00:00Admiral Cooper, you keep using the term significantly degraded.
00:07Last summer, we were told that Iran's nuclear weapons program was obliterated.
00:14Can you clarify the distinction between obliterated and significantly degraded?
00:20Congressman, again, I think appropriate to talk about anything regarding the Iranian nuclear program.
00:25No, no, no, I'm not asking you to talk about the Iran nuclear program.
00:27I'm asking you to talk about English language.
00:29What's the difference between obliterated and significantly degraded?
00:33Are they the same?
00:37Congressman, anything regarding the nuclear program?
00:39I'm not asking you to talk about the nuclear program, Admiral.
00:41I'm asking you to answer a question that applies to a lot of things beyond the nuclear program.
00:45You've also said that their ballistic missile program was significantly degraded.
00:48What does that mean?
00:50The specific numbers are best, as you know, from your own military experience.
00:54President Trump's own national security strategy, which he signed in December,
00:57five months ago, used the exact same phrase, significantly degraded.
01:01So if this was true back then, five months ago, then why did we start this war?
01:07Was he lying to us then?
01:12Congressman, from a military perspective, anything regarding the nuclear program?
01:16Admiral, are you familiar with General Westmoreland?
01:19I'm very familiar, Congressman.
01:21He's well known for talking about body counts.
01:25Now, when I think about you in this war, I always think about how you always got up there
01:28and would say everything's going according to plan.
01:31So let me just ask, Admiral, where was closing the strait in the plan?
01:38I'm happy to discuss the specific operational aspects.
01:42But did you just not anticipate that?
01:43Do you not think that Iran could do that?
01:46Or was that part of the plan here?
01:48Congressman, as the...
01:49For 250 years, the Navy has kept sea lanes open and free.
01:53Under every previous president, the Strait of Hormuz has been open.
01:57So why is it closed under your watch?
01:59Congressman, I've traveled through the Strait of Hormuz probably 100 times.
02:03I'm intimately familiar with it as a combatant commander.
02:06But why is it closed?
02:07If you're so familiar with it, did you not anticipate that Iran might...
02:10If I may answer the question, if I may ask with respect, with all due respect,
02:14my responsibility as a combatant commander is to lay out all the options,
02:17present those to the secretary and the president.
02:20They make policy-level decisions.
02:22So you presented the option...
02:23The operational aspect...
02:24So, Admiral, you presented the reality that Iran might close the strait
02:29to the president and the secretary of defense.
02:32Anything that I discuss with respect to...
02:35Okay, well, let's go back to the plan.
02:37Where was begging China for help opening the strait part of the plan?
02:44Sir, from a military perspective?
02:46There are multiple reports now public that Iran has already reconstituted
02:51many of its bombed-out missile sites.
02:53Was that part of the plan, too?
02:54Those reports are inaccurate.
02:56Okay.
02:57I will actually give you credit for regime change.
03:00I know that was part of the plan.
03:01You've replaced an 86-year-old in failing health with a fought while against
03:05producing nuclear weapons.
03:07With a more hard-line guy in his 50s, who, in case he wasn't hard-line enough,
03:11you killed his immediate family.
03:14Was that part of the plan?
03:15Is that the regime change you wanted?
03:18Congressman, we were given very specific military objectives
03:21to degrade Iran's power projection capability.
03:23That's exactly what we did.
03:25Okay, so in the course of doing that,
03:27you also lifted the oil sanctions on Iran,
03:30giving them about $14 to $16 billion.
03:34They can buy a lot of ballistic missiles for that.
03:37Was that part of the plan?
03:38Lifting oil sanctions on them in the course of the conflict?
03:41They killed 14 Americans, we lift oil sanctions on them?
03:46As you know, sir, the U.S. military does not lift sanctions.
03:48That's a policy decision.
03:49Okay, I'm just trying to figure out where it was part of the plan.
03:53On March 5th, you talked about how you built the most integrated
03:58air defense system in the Middle East,
04:01and yet, well into the war, you had to ask Ukraine for help
04:04with defenses against drones.
04:06That's not accurate.
04:08Okay.
04:09What about oil prices, gas prices?
04:11Was oil prices going up 56% part of the plan?
04:17Congressman, as you know, from a military perspective,
04:19we don't deal on oil and gas prices.
04:20I defer to the appropriate authorities within the government.
04:23Okay, so since none of this seems to be part of the plan,
04:26what's the plan now?
04:27What's the plan now to actually win this war?
04:30Because it feels like we're losing.
04:31We don't have a nuclear deal.
04:33We don't have the strait open.
04:36The president has called for unconditional surrender.
04:39Is that part of the plan?
04:40Congressman, we achieved all our military objectives.
04:42We're presently in a ceasefire.
04:44We're executing a blockade,
04:46and we're prepared for a broad range of contingencies.
04:48Well, it doesn't seem to be going well,
04:49and I would like to know how many more Americans
04:51we have to ask to die for this mistake.
04:53Do you know?
04:54I think it's an entirely inappropriate statement from you, sir.
04:57With all due respect, it's not a statement, it's a question.
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