March 10, 2026 - Judging Freedom - Judge Andrew Napolitano
28:05
AMB. Chas Freeman : How China Views Trump’s War
Ambassador Chas Freeman joins Judge Andrew Napolitano to condemn President Trump's Iran war as a "total debacle," citing the bombing of an elementary school killing 175 people and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's cavalier response. Freeman details how China views this conflict with mixed feelings: while it violates the international order Beijing favors, the U.S. diversion of military focus benefits China's strategic petroleum reserves and renewable energy dominance. Similarly, Russia gains oil revenues and sees the U.S. disarming against China, leading both nations to likely supply Iran with intelligence. Ultimately, the war risks disarming Ukraine through diverted intercept capabilities and fertilizer shortages, exposing global instability caused by arrogant Treasury decisions allowing sanctioned Russian oil sales. [Automatically generated summary]
Tragically, our government engages in preemptive war, otherwise known as aggression, with no complaints from the American people.
Sadly, we have become accustomed to living with the illegitimate use of force by government.
To develop a truly free society, the issue of initiating force must be understood and rejected.
What if sometimes to love your country, you had to alter or abolish the government?
What if Jefferson was right?
What if that government is best which governs least?
What if it is dangerous to be right when the government is wrong?
What if it is better to perish fighting for freedom than to live as a slave?
What if freedom's greatest hour of danger is now?
Hi, everyone.
Judge Andrew Napolitano here for Judging Freedom.
Today is Tuesday, March 10th, 2026.
Ambassador Chaz Freeman will be with us in just a moment on one of his many areas of specialty.
How does China view Trump's war in Iran?
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Ambassador Freeman, welcome here, my dear friend.
And as always, thank you for accommodating my schedule.
Trump's Defeat of Iran00:15:29
Before we get to China's views of Trump's war, yesterday, President Trump said that the U.S. has defeated Iran, which he pronounced Iran, as in Iran to first base.
And the U.S. was now engaged in cleanup.
Is this consistent with your own observations?
No, it's absolute nonsense.
I mean, it is a predictable step back.
He also called Vladimir Putin, apparently, for an hour of conversation.
He's clearly realized that this was a mistake.
He wants to get out of it.
What we've run up against in Iran is a society which is prepared to do what Vietnam did, take all the punishment we can meet out to it and soldier on.
And the Iranian strategy here, which is directed at eliminating the various threats to the Iranian state, especially from Israel and the United States, and the threats to the Iranian economy, meaning some kind of rollback on sanctions, means that we are not in a position to end this war or walk away from it.
Iran is going to keep firing as long as it can, and that may be for a very long time.
Do you think he's looking for an off-ramp?
Do you think he recognizes that this was a disaster, the whole concept of trying to decapitate the Iranian leadership and foment a spontaneous revolution?
I doubt he recognizes that he's made a mistake.
He's not famous for that, but he certainly recognizes that things are not going well.
We are running out of interception capability against Iranian missiles.
They've been husbanding them for exactly this moment.
I think a little later in this week, we're going to see a great reduction of our intercept capability to defend Israel, our own bases.
Iran says that it has fired so far 40% of its targeting has been directed at Israel, 60% at the U.S. presence in the Gulf.
Its objective is to pose to Israel the same sort of existential threat that Israel has claimed to pose to it.
Its objective in the Gulf is to persuade the Gulf Arabs that they cannot afford to have U.S. bases on their territory because they are attractive nuisances.
That is, they attract attack.
They do not defend those countries.
They make them vulnerable.
And so Iran is proceeding inexorably along this path.
And I have seen no evidence that it is prepared to deviate from it.
This Horrible event where the girls' school was bombed and 170 or 180 of them were, according to our friend and colleague and military expert Scott Ritter, literally incinerated.
Not only was this a bomb, it was a bomb that uses unspent fuel.
I never heard of this in the missile to ignite and incinerate everything in the area where the missile lands.
The president seemed rather cavalier about this.
There's a lot of back and forth on this.
He doesn't have much credibility, but here's the initial outlandish statement on Air Force One on Sunday night, Chris cut number 10.
Mr. President, did the United States bomb a girls' elementary school in southern Iran on the first day of the war and kill 175 people?
Based on what I've seen, that was done by Iran.
Is that true, Mr. Hegseth?
It was Iran who did that?
We're certainly investigating.
Still investigating.
But the only side that targets civilians is Iran.
We think it was done by Iran.
Can you give us an idea?
They're very inaccurate, as you know, with their munitions.
They have no accuracy whatsoever.
It was done by Iran.
Then it went back and forth and back and forth.
I'm not going to play all the tapes.
A couple of reporters were, in my view, quite properly aggressive with him and basically said, why are you the only person in your government saying this?
Even Hegseth isn't joining you.
The video shows the missile was a tomahawk.
And then he gets off into a tangent about how anybody can have a tomahawk.
So, I mean, this is a horrible event made worse by his refusal to be candid about it.
Well, I agree.
One of the, you know, I mean, before you start a war, you need to do a few things.
One is clear objectives that are feasible, devote the resources to them to be able to achieve them.
But you also need to, and you need to have a plan for ending the war.
None of that was done in this case.
But you also need to conduct the war in a way that does not destroy your reputation.
And we are doing the opposite.
I think you should not let off Secretary of Defense, self-styled Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth, quite so easily.
I mean, he sounds like Genghis Khan in terms of his approach to warfare.
No respect for so-called international institutions, no need for restraints of international law, no rules of engagement.
Anything goes kill, kill, kill, bomb, bomb, bomb.
This is Not going to serve us well.
And of course, it also sets precedents.
What we do to others, they can conceivably do to us.
Right.
All right.
Let's, I'm going to play both of these.
Chris, let's play 18 and 19 back to back.
This is his yesterday.
I believe he's shooting from the hip, but this is one or two reporters pressing him on this issue of who killed the girls.
Tomahawk missile likely destroyed that Iranian girls' school.
So will the Americans, will the U.S. accept any responsibility?
Well, I haven't seen it.
And I will say that the tomahawk, which is one of the most powerful weapons around, is used by, you know, is sold and used by other countries, you know that.
And whether it's Iran, who also has some tomahawks, they wish they had more.
But whether it's Iran or somebody else, the fact that a tomahawk, a tomahawk is very generic.
It's sold to other countries.
But that's being investigated right now.
You just suggested that Iran somehow got its hands on a tomahawk and bombed its own elementary school on the first day of the war.
But you're the only person in your government saying this.
Even your defense secretary wouldn't say that when he was asked, standing over your shoulder on your plane on Saturday.
Why are you the only person saying this?
Because I just don't know enough about it.
I think it's something that I was told is under investigation.
But tomahawks are used by others, as you know.
Numerous other nations have tomahawks.
They buy them from us.
But I will certainly, whatever the report shows, I'm willing to live with that report.
Does he have any understanding of Iranian history or culture?
Apparently not.
I don't think he understands our own military export policies either.
The notion that Iran has tomahawks that they might buy from us is absolutely absurd.
And anyway, we know what the truth is here.
We have the full story.
And you've cited Scott Ritter.
I find his account totally credible.
He does know what he's talking about, where the president clearly doesn't.
The conversation with President Putin yesterday, the Russian readout says it was direct and serious.
The president says Putin praised our military.
I mean, who knows?
Why would he have called Putin if he's not looking for some sort of an exit ramp and somehow wants to involve the Russians?
There's no other explanation.
The Russians have a close relationship with the Iranians.
It's become closer as a result of our attack on Iran.
We do share an objective in that the Russians do not want Iran to cross the nuclear weapons threshold.
We have just made that a virtual certainty, in my view.
That is the not only was there a great clamor in Iran prior to this attack following the June attack last year.
for the acquisition of a nuclear deterrent, but the son of the late Supreme Leader, who's just been appointed himself as the Supreme Leader, is known to be an advocate of nuclear weapons for Iran.
So whatever the multiple purposes of this war were or are, one of them at least, that is preventing Iran from gaining a nuclear weapon, has had precisely the opposite effect, totally counterproductive.
So I think that the president called Vladimir Putin, President Putin, because he wants an out on this war.
I'm sure that President Putin did flatter the American military, which have put on an enormous show of strength and capabilities.
Unfortunately, in war, blowing up buildings is not enough.
You have to break the will of the enemy.
And there is no sign at all that we have done that, quite the contrary.
In fact, Iran has made it absolutely clear that it is not interested in a ceasefire.
It is interested in securing itself against future attacks from either Israel or the United States.
It also has an interest in rollback of the sanctions, which were supposed to be lifted when we had a nuclear deal with Iran.
So I think this has been a total debacle from beginning so far to the middle.
It's not the end.
The economic effects are beginning to be felt.
In northern New Jersey, it was $3.45 a gallon for regular gas.
Two weeks ago, that was $2.99.
The people that own the gas station, whom I know, told me it'll be above $4 this weekend.
I don't know how the president can get out of this.
I mean, this affects the middle class.
It affects MAGA.
It affects his base.
It affects everybody but him.
It affects everybody that pays for their own gas.
There's no reason to believe that the Strait of Hormuz is going to be open anytime soon, except to Chinese vessels, because the Iranians have apparently done a deal with the Chinese to allow Chinese tankers to get through.
There is no way the U.S. Navy is going to be able to escort vessels through a narrow strait, which is covered with, you know, completely covered by weapons that are land-based.
And just as the Houthis were able to shut down the Red Sea, a much larger waterway from the land, Iran is totally capable of maintaining a closure of the Strait of Hormuz to anyone it doesn't want to let through.
Meanwhile, the Gulf producers of oil and gas are shutting down.
And the longer they're shut down, the longer it's going to take them to re-establish production.
And we're getting an illustration of the hubris that underlies our energy policies at home.
We are twice as, we are only half as efficient in using energy as the Europeans, or even less in comparison to the Japanese.
That means that the price of our domestic manufacturing, transportation, and other services that require oil or gas, fertilizer, and so forth, are all going to be more effective than they are in other countries.
And we're seeing a fertilizer effect already.
This is the planting season in the northern hemisphere.
Fertilizer supplies, about half of them come out of the Persian Gulf.
They're not coming.
Petrochemicals are not coming.
Sulfur is not coming, which is essential for chip production and other things.
And so there's a total disruption of global trade in process.
And we don't know when the end of it will be.
And the end of it will be determined by not by us, but by Iran.
When Iran feels it has obtained its objectives, it will start to stop striking Israel and the neighboring countries in the Gulf that have American bases on their territory.
How is this war viewed from Beijing?
With mixed feelings.
On the one hand, it's obviously a gross violation of the sort of multinodal law-governed international order that the Chinese favor, that we used to favor.
And therefore, it is destroying, it is participating or catalyzing a further destruction of international order on which China, like other countries that are not invading others, depend.
On the other hand, China is in the best position of any country to survive the knock-on effects of the war.
It has a, I believe, a 253-day strategic petroleum reserve in addition to commercially held reserves.
It is in a position to cut its consumption of oil and gas substantially.
It is by far the most advanced country in the world in terms of renewable energy, meaning energy that is independent of fossil fuels.
China's Strategic Oil Reserves00:09:20
And again, here, the contrast with us, we've been going out of our way to make our country safe for the internal combustion engine.
And that is now in trouble, as you just mentioned.
In New Hampshire, the price of all gas at the pump is a few cents lower than in New Jersey, but the same phenomenon is happening.
So the Chinese look at this finally, much as the Russians do.
And I want to talk about the Russian interests here.
You know, why interrupt your enemy when he's making a mistake?
And the United States has proclaimed itself to be the enemy of China.
We are trying to shut down China's trade.
We're trying to contain its technology.
We have war plans that involve bombing it.
We're expending the munitions that we would use to bomb China now in defense of Israel and in attacks on Iran.
So the Chinese see the U.S. basically disarming ourselves against them.
Why wouldn't they be happy?
For the Russians, this is a bonus.
They're oil and gas, and they're a major exporter.
They've just greatly increased in value.
They have seen a demonstration that they are a reliable supplier, whereas suppliers in the Persian Gulf are not, because the straight of Hamus can and is closed, can be closed and is closed.
They have got an additional relationship with Iran.
And like China, I think they have every interest in keeping Iran going on the battlefield.
So both the Chinese and the Russians can be expected, in addition to supplying the satellite-based intelligence they've clearly been giving the Iranians, both of them can be counted upon to continue to transfer supplies, technology, whatever is required to keep Iran in the fight.
So the only thing that cuts against this is the Russian good relationship with Israel, where about 20% of Israelis, Israeli Jews or so-called Jews are Russian.
So, you know, that may cut a bit against this, but I don't think the Russians are going to be helpful to us in any respect.
Why should they be?
Tell me if you can envision President Putin or President Xi speaking like this.
Chris, the matter you just sent to me, President Trump bragging yesterday.
No, I don't want to brag.
But, you know, they've said this about a lot of things.
No other president could do some of the sh I'm doing.
Of course, it was a four-letter word that was bleak, not usually associated with presidents of the United States in public.
Right.
No, well, braggadocia is all very well, but reality continues to exist whether you tell lies about it or not.
And the notion that somehow or other we've got Iran on the run and the mission is almost accomplished and we've taken out this, that, and the other and all this stuff doesn't have any credibility at all.
And bragging about this is unseemly, uncouth, and does not help the image of the United States in any respect.
One or two questions about Russia, Ambassador.
Trump does have something that Putin wants, and that would be relief from the sanctions.
I often wonder if that comes up in their conversations.
Well, there's several Ukraine-related or Russian-related elements to this war.
One of the key ones, of course, is that if we expend our munitions and intercept capabilities in West Asia, we don't have them to supply, to sell to the Europeans for transfer to Ukraine.
So Ukraine is about to be disarmed.
Ukraine also depends on fertilizer and it's not going to get that.
So those are two terrible knock-on effects from this war on Ukraine.
I think sanctions relief, of course, for the Russians would be key, but the Europeans are part of that, and they are foolishly doubling down on their Russophobia and opposition to Russia.
They're not dealing with Russia in a realistic way.
They're arguing about whether they should even talk to the Russians.
So I think the U.S. doesn't have the unilateral capability in this area to relieve Russia of sanctions that we apparently did to impose them.
Finally, I think again, Russia is going to getting a windfall from this war in terms of oil and gas revenues.
And the pressure for sanctions relief is likely to go down.
And I guess strategically, if we really wanted to do something that would cement cooperation between China and Russia, we've just done it.
We've launched a full-scale attack on against international law on a sovereign country whose existence they care about, with which they have close relations.
And we're depriving China of oil and gas imports, which it can survive, but which will be difficult.
I mean, it could raise the price of gas at the pump.
It has not done that.
A final note here, Judge.
I think, you know, contrary to our energy policy, which rejects the idea of renewable energy in favor of oil and gas, drill baby drill and all that, the world has just been given a lesson about energy that it will take.
This is going to greatly accelerate the turn toward renewable energy as a source of electricity and the electrification of the world while we stay in the internal combustion engine age.
Well, let me play another clip for you before we leave.
This is the Secretary of Arrogance, also the Secretary of the Treasury, announcing that we have given India permission to buy oil from Russia.
Chris?
The Indians had been very good actors.
We had asked them to stop buying sanctioned Russian oil this fall.
They did.
They were going to substitute it with U.S. oil, but to ease the Temporary gap of oil around the world.
We have given them permission to accept the Russian oil.
We may unsanction other Russian oil.
The other thing Treasury can do here, Larry, is there are hundreds of millions of sanctioned barrels of sanctioned crude on the water.
And in essence, by unsanctioning them, Treasury can create supply.
I didn't know that the government of India needed Washington's permission to buy oil from Russia.
Well, they don't think so, and they've been quite explicit about that.
And they have been buying oil from Russia, as the Chinese have.
And the Russians, in fact, have offered them more oil, and they need it.
You know, they were the immediate victims of this war in terms of being deprived of essential oil and gas supplies, which come through the Strait of Hormuz to India.
Restaurants in India are closing down because they don't have gas to power the stoves in the restaurants.
There's gas raging at the pump, and this is just beginning.
So way to go.
We really make friends by doing this kind of thing and then rubbing in and then compounding the error by claiming to have a right to control their access to energy.
This is very offensive and, as you said, arrogant.
But it's basically an empty statement because they don't accept our authority to do that.
Aaron Mate Live Later Today00:00:35
Ambassador Chaz Freeman, thank you very much.
A great conversation across the board from Beijing to Moscow to Kyiv to Washington to Tehran.
Much appreciated, my dear friend.
We'll look forward to seeing you next week.
Keep well.
Thank you.
Coming up later today, if you're watching us live in 30 minutes at 9 o'clock this morning, Professor John Mearsheimer.
At 1 this afternoon, Aaron Mate.
At 2 this afternoon, Matt Ho.
At three this afternoon, Colonel Karen Kwetkowski, Judge Nepal Town for Judging freedom.