00:00Oh, absolutely. I agree. I think it was spot on. When you look at center of gravity analysis to try
00:05and figure out how do you actually take down a regime of this size that has that amount of proxy
00:10forces, you have to be able to remove some of the support base, which they were able to do.
00:14And then then you look at the leadership specific and then you look at the military capability. So if you
00:20take it in the last 18 months and what has actually taken place, as well as now, you know, being
00:26tipped and cued on the leadership meeting itself and then being able to use that in conjunction with taking out
00:31air defense launchers and the remaining missile stockpiles.
00:34This is that point in time where you can actually degrade that military capability necessary so that the Iranian people
00:40can actually rise up and feel safe enough to be able to do so without the threat of violence against
00:45that military.
00:46I just want to stick with this because I thought he was so forceful on that point, Colonel, just about
00:50the fact that there shouldn't be any U.S. boots on the ground there.
00:52And I guess I'll throw a version of the question I threw to him to you, which is how do
00:56you facilitate, how does the U.S. facilitate in concert with Israel and others the safety of the ability for
01:02that transition to take place?
01:05Yeah, I think the best thing that we can do is provide it from that security perspective without boots on
01:10the ground. Fully agree that, you know, putting boots on the ground makes it look much more like an Iraq
01:14conflict as opposed to what it is here.
01:17We're, you know, U.S. especially in Israel have focused specifically on valid military targets, high value targets to be
01:24able to do that to say, hey, it is now up to the regime to be able to do that.
01:27The Ayatollah, the IRGC commander, the armed forces chief, all come on over 40 senior Iranian officials reportedly killed in
01:34this time frame.
01:36And then when you try to look at some of the retaliation, the retaliation hasn't been that strong compared.
01:41There are a couple of issues, obviously, the Navy Fifth Fleet headquarters in Bahrain, but most everything else had been
01:46intercepted.
01:47So that strategic message that the president can put out as well as as well as Prime Minister Netanyahu, they
01:53can put out and say, this is your time.
01:56Echoing what you heard President Trump say early yesterday morning.
01:59Well, we've talked about what happens if this drags on, but there is another issue.
02:04And that is what happens if this ends in a couple of days?
02:06Because, as we just talked about, there does not seem to be an appetite from Israel, from the U.S.,
02:11I imagine from GCC countries, to put boots on the ground inside Iran.
02:15They're deferring to the Iranian people.
02:17But the Iranian people may not have as much of a sway in who is their next leader, given there
02:24is still a council, there is still an IRGC.
02:27Quickly, what happens if this ends in a couple of days?
02:29Could that be just as problematic?
02:32Could be.
02:33Anytime you remove a leader, you have the power vacuum analogy.
02:36You have that dilemma that you have to be able to solve and say, do you know who that person
02:40is?
02:40And is that an individual that you can actually work with in the future?
02:43Is that somebody who will come back to the table to have diplomatic channels and be able to try and
02:48identify a safer, more public way to be able to do it?
02:52You still have the vehicles in place for military firepower and all that from the U.S. to be there
02:59as a backstop?
03:00I don't see them leaving quite yet, even if the volleys do stop.
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