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May 27, 2019 - Know More News - Adam Green
20:07
Memorial Day Marine Interviews on War, Israel, & USS Liberty
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Welcome ladies and gentlemen.
I'm Adam Green with No More News.
It's Memorial Day weekend 2019, and I'm in Oceanside, California, right outside Camp Pendleton, one of the largest military bases in the country.
I'm here to speak with Marines about past wars, future wars, and their thoughts on Memorial Day.
Stay tuned and thanks for watching.
It's a day to honor all the uh men and women before us that passed away, um, and have died in war, and I honestly I really respect them.
Shout out to my brother and sisters in arms.
I got a lot of them.
Have you lost anybody?
Before I joined the Corps, I had a lot of brothers from high school.
Joined right out of high school, and yeah.
Went through Afghanistan, uh, Iraq and Afghanistan.
I think it's important uh for people to know that it's not a day to sort of celebrate the people who are currently serving, it's a day to celebrate people who died uh serving uh previously.
Uh so I always feel a little bit you know embarrassed when someone says thank you for your service on Memorial Day.
It's like that's not it's not about me.
You know, there is a day for that, Armed Forces Day, and maybe Veterans Day, but Memorial Day is not about guys who are still here.
Trump in the election, our commander in chief said that Iraq was a mistake, it was a disaster.
George Bush made a mistake.
We can make mistakes, but that one was a beauty.
We should have never been in Iraq.
We have destabilized the Middle East.
You still think he should be in pace.
I think it's my turn, and then you do whatever you want.
You call it whatever you want.
I want to tell you, they lied.
Okay.
They said there were weapons of mass destruction, there weren't none, and they knew there were none.
There were no weapons of mass destruction.
The Iraq war was a disaster.
It was a mistake.
We spent two trillion dollars, thousands of lives, stuck at thousands of lives, wounded warriors who we love all over the place.
What do we have?
Nothing.
Absolutely nothing.
You know, if you lost ones, do you do you have any regret or any thoughts on that?
Any way you look at it, we took an oath.
I took an oath to protect this country.
Depend doesn't matter what they choose to do.
I'm willing to die for each and every one of these citizens.
I I think that um that they probably did genuinely, at least at one point, think or at least suspect there were weapons of mass destruction, which there were, they just weren't nukes.
They had chemical weapons which they had previously used on their civilian populace, and that alone is moral justification in my mind for going into Iraq.
I think that you know even absent the the nukes, we still had I believe a moral responsibility to remove a psychopathic dictator from power.
The way in which we did it did end up destabilizing the region, but that could we could have done it a different way if we'd known more and respected more the uh level of cultural difference between the Sunni and Shia Muslims.
If you take out Saddam, Saddam's regime, I guarantee that it will have enormous positive reverberations on the region.
During the election, Trump said that Iraq was a mistake and that they knew that there was no WMDs.
Do you have any thoughts on that?
Uh I definitely think there was weapons of mass destruction, but honestly, I'm not a political head, so I'm not really allowed to talk about that.
Those weapons of mass destruction gotta be somewhere.
Nope, no weapons over there.
Maybe under here.
Not allowed to.
Don't you think that if you're risking your life and going fighting wars, that you should know the reasons?
I think I should know the reasons, but again, it's not really up to me.
I I enlisted, I signed the paperwork, I signed the contract, I knew what I was getting myself into.
You know, if it's a war that they you know, if it's a war that my country asked me to go and fight for, then I'm gonna go and fight for it.
What do you think was the the biggest driving force behind uh the war in Iraq?
Probably it was that's a good question.
It was probably uh wanting to maintain control uh access to the oil fields around there, which well, I that is you know, people get really upset that oh, it was a war over oil.
If you get oil is vital to our national security, probably more than any other resource except water, and we have plenty of water.
So, you know, saying it's a war over oil is you know it there's no quicker way to cripple the U the United States than to cut off our supplies of oil, and that's what was being threatened to that's you know Saddam's presence was threatening that.
Do you think that Iraq was a mistake?
Actually, no, I don't think Iraq was a mistake, in my opinion, because you know the soldiers that they had the good like mine on mind, you know, good mindset, they had the good hand of soldiers, they knew it needs to be done, even though they didn't have as much resources as should have been provided, you know, they still tried everything in their power to like you know keep the peace and just you know, protect our freedom, of course.
And you think that that bombing and and taking out a government is keeping the peace?
No, it's it's actually the opposite for sure.
Oh no, the there's definitely something that could have been done differently, so that lives could have been like saved.
Right.
But at that time, uh we just didn't really know um all the options, yeah.
How about you?
You have any thoughts on that Iraq being a mistake?
Um, I mean, they're just just guys hollering orders, you know.
So I mean maybe it was, maybe it wasn't.
I don't know for sure.
Are you willing to go uh risk your life and and risk dying for for Israel?
Uh I'm willing to die and risk my life for my country.
Um I am I'm a patriot of this country and uh I would bleed.
Uh to make sure those red stripes stayed red.
Um so if if it's a war I'm told to fight, then I I signed up for it.
If I'm there for it, um then yeah, I'll go.
But regardless of you know who I'm fighting for, I'm I know I'm fighting for my country, so would it make you angry to think that this is a war that Israel wants, but they don't send any troops, they only have America fight their battles for them?
Uh well again, we're allies with Israel, so any war that they're involved with, we're involved with.
It's how allies work.
Do you know about USS Liberty, the the Navy ship that was bombed in 1967, 34 seamen were killed?
No, I don't know.
It was actually Israel that attacked it, and it's a big cover-up.
There's documentaries, and the survivors are really crying out for justice.
Uh, that's nothing that you've heard of?
No, that's nothing to do with me, really.
I mean, I'm I'm here in Oceanside California, yeah.
So have you heard of the USS Liberty incident in the 60s where our Navy ship was attacked by Israel and 34 seamen were killed.
Sounds familiar.
Um it was attacked by fighter jets, it was torpedoed, and there's still survivors that are crying out for justice and help.
They say it's a massive cover-up.
Um, do you think that they're a good ally when they attacked our ship in 1967?
Well, again, the only person that's ever told me about this is you, so I don't really know any of I haven't done any personal research on it.
Um, so again, uh if that statement was true, um, then you know, I suppose I'd be angry about it.
But I'm again, I have no uh um I didn't do any research on it myself, so I don't really know if it actually happened or not.
For 40 years, survivors of the USS Liberty sworn under oath were forbidden to tell their stories.
But today, the surviving crewmen talk candidly about the dreadful day they nearly lost their lives.
Prepare to abandon ship.
We couldn't even open the hatch up because they were shooting at us so bad, there was no place to go.
They shot the life rafts.
If we had to go under the water, there would have probably been no survivors.
Jim Smith was aboard the Liberty when it was bombed for over two hours by the Israeli Air Force.
The Israelis claimed it was a mistake in identity.
Uh, and and the U United States government bought that explanation.
I'm saying a mistake in identity does not allow you sufficient time to shoot all the antennas, to shoot the four gun types that we had, and to strafe the bridge.
If it's a mistake and identity, then you don't know what you're looking at.
As the years drag on, the anniversary never gets any easier.
There's nothing uh medicine, who's nothing takes it away.
It's just it's just something you have to live with.
The tale of the USS Liberty became a story of courage and betrayal, a gaping wound eating away at the survivors.
As another year passes by without a congressional investigation, the survivors wonder if justice will ever come their way, hoping with uncertainty that one day Israel will face harsh penalties for killing American citizens in an event many claim was a cover-up.
Are you aware of the USS Liberty incident in 1967?
No, I'm not aware of it.
USS Liberty?
No.
There's a reason.
It's there's a big cover-up.
There's survivors that are crying out for justice that their their brothers were killed, and it was actually Israel, our our greatest so-called greatest ally in the Middle East that hit them with torpedoes and and fighter jets, and it's they did it intentionally.
They wanted to sink it to do some cover-up, and still to this day.
Would would your uh views on Israel change if you researched USS Liberty and heard from the survivors and found out that we were attacked by Israel?
Oh, maybe a little bit.
I could see it changing.
Yeah.
Yeah, if I if I definitely did some research as I need to do, you'll probably say my views.
I believe it.
I mean if you look at the different technologies around, we are still to what many other countries have.
Israel is dominating in tech, actually, right now.
You're aware of that.
Yeah.
What have you seen?
Just I've seen like classified guns that I'm not yeah.
That advanced classified weapons.
And you know all the companies like Microsoft, Intel, Apple, Google, they're all moving their their top research RD centers over to Israel.
Does that concern you?
I mean, if we're trying to get a thumb in it somewhere, I mean whether it be government or their uh unit 8200, their NSA.
Um, what do you think about Israel's illegal nuclear program?
They have stolen nuclear technology from us and they refuse to sign the nuclear non-proliferation treaty.
I think it's uh kinda they're kind of taking wrong step to because if you have if I don't know, if you saw the many brothers and sisters that we have in arms that are willing to die for each other and for the country, I don't believe they have the brotherhood or sisterhood that could withstand that.
What do you think about uh the people that push for war in the United States?
Like from my research, it's a lot of uh a lot of Israeli interest and Zionist neocons as as they call them, like Project for a new American century in these groups.
Do you ever get the idea that maybe we're fighting wars for Israel's benefit and it's not in America's interest?
I think that we are fight oftentimes fighting wars for Isra Israel's benefit.
I don't necessarily think that it is not in America's interest, at least not ancillarily.
However, I'm not necessarily I'm not one who's gonna say that we that there needs to be a direct American interest for us to go to war.
I I'm one of those people who would support going to war for moral reasons.
However, with Israel, they're there's this I think that there's a sense of not I won't say there's a sense of responsibility anymore, so much as a habit of responsibility.
You know, the sense of responsibility from back in the 50s and 60s when the people who made that country and kicked out the Palestinians were still around and in power, but now it's just we've been protecting them for so long that it's just sort of what the US does.
I don't think it even occurs to a lot of people to not do that.
You know, the Zion the Zionists are a massive political problem because they're religious extremists, they may not be violent, but they're religious extremists to on the level of Al Qaeda.
They are I they're they're the they are the logical end of you know the oldest of the Abrahamic death cults that because what they want is to bring out the end of the world because they believe that that will bring about paradise.
Are you aware of the reports and uh Mossad and Isra Israel admitting that they're supporting ISIS and Al-Qaeda in Syria and arming them to destabilize Assad?
Uh I'm not aware of that.
Um that make you mad if you found out that Israel was supporting ISIS and Al-Qaeda with arms and and medical help?
There have been reports that Israel's been treating wounded Syrian rebel fighters in its hospitals on the border, including fighters from Nusra front.
Which is of course the Al-Qaeda proxy in Syria.
Um do those reports worry you that Israel's helping wounded Al-Qaeda aligned fighters?
As I said before, uh in a different context.
It's always useful also to deal with your enemies in a humane way.
And I think that when you have people who are wounded and you can deal with them in a humane way, the considerations as to whether to take them in are not simply whether it's politically uh useful or whether it's politically.
So it's purely humanitarian, you say there's no tactical or political strategic.
I didn't say there's no tactical, I said the main consideration, the immediate consideration is humane.
But the tactical issues involved, I mean you know better than me the phrase blowback.
You don't think there's gonna be blowback against Israel if you get into bed with a group like Nusra Front?
No, I don't think so.
I don't think there's going to be blowback.
Why?
Because I think that the unfortunately the rules of the game in Syria are such that you can do anything that is not able is not possible to be done anywhere else.
Yeah, I think people said that in Afghanistan too.
Would you also treat Hezbollah fighters?
No.
I would not treat.
If you're not just contradicted what you told me, but humanely treating your enemies.
No, no.
I think as far as Hezbollah uh fights are concerned, well then we have a different uh account.
So let me be clear.
You would have infantry Al-Qaeda fighters.
We have but not his bala.
We have we have a different account with Hezbollah.
A totally different account.
Because Hezbollah has carried out the type of uh actions against us which will preclude us from going into what the Al-Qaeda has done.
Al Qaeda, to the best of my recollection, has up to now not attacked Israel.
But has attacked your number one ally and protector and sponsor the United States of America.
There is a quote unquote war on terror being going on for 15 years.
I d uh first of all, uh when it comes to fighting Al Qaeda in intelligence and in other areas, yes, we are together with the United States on all these things.
Okay.
But Israel did not specifically was not specifically targeted by Al Qaeda, and therefore it's a different kind of account than we have with Hezbollah.
It would.
It would uh it would also annoy me because it would mean that they didn't learn the lessons that we did back in the eighties, um, when because we the US act uh special forces were the people who trained the the eventual leaders of Al Qaeda, uh including Bin Laden, we trained and armed them in order to fight the communists who had invaded Afghanistan, and we didn't see far enough in the future to know that if these guys won, they were insane.
They were crazy.
And we need and but we use them to fight our enemy at the time because we had one focus and that was communism.
So I won't say it would surprise me, but it would it's not entirely impossible.
Would you reconsider that they're a good ally if you found out they were supporting terrorist groups that attacked us?
I don't think that they're they're a good ally.
They're massive drain on our resources and they're impossible, and it's impossible for them to support us anywhere near as much as we support them, but they'll nevertheless serve a half dozen evils, and they represent the only politically stable regime in the region, and the only one who doesn't have at as part of its state religion the destruction of America.
Have you heard the talk of people that say that the war on terror isn't really in America's best interest, but it's more for the benefit of Israel?
Any thoughts on that?
No, no thoughts.
In 2002, AIPAC was lobbying Maran to vote for the invasion of Iraq.
The executive director of uh APEC said that his most important accomplishment was securing the authorization for the use of US military force in Iraq.
AIPAC was pushing it very hard.
Why does AIPAC benefit from the United States going to war?
The United States getting involved in wars in the Middle East is ultimately in Israel's interest.
There is no question whatsoever that Saddam is seeking and is working and is advancing towards the development of nuclear weapons.
No question whatsoever.
Uh there's a lot of talk that that the wars in the Middle East aren't for America's interest, but they're on behalf and for the benefit of Israel.
Do you have any thoughts on that?
Well, my thoughts would be that in like it doesn't matter where the wars are.
You know, um, there's definitely innocent people there who need our help who can't fend for themselves.
So I think it doesn't matter if it's in Afghanistan or Iraq, you know, the the like people need someone, you know, to like to like defend themselves and so like, you know, give them freedom even though they can't do it themselves.
So that's why we're just saying going over.
Would you be willing to put your life at risk or die for Israel?
If they need our help, I mean there's many different ways to look at the subject.
And right now I'm government property and I do and do what I'm supposed to be doing.
Would you guys be willing to to go over deploy to Syria or Iran to to die for Israel or to risk dying for Israel?
Uh we'll not die for Israel or anywhere else we die for Each other and we die for the country.
What if it's mostly Israelis and Zionists in the United States that are pushing for the wars and using us as their as their army to act on their behalf?
Well, it doesn't matter what the opinion is.
If our leader tells us to go over there, we just gotta follow orders and just you know, even though even though it might be on their behalf, you know.
I'm opposed to uh wasting uh military in the Middle East on behalf of Zionist Israel.
Thank you.
Okay.
Alright, well, let me just tell you that Israel is a very, very important ally of the United States.
And we are going to protect them 100%.
100%.
They've been our most reliable.
Uh it's our true friend over there, and we're gonna protect Israel 100%.
Do you guys fear that maybe Iran could just be Iraq 2.0 and be another mistake?
No uh I don't fear.
I don't I don't fear that it could be.
I mean, depending on how things go forward, like in the end it's just it's just what is decided.
Like, do you think that Iran is a good idea or no?
What's your thoughts?
I stand behind my commander in chief.
It's the oath, the oath is for enemies foreign and domestic.
If you saw the evidence that our government was co-opted by foreign interests, would you stand down on orders that you thought were unjust?
Yes, and it does we are protected in our agreement that we will defend, we'll follow any order unless it is considered unjust.
So we personally get to make that judgment, and we will take the consequences as they come.
But as of right now, my orders to do my NOS school and I get to go home, so I'm just a reservist.
Any other uh final thoughts that on your mind that you want to say to the audience?
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