ones in June of 2020, 25.
And the Iranian counterattacks are much more severe.
And the Israelis are going to try to escalate this to keep the U.S. in.
They just basically carpet bomb Tehran.
They give the Iranians, quote, the Gaza treatment.
There was some idea that they were going to treat Persians any different than Arabs.
And I think there's going to be a real desire to keep President Trump in here.
I think the president has gotten very poor counsel.
And I do think it matters politically that he was the no more endless wars candidate in 2016 and 2024, particularly.
And this looks like an open betrayal of the base.
And now there's an argument that this is different than the Bush-era neocon wars.
But I will flag what Bush-era neocon is not for this today.
Find me one.
joe allen
Name one.
curt mills
Bolton is pleased as hell about what we're doing.
He said his only regret is that he didn't convince Trump to do this in 2018.
steve bannon
Talk to me about Tom Cotton.
Tom Cotton has been doing the Sunday shows today.
And when they put up a trial balloon, that means they're thinking of something.
Tom Cotton has now said just a small grant, just a small, a tiny, just a teensy ground force.
Are they running that up the flagpole and seeing if anybody salutes?
unidentified
For sure.
curt mills
Look, I mean, look, the president is impressed by Tom Cotton.
He's an impressive guy, double Harvard, young senator.
He's very tall.
He's a very caring.
steve bannon
Combat veteran.
curt mills
It used to be said.
Yeah, people look at him and they see CIA director, defense secretary, president.
But the reality is Cotton represents a constituency which is getting narrower and narrower and older and older in the American public.
And he is, frankly, a foreign policy radical.
He sees no real problem with the Bush legacy.
He's a former protege of the Weekly Standard editor William Crystal, and he represents a strain of Republicanism that Trump's initial rise was all about rejecting.
Remember, the Never Trumpers were the neoconservatives.
They still are in many respects.
Trump's entire rise in 2016, and you know this more than any American alive, Steve, was against these folks.
steve bannon
Amen.
Amen.
The National Review, when they came out with that thing, Never Trump, or against Trump, one of the principal arguments was neocon.
President Trump had a totally different way of looking at it.
Before I leave you, Peter Baker, you just put up, you retweeted something that Peter Baker said and put some commentary on it.
Now, Peter Baker is the chief White House correspondent for our beloved paper of record, the New York Times.
Talk to me quickly about this poll that he's just put up and your comments on it.
curt mills
Yeah, so the polling initially conducted overnight on the strikes is overwhelmingly negative.
But most importantly and most central to this show, it appears that a majority of Republicans don't know why we're doing this and or don't support it.
So look, I think it needs to be level set.
Tens of millions of Americans are happy that Donald Trump is the president.
I'm one of them.
I don't regret my vote for President Trump.
I don't think Kamala Harris would be doing this better.
But there is such a thing as motivation or opposition to the administration on discrete issues and a new war in the Middle East that looks a lot like the Iraq war, though it looks a lot like the same people making the arguments for the Iraq War and basically an argument that is mired in the past.
Respectfully to Chairman Kennedy or Brian Kennedy, who I like a lot and consider a friend, he's arguing about military exercises that occurred in the 90s.
A lot of people who voted for President Trump weren't alive when these military exercises occurred.
Yes, Iran is an adversary of the United States, but it was not an imminent threat at all.
It wasn't an imminent threat in January of 2025.
This is not something that President Trump needed to handle for the interests of the United States.
It's an Israeli objective.
And why it is an Israeli objective?
Because Israel wants to expand in the Middle East.
Fine, that's their prerogative, but they shouldn't ask the American taxpayer or Republicans to support it.
steve bannon
I want everybody to go to American Conservative.
By the way, one of the things I do find disturbing, if you look at Fox and the cheerleading of Fox, you have guys like Mark Thiessen, who's one of the greatest haters of President Trump.
Some of these haters that hated President Trump, tried to stop President Mark Levin being one of them.
Mark Levin was one of the biggest haters of Trump, despised Trump.
Dualist Debates in AI Warfare 00:07:35
steve bannon
He was a cruise guy.
I mean, the stuff he said about Trump was nothing but vile.
You see Fox and you see all these haters of Trump and they're glazing President Trump.
They're over the top and the same cheerleading you saw about the Iraq war, particularly in the first days.
And remember, folks, you got a long way to go in this thing.
So that's why we're trying to be as even-handed as possible on the war room because we want the war impossibility to have all the information that's available.
Kurt, American Conservative was formed in the crucible of the Iraq war by the great Pat Buchanan.
You're now the editor.
How do people get it?
And where do they go to your Twitter feed?
Your Twitter feeds are like Rabbi Willicki.
We want people to immerse themselves in information here and even partisan perspectives.
Where do they go, Kurt?
curt mills
I mean, look, Thiessen was George W. Bush's speechwriter.
He's got Ukraine flags and Israeli flags in his Twitter bio.
This is an actual dualist, like not a conspiracy.
He's openly declared as such.
As for the magazine, thank you as always, Steve, for the audience.
And I appreciate the Star Wars cantina of perspectives you've had here.
I think it's a great show.
But the magazine is the American Conservative at theAmericanConservative.com.
And my own feed, as you advertise, is at Kurt Mills at C-U-R-T, M-I-L-O-S on X. Thank you very much and take care.
steve bannon
Our prominent guest he's seen in Star Wars of the Bar.
Thank you, Kurt Mills.
You're great.
Joe Allen, the great work ahead of us.
First of all, give us your perspective.
You've been dealing in this, the singularity and really life or death of the human species, the Homo sapiens.
Now you see another war, but the Pentagon, this is inextricably linked to artificial intelligence, to surveillance, to all this technology that's there.
Is this what's overwhelming us?
Are we being driven, Joe, do you think, almost by the fact that we have this?
I mean, people are saying that President Trump, the reason he had to strike was that he had all these weapon systems there and he couldn't back down and look like he didn't get anything.
That logic to me is so tortured.
But are you concerned, sir, that it's the advances in this technology of surveillance of artificial intelligence that make these weapons so lethal that we in fact are even losing control today, sir?
joe allen
Well, Steve, thank you for having me on.
And I would say that what we see now certainly represents the result of the administration and the Pentagon being emboldened by the technologies at their disposal.
It could easily be overstated how significant the AI integration into the military is at this moment.
But you see with the conflict between the Department of War and Anthropic and then the immediate deal struck with Sam Altman of OpenAI to use their systems for classified documents, you can see the desire and perhaps even the necessity of using artificial intelligence for military operations and standard operations across the board, including medicine and corporate life.
What we saw with the Department of War and Pete Hegseth going head to head with Dario Amadei represents in some ways two different types of human beings who are talking about how the future of non-human beings should unfold.
With Pete Hegseth, I think it's very clear that his desire is to harness these technologies.
steve bannon
Joe, Joe, since you've been building human life, we've had a couple of guys.
I just want to do a quick reset in the time we have.
This was a massive debate that we try to get in a little bit of time, but just set the two sides of what this debate was over between Anthropic, the AI provider of products and services to the Pentagon, and the Department of War and Pete, but also Donald Trump's perspective on this.
What was the big, what was this fur over?
joe allen
Up until two days ago, Anthropic was the only AI system that was deployed on classified documents.
It was extremely important for a number of things, from supply allocation to target acquisition to other logistical concerns.
So Pete Hegseth was infuriated by Anthropic not allowing the Pentagon to use their systems for specific purposes.
Anthropic claims that the Pentagon wanted to use their system for surveilling American citizens and for autonomous lethal weapons.
Pentagon representatives have denied that claim, although I think that it should definitely be understood that those would be primary objectives of some in the military establishment.
What it really highlights, Steve, is how much the military, in addition to Wall Street, in addition to corporate world, how much the military sees this technology as essential in staying ahead of adversaries such as China, such as Russia, even Iran.
So what I think we're going to have to deal with is the political implications of this, because you have all these people rallying around Anthropic, especially on the left, saying Dario Amadei is a hero for confronting Pete Hegseth.
I actually agree that these systems shouldn't be used for surveilling American citizens, nor should they be used for fully autonomous weapons.
But it should really be emphasized that Dario Amadei and Anthropic as a whole has also redrawn their red lines in order to allow for greater scaling of their systems.
And it raises the question, who is Anthropic loyal to?
I would say that at the moment, the way they present it, Anthropic is not necessarily loyal to Silicon Valley, nor are they loyal to the United States.
They are loyal to the so-called nation of geniuses, the AIs that they are creating.
That is their ultimate objective to create the future of life, which for them is artificial.
steve bannon
Okay, you have started.
You're starting this whole entity.
I wanted to take a minute to describe it.
How do people go sign up for it?
I take it now.
The press conference is not going to be tomorrow.
It's going to be Tuesday.
War Room's going to cover it live.
Just give me a minute or two on exactly the project you're working on so all of your fans here in the War Room posse can pile into it.
joe allen
Humans First.
Go to humansfirst.com.
The schedule has been updated with links to registration.
Yes, thank you, Steve.
The Tallahassee press conference has been postponed till Tuesday the 3rd.
Come out.
It's at noon on the Capitol steps.
That's Tuesday the 3rd in Tallahassee, Florida.
And then on Wednesday the 4th, West Palm Beach Town Hall.
And then big event in Atlanta, Georgia, Georgia Tech.
That is Friday, March 6th.
Georgia Tech come out at 6 p.m.
All the info up on my website, up on my Twitter, up on humansfirst.com.
And then Dallas First Baptist Church downtown, 5.30 p.m. Central Time.
Come on out.
That's Humans First.
We are fighting for human freedom, human dignity, and human agency in an era in which AI agents are held up as the highest form.
So humansfirst.com or at realhumans first on X, at J-O-E-B-O-T-X-Y-Z on X. Thank you very much, Steve.
steve bannon
Hey, we'll push all that out.
Look forward to seeing you tomorrow.
He's going to be traveling.
Joe's going to be on the road.
Consequences Of War Conduct 00:08:08
steve bannon
His tour, his speaking tour was so successful.
This is going next level.
And you're going to see a lot of this artificial intelligence in this, in the combination with weapon systems in this war.
Joe Allen, once again, thank you so much, brother.
Appreciate you.
joe allen
Thank you, Steve.
steve bannon
I want to thank once again, Real America's Voice.
They've less blood commercial breaks.
They've got their whole team in Denver, our great team in Denver supporting us today.
We've got obviously people in Palm Beach and the West Palm Beach.
My own crack team here.
I want to thank Patriot Mobile.
Their studios available for us today as we've been around Texas.
Remember, the voting's on Tuesday.
We're going to be in all-day meetings for the next couple of days.
And of course, War World will be up and I will be here.
And we're going to keep the special edition going next Sunday if we have to, if things are going on.
So I want to thank Patriot Mobile.
Make sure you go to 972 Patriot.
Go talk to somebody with the East Texas accent to find out about the greatest phone service in the world.
For your understanding, let's say.
Maybe if you decide not to even invest or make a purchase, go to Birch Gold.
Go to BirchGold.com, promo code banned, the end of the dollar empire.
We talk about geopolitical risk and gold is a hedge for 5,000 years of mankind's history.
I think you're about to see over the next couple of days what people think about that, particularly if what happens in the Straits of Hermoon and the Gulf, the Straits of Hermuz in the Gulf.
As we can imagine, things will be pretty turbulent for the next couple of days as things settle out.
But make sure you just go check it out.
So you understand it.
The key thing here, as we've taught now for five years, it's your understanding.
You're just not buying gold.
You're thinking through a process of what drives the value of gold.
End of the dollar empire, now taught in colleges.
And you get the you can get a bound edition if you make a purchase.
The free event ended Friday, so you got to purchase it now, the Patriots edition.
Dr. Bradley Thayer, you get the closing thoughts here, sir.
Wrap it up for us today.
Hopefully, you'll be back with us tomorrow and this coming week.
Your geopolitical thinking is always quite brilliant.
Where are we?
And where are we?
Why are we?
And where are we going?
bradley thayer
Steve, great to join you.
I think we had a great discussion today, really looking at the conduct of the war, very importantly.
Two points there.
The U.S. is at war.
We've had killed in action and wounded in action.
That's very significant.
Second, the analysis that you've had on today have really demonstrated a lot of unknowns with respect to the conduct.
What's going on?
What are our objectives in this war?
You choose the military instrument for political objectives.
So it's very important to be clear about what those political objectives are in this conflict.
Additionally, I think moving from the conduct to the consequences, what are the consequences of this going to be for the United States for a foreign policy?
What's it going to be for states of the region?
And what's it going to be for the conflict vis-a-vis China against the Chinese Communist Party?
Because international politics, you never get a timeout.
While we're focused on Iran, the CCP is acting, continuing their aggression against key allies like Japan, the Philippines, and partners like Taiwan.
So it's very important to think about what we're addressing and rightfully focused on the conduct of it.
The consequences are equally real quickly.
steve bannon
They cut them off in Venezuela, and then President Trump has allowed them, I think, to get some Venezuelan oil.
They're essentially, you could cut them off easily now.
I mean, they've essentially cut off by the activity because there's no tanker that got sunk.
I don't think there's any other tankers.
How does the Chinese Communist Party is the regime's ally, been an ally financially, been an ally thing?
We got about a minute.
Is the Chinese Communist Party going to insert themselves here?
Because they're one of the countries most at risk on this fighting, are they not?
bradley thayer
Well, it illustrates the importance of Russia for the CCP because if they're cut off from Iranian oil, Russian oil becomes much more important.
So the relationship with Moscow for Xi Jinping becomes even more significant than it is.
So with respect to this conflict, Steve, specifically, I don't think the CCP is going to be intervening militarily, diplomatically, of course.
They're conveying their displeasure, but it opens a window of opportunity for the CCP to act while the United States is focused on this conflict.
So there's a window of vulnerability while this war is going on for the CCP to take actions that are going to be obviously opposed to U.S. national interests.
It also underscores the importance of ending the Ukraine war because Russia, because it is important for the CCP, China needs the oil after all.
Let's get the Ukraine war ended and let's change our relationship with Russia.
Russia will never be an ally of the U.S., but it need not always be our interests.
steve bannon
We can start with a raw prochman and then maybe we're allies in World War II.
The big one when they gave up, what, 60 million people to defer the war real quickly before we leave, because I wonder, Peter Baker, now this is the New York Times, but they've done a poll, and the poll's pretty brutal.
I think only 40% of 40, only 40% of Republicans are in favor of this.
This is a flash poll every night.
Only 21% of Americans, almost no support from the Democrats, and very little support from Independents.
Lincoln knew this.
Lincoln said all the time, that as long as you have public opinion in back of you, which he had, particularly in some of the most brutal days of the Civil War, you can accomplish things.
If you have public opinion, do you think the president and his team needs to come out and make a more systematic argument for exactly what the objectives are here and what Americans should be prepared to suffer for this?
bradley thayer
Well, this country's at war.
And so because this country is at war, it's incumbent upon our political leaders to convey to the American people why we're at war and what our objectives are in the conflict, as Americans are sacrificing their lives.
And this conflict may be an ongoing one.
So it would be very helpful for administration officials and the president himself to come out and to provide the explanation for why the U.S. is doing it, why it's in U.S. national interests to pay the blood price, because we're paying the blood price in this conflict already and with potentially even greater costs associated with it.
steve bannon
We've got to bolt.
You're putting up amazing information.
Where do people go?
bradley thayer
Steve, Brad TheratX and Bradley Thera Garrett Truth.
Thanks very much, Steve.
steve bannon
Okay, I think check Jack Prosobek's Twitter feed to see if he's going to be up on two.
Let me see.
Let's see.
Check if he's going to be up at two.
We'll find that out.
We're going to be back at 10 a.m. Eastern Standard Time tomorrow morning for the regular war room.
And like I said, through the good offices of Real America's Voice, we're going to be seven days a week until that time that we don't need to be seven days a week to try to support all the efforts here.
I want to thank everybody associated with this.
Until tomorrow at 10 a.m., you've been in the war room.
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