Latest / THE DAILY BRIEF / US launches retaliatory Iran strikes as war backlash hits midterms

Transcript

US launches retaliatory Iran strikes as war backlash hits midterms · THE DAILY BRIEF

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Just a day after Iran's failed missile strike on US
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: forces in Jordan. Central Command made the following announcement just
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: in the last several minutes. We're quoting here that US
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: forces began launching strikes against Iran at eight pm Eastern
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: time today, a little over a half hour ago. The
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: strikes Sencom says are a powerful response to yesterday's attempted
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: Iranian attacks on US forces based in the Middle East.
• 0:24
  Speaker 2: End quote. We're joined now by.
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: Retired Air Force Colonel Cedric Layton, and listen, there's been
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: a lot of telegraphing of these attacks today. President Trump
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: said so, including in some colorful language in an interview
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: earlier today, that he would be striking back for those
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: Iranian missile attacks we saw yesterday. What is the military
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: objective of strikes like this? Is it purely retaliation?
• 0:47
  Speaker 3: Well, that's one part of it, Jim. I think what
• 0:49
  Speaker 3: we're seeing is not only retaliation, but also the potential
• 0:52
  Speaker 3: for the start of something else. And there's some reports
• 0:56
  Speaker 3: out there that Admiral Cooper, the commander of Ussencom, might
• 1:00
  Speaker 3: be planning a ten to fourteen day campaign. So whether
• 1:04
  Speaker 3: this is the start of that or not is of
• 1:06
  Speaker 3: course something that we don't know yet, but that is
• 1:10
  Speaker 3: certainly a possibility, but at the very least retaliation, but
• 1:14
  Speaker 3: also the need to engage in measures that basically result
• 1:18
  Speaker 3: in force protection, and that would include going after some
• 1:22
  Speaker 3: of the areas where missiles are launched from, particularly in
• 1:25
  Speaker 3: western Iran and also some in southwestern Iran. So that
• 1:29
  Speaker 3: would be one of the primary objectives.
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: I would think the trouble is, Colonel Layton, is that
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: the US and Israel have been striking such targets for
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: months now, and Iran has maintained a capability, diminished capability,
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: but a capability nonetheless to strike its neighbors and to
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: strike US bases in the region with impact. Right, the
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: US lost four soldiers in Jordan just a short time ago.
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: What is the evidence that a new night of strikes
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: or sound of strikes will reliably eliminate that threat.
• 2:04
  Speaker 3: I don't think we can say that any strikes that
• 2:07
  Speaker 3: are currently being conducted will eliminate that threat. I think
• 2:10
  Speaker 3: the evidence is pretty clear, as you laid out, Jim,
• 2:13
  Speaker 3: that the efforts that we've done so far, that we've
• 2:16
  Speaker 3: conducted so far are not resulting in an elimination of
• 2:20
  Speaker 3: the Iranian capability to strike at targets that include US
• 2:26
  Speaker 3: personnel and US assets, So that's going to be a
• 2:28
  Speaker 3: real problem. What they can do is they can CorCE
• 2:31
  Speaker 3: Iran toward another goal, and that other goal might be
• 2:36
  Speaker 3: the negotiating table, but right now it sure doesn't look
• 2:38
  Speaker 3: like we're going in that direction.
• 2:40
  Speaker 2: Well, and listen to that point.
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: The President has claimed multiple times that Iran is interested
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: in going back to the table, desperate to go back
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: to the table. But we have the Deputy Foreign Minister
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: say a short time ago that we have sent no
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: request for negotiation with the US during the past sixteen
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: to seventeen days, at least in public statements, they're not
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: expressing any immediate design. A question I have for you
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: is because we've talked a lot about the impact of
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: the war in Iran on US missile stockpiles, particularly interceptor missiles,
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: air defense missiles, those that go into patriots, et cetera,
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: but also attack missiles like the Tomahawk for instance. Can
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: the US military and would you expect the military and
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: strikes like the one we're seeing tonight, particularly if it
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: were to go on for ten to fourteen days. Is
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: there a way to reduce the expenditure of those missiles
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: so that you don't back yourself deeper into a supply hole,
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: right magazine depth, as folks talk about.
• 3:41
  Speaker 3: Yeah, So that's a really difficult problem set for American
• 3:44
  Speaker 3: commanders to deal with because we've been used to expending
• 3:48
  Speaker 3: missiles like the Tomahawk and similar missiles as well as
• 3:52
  Speaker 3: our air defense missiles in a fairly free manner. And
• 3:56
  Speaker 3: when you look at the expenditure rates in Iran versus
• 4:00
  Speaker 3: in Ukraine, the expenditure rates in Iran are much much
• 4:03
  Speaker 3: higher than they are for Ukraine. And there are a
• 4:06
  Speaker 3: lot of reasons for that, but the key factor here
• 4:09
  Speaker 3: is this the US has really left its defense industrial
• 4:15
  Speaker 3: base lacking in this particular case. The capacity for our
• 4:21
  Speaker 3: industrial base to reproduce those missiles and to bring them
• 4:24
  Speaker 3: out to the front lines where they can be used
• 4:28
  Speaker 3: is not as robust as it should be. And I
• 4:31
  Speaker 3: think it's become pretty clear that you know, with the
• 4:33
  Speaker 3: expenditures that we've seen in Iran, that there's a lot
• 4:37
  Speaker 3: of work to be done in that particular area. So
• 4:40
  Speaker 3: for this offensive to succeed, I think they are going
• 4:42
  Speaker 3: to be basically rationing some of the missiles they're using.
• 4:47
  Speaker 3: But they're going to try to make them as effective
• 4:49
  Speaker 3: as possible, and that's going to be a key element
• 4:51
  Speaker 3: right there.
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: New CNN polling on the war showing that seventy two
• 4:57
  Speaker 1: percent of Americans disapprove of how the prime is handling
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: the conflict. Seventy three percent say he is not paying
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: enough attention to the actual problems that most Americans faced,
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: and seventy percent disapprove of his handling of the economy.
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: John First, do Democrats in Iowa see the war as
• 5:18
  Speaker 1: an opportunity to gain advantage? I mean, obviously some of
• 5:22
  Speaker 1: these are tougher battlegrounds than others, But do they see
• 5:26
  Speaker 1: this as potentially driving their political fortunes in the fall.
• 5:31
  Speaker 4: They know that it is helping them. Jim, the language
• 5:33
  Speaker 4: always has to be careful. Some of the first fatalities
• 5:35
  Speaker 4: were here in Iowa, so people here at opposition to
• 5:38
  Speaker 4: the war runs high, questions about the president's policy runs high.
• 5:42
  Speaker 4: But Democrats say it is just simply a fact that
• 5:44
  Speaker 4: they're standing in. Some of the races out here have improved.
• 5:47
  Speaker 4: You're called the Iowa battleground state. Just that is kind
• 5:49
  Speaker 4: of breaking news. If you will look at it, I'll
• 5:50
  Speaker 4: show you that have a mini magic wall with me
• 5:52
  Speaker 4: on the road. Go back to twenty twenty four. I
• 5:53
  Speaker 4: mean Donald Trump won here less than two years ago,
• 5:56
  Speaker 4: November twenty twenty four by thirteen points.
• 5:58
  Speaker 2: Right, Look at all the red on the map.
• 6:00
  Speaker 4: Right, Rural America is Trump country and Iowa is a
• 6:03
  Speaker 4: big rural state. Butt butt number one. This state has
• 6:07
  Speaker 4: a deep anti war history. It was an unpopular war
• 6:09
  Speaker 4: twenty years ago in two thousand and six Iraq.
• 6:11
  Speaker 2: That was the last time Iowa Democrats elected a governor.
• 6:14
  Speaker 2: They think they might be able to do that this year.
• 6:16
  Speaker 4: Two years after that, in two thousand and eight, Iowa
• 6:18
  Speaker 4: first the Caucases and then in November lost Barack Obama
• 6:21
  Speaker 4: into the history books because of the unpopular Iraq war
• 6:24
  Speaker 4: at the time.
• 6:25
  Speaker 2: Now it's the Iran War.
• 6:26
  Speaker 4: You see all that read again, Jim, I just want
• 6:28
  Speaker 4: to say, if you have all this red, what is that?
• 6:30
  Speaker 2: That's farms.
• 6:31
  Speaker 4: That's diesel fuel for your tractors, your combines and your
• 6:33
  Speaker 4: other equipment.
• 6:34
  Speaker 2: That is gasoline to drive.
• 6:36
  Speaker 4: That is fertilizer for those farms as well, which costs money,
• 6:39
  Speaker 4: and some farmers say getting more scarce than this. And
• 6:41
  Speaker 4: just one other point, as gas prices go up every
• 6:43
  Speaker 4: time this comes back. If you go from Illinois to Nebraska,
• 6:47
  Speaker 4: that's three hundred miles.
• 6:48
  Speaker 2: This is a big rural state. If you go from
• 6:50
  Speaker 2: Minnesota down to.
• 6:53
  Speaker 4: I'm sorry, Missouri below us, that's two hundred miles to drive.
• 6:56
  Speaker 2: If you live in a big rural state, you.
• 6:58
  Speaker 4: Drive a lot when gas prices go up at mad.
• 7:00
  Speaker 4: When you get mad, you take it out of the
• 7:02
  Speaker 4: party in power.
• 7:03
  Speaker 1: No question, and diesel prices up even more than gas prices.
• 7:06
  Speaker 1: So as you speak to voters and the party officials
• 7:10
  Speaker 1: there given less than one hundred days out from the
• 7:12
  Speaker 1: mid terms, and these numbers are awful for the president.
• 7:15
  Speaker 1: Is there anything they believe the president can do at
• 7:18
  Speaker 1: this point that would fundamentally alter or at least lessen
• 7:24
  Speaker 1: the political impact in November.
• 7:28
  Speaker 4: When you talk to Republicans, smart Republicans who understand this state,
• 7:31
  Speaker 4: the part you just made them lesson lesson, they think
• 7:34
  Speaker 4: it's too late. Their affordability, the affordability crisis. People are
• 7:37
  Speaker 4: feeling maybe gas prices will come down a little bit.
• 7:39
  Speaker 2: Groceries are still high.
• 7:41
  Speaker 4: Is the president focused on the right priority. It's very
• 7:43
  Speaker 4: hard to turn that numbers. We're ninety seven days now
• 7:45
  Speaker 4: away from the election. Just want to bring another number
• 7:47
  Speaker 4: into it from our new poll and bring it up
• 7:48
  Speaker 4: to you. These are devastating numbers for any president. Any president.
• 7:52
  Speaker 4: It's Donald Trump at the moment. But I've covered midterm
• 7:54
  Speaker 4: elections a long time. A thirty four percent overall approval rating,
• 7:57
  Speaker 4: that's among all Americans. That is a recipe for a
• 7:59
  Speaker 4: mid blowout. Here's what concerns Republicans. The president's approval is
• 8:03
  Speaker 4: at seventy eight percent among Republicans. That is the lowest
• 8:07
  Speaker 4: point his approval among his own party since he's become
• 8:10
  Speaker 4: president both of his terms.
• 8:11
  Speaker 2: That's the lowest number.
• 8:12
  Speaker 4: Elections, especially midterms, are about passion and turnout. Will Republicans
• 8:16
  Speaker 4: show up? Every Republican I talk to pollsters and strategists
• 8:18
  Speaker 4: say they are very nervous about that twenty four percent.
• 8:21
  Speaker 4: That means you've lost the middle of the electorate when
• 8:23
  Speaker 4: independence do not support you.
• 8:25
  Speaker 2: So what does that mean? I want to show you this.
• 8:26
  Speaker 4: We'll go back to the House elections in two thous
• 8:28
  Speaker 4: You can't even tell where the districts are right when
• 8:30
  Speaker 4: I show you that map, it's all read.
• 8:31
  Speaker 2: Because Republicans now control all four House.
• 8:34
  Speaker 4: Seats here, but there's one here in southeast Iowa. The
• 8:37
  Speaker 4: first district. The margin in that race was eight hundred
• 8:39
  Speaker 4: votes two years ago. Democrats think they can pick that
• 8:42
  Speaker 4: up in this anti Trump.
• 8:43
  Speaker 2: Anti Republican environment.
• 8:44
  Speaker 4: And they're also Jim targeting this district in South Morning
• 8:48
  Speaker 4: where I'm standing in to the south. That was a
• 8:50
  Speaker 4: bit more of a race, it was a bigger race,
• 8:51
  Speaker 4: but they think in this environment it's possible. So Democrats think,
• 8:54
  Speaker 4: even here, great possibilities. And if they have possibilities in Iowa,
• 8:58
  Speaker 4: think about when you get into more purple states.
• 9:00
  Speaker 1: Yeah, no question, John King could have you there on
• 9:02
  Speaker 1: the ground.