Why Terror Threats Matter Now

SPEAKER_00 0:07

Welcome to the Intersection of Faith and Culture. It's the Wall Builder Show, taking on the hot topics of the day from a biblical, historical, and constitutional perspective. Today we're taking on the topic of terrorism around the world and what we can do to be America first. Not America only, but America first. Rudy Gatala will be joining us. Rick Green here with David and Tim Barton. Guys, always good to get Rudy on. I bet he's got a lot to say today.

SPEAKER_03 0:26

Yeah, Rudy's always got a lot to say. He is one of the most knowledgeable guys in the world, especially from the American side and what's going on. He has all the top secret clearances. He just recently left the White House, had been working with counterterrorism stuff there and the National Security Council, but all of his clearances are still there, and he is so well trained and been doing this for so many years that he speaks very candidly about what he can, and it's always just compelling new information for us. He will never get into stuff he can't talk about, so we never worry about that. We can ask him any question, and he's going to answer or not answer based on what the clearances allow. But it's always intriguing information where we'll get maybe a little head nod of something going on in Africa or something going in the Middle East, or we hear something going with Iran. And he will have so many details that go beyond that. It's just always fascinating to hear the rest of the news. So I'm really looking to catch up with him and see what's what he thinks and what he's thinking about going on across the world right now. What has his attention?

SPEAKER_00 1:28

All right, well, Rudy Yatala with us when we come back from the break. Stay with us, folks. You're listening to the Wall Builder Show.

A Forgotten Influence On The Declaration

SPEAKER_01 1:40

This is Tim Barton from Wall Builders with another moment from American history. In the early 1700s, the Reverend John Wise preached that all men were created equal, that taxation without representation was tyranny, and that God's preferred form of government was the consent of the government, all of which is language recognizable in the Declaration of Independence. Why? Because in 1772, the Sons of Liberty, led by founders such as Sam Adams and John Hancock, reprinted and distributed the Reverend Wise's sermons. So four years later, much of the Declaration reflected the language of those sermons by John Wise. In 1926, on the 150th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, President Calvin Coolidge affirmed the thoughts in the Declaration can very largely be traced back to what John Wise was saying. Few today know that the Declaration was so strongly influenced by the Reverend John Wise. For more information on this and other stories, go to wallbuilders.com.

Syria And The Terror List Decision

SPEAKER_00 2:39

Welcome back to the Wall Builder Show. Thanks for staying with us. Always good to have Rudy Atala with us. Rudy, great to have you back, man. Appreciate the time today.

SPEAKER_02 2:45

Thank you so much for having me back. This is great.

SPEAKER_00 2:48

Well, so much has happened since the last time we had you on, which was not that long ago, but it's that's the world we're in right now, man. Just uh constant changes. And we were talking the other day on the show about uh the whole Syria thing and just some of these seismic shifts around the world. And of course, as always, when we get on that topic, it's like, okay, I wonder where Rudy is. We got to get him on. So anyway, appreciate it, bro. Well, what let me just toss it to you first. I mean, what what do you think the most important thing to update our listeners on right now?

SPEAKER_02 3:13

Oh gosh, I I can I can spend hours uh going down the list. I mean, obviously, Iran is up there, Lebanon, uh, Syria. I know you guys were interested uh to talk briefly about the uh Syria coming off the uh state sponsor of terrorism list. Yeah, let's go there first. Yeah. Yeah, that's fine. Um, so basically uh on that there's a 45-day congressional notification window, which we're in right now. Uh so they won't come off the list until the end of probably August. And um, once they do, that basically opens up the the floodgates of banks and investors to come into Syria and and uh you know uh see what's available. I mean, we Syria's been basically closed door now uh for over 17 years, and um there's opportunity, but again, we got to keep in mind that the leader of Syria is a uh a former terrorist, uh a reformed terrorist, so he's still a former Al-Qaeda guy.

SPEAKER_00 4:18

Um it'll be very Would you dive into that a little bit because we talked about this and we were trying to figure out, you know, how and and how do you know, right? But if it you know apparently he was kind of in a it's either Al-Qaeda or ISIS situation. Do you think he is a reformed terrorist? I mean, is he literally I don't know if I could say a good guy, but is is he a manageable guy that we can actually do business with because that's what it means, right? When we take him off the terrorists, now we're gonna do business with him.

SPEAKER_02 4:42

Yeah, exactly. Well, we brought him to the we brought him to the White House, and he definitely had a good time with President Trump.

SPEAKER_00 4:48

So no kidding.

SPEAKER_02 4:50

Uh yeah, he uh he was uh I mean President Trump was joking around with the guy, called him a tough guy. Uh but but um uh uh you know this guy was a product of a lot of uh uh Turkish intelligence, and so uh the Turks want to uh keep him in place, they use him as a vehicle essentially to get control of Syria, um, which making it uh they want to try to make uh Syria predominantly Sunni controlled and try to blockade any Shia or Iranian influence inside Syria for Turkey that makes a lot of sense um and it just falls in line with Erdogan's um you know long-term objective on Islamization of the rest of the world. Um now, is this guy you know reformed really or not? Only time will tell. I mean, so far he's been towing the line. Um, you know, uh he's been doing everything that we've asked him to do, which which is good. He's he's faux pod here and there a couple times, but within the ranks, he's brought a lot of bad actors, which he's gotta he's gotta deal with within his government and his military.

SPEAKER_00 6:05

Yeah, yeah, man. What a challenge. Oh, okay. So so if if he and I interrupted you, you were you were going through a list of of things there, but I was just curious about the guy himself. So go ahead.

Turkey’s Role And Syria’s New Leader

SPEAKER_02 6:16

Yeah, yeah. And so uh now we've got Lebanon. The president of Lebanon was uh with President Trump. Um I talked to him briefly before he went in with President Trump and afterwards. And um, you know, the Lebanese uh president is Christian and he was a member of the Lebanese Armed Forces. Uh I met with him last year in the presidential palace in Lebanon. Um the big the big ticket item here is uh Israel inside southern Lebanon has been maintaining its forces as a buffer. So now they've created three pilot zones where Israel would slowly withdraw out of these out of these zones and then give the uh the control to um uh to the Lebanese armed forces. Now the agreement is supposed to be where Hezbollah, a terrorist group, needs to disarm before Israel leaves. And Hezbollah says we will not disarm unless Israel leaves. So it's kind of a chicken and egg, they're gonna going back and forth on who's going to, you know, who's gonna go first. And uh Israel does not want to pull out uh until they know that there's there's uh the Hezbollah's been disarmed, so they're not attacked in northern Israel. Sure. And so so so the president of Lebanon is uh, you know, he came in uh with an ask, and President Trump was very gracious and basically said, We understand that Lebanon um, you know, has some amazing people, and it does, it's like Israel, a lot of highly educated people. Um, but Hezbollah is part of the problem, and that problem ties back to Iran. So he uh President Trump promised $3 billion to train and work with Central Command to train the Lebanese armed forces to essentially go in and systematically uproot and dislodge Hezbollah, which is gonna be very interesting because that can cause some major internal rumblings inside Lebanon. So we'll see how that plays out.

SPEAKER_00 8:14

So interesting. And give us, Rudy, just a quick um history on on Lebanon. I mean, this was this was a predominantly Christian nation at one point, right? And then, you know, obviously went uh very Muslim, and then you know, we had the the Beirut, all the all the stuff that happened in the last 40 years uh with America. But g remind us of kind of some of that story.

SPEAKER_02 8:34

So so uh out of all the Middle Eastern countries, uh the the the largest number of Christians are in Lebanon per capita. Basically, in 1943, when Lebanon became independent, uh it it had approximately 69 to 70 percent of the population was Christian. In fact, in fact, those Christians played uh an instrumental role in smuggling uh persecuted Jews by the Nazis through Lebanon into Palestine at the time. So they played a role in moving Jews and smuggling them through to protect them because they believe that they're kin. Um, you know, and that's uh some of my ancestors actually. Uh but but what happened now over the years is Iran, after the Iranian revolution in the late 70s, saw you know uh Lebanon as a potential as a potential way to get access to the Mediterranean Sea, but also to a place itself where it can it can go against Israel. And so and so it

Lebanon Israel Hezbollah And Disarmament

SPEAKER_02 9:36

took advantage of the Lebanese Civil War that started in 1975, and by 1982 they established Iran established uh his Hezbollah, uh Party of God, and uh immediately after Hezbollah's inception, uh they attacked the American embassy uh in 1983, and then then did the Marine Corps barracks bombing that same year, October of 83. I was there during that time where over 240 American soldiers were killed. So Hezbollah has been a terrorist group for a very long time. Um and uh and President Trump stopped playing around, so he's gonna go after those guys as well.

SPEAKER_00 10:13

Wow, wow, okay, okay, man, so much there. Uh, and it's so good to to to learn those things because sometimes, you know, obviously we we just tend to think of of what's happened in the last five years and then and and label a lot of these countries with just that. I mean, even Iran, just thinking about the Persian history there. And um, so so what um what would be well in fact let's go to Iran. What what do you what is your read right now on the situation with Iran?

SPEAKER_02 10:38

Yeah, so uh two seconds before I I was gonna say today uh in Lebanon, I forgot to say that there's uh there's 30 to 35 percent Christians left. So just uh just uh kind of put that out there.

SPEAKER_00 10:49

Okay, so there's still a huge population there. Interesting.

SPEAKER_02 10:52

There's still a good decent population, but it's it's cut in half since 1943. Uh on Iran, um, look, they're the Iran is is trying to they're playing the game where they are trying to see if they can pressure us enough and drag their feet all the way through the midterms, hoping that the left will gain control of the House and Senate, and that would take a lot of pressure off of them, and they would feel like they they can get back in control. Karg Island, which is an uh an island in the Strait of Hormuz, is essentially the cash cow, the the the crown jewel for them. It produces and you know, um, through Karg Island, you have 93% of Iran's uh oil revenues output coming through there. And the IRGC, the Iranian Republican Guard, wants to maintain control of it because without that cash cow, that golden goose, they literally are are are not able to pay their war machine, which is all their proxies, like the Houthis in Yemen and the Hezbollah and Lebanon, um, you know, and keep themselves very relevant in the region. So, so what they think is if they continue to put economic pressure by attacking all the Gulf states and the and our presence in all these Gulf states, that the world will turn around and say, Okay, enough United States, we need you to stop and then put and pull back. But Trump has doubled down and said absolutely not and has threatened to take Karg Island. If he does, essentially it'll be checkmate for for the IRGC, and they will lose all their money and not be able to uh essentially fund their war machine. So internally in Iran they're very divided, but the IRGC still controls the bulk of uh what's going on, all these missiles, all these attacks that are happening right now. So be because they're trying to attack us, uh, you know, uh the United States and our allies on the economic front, we are doing the same thing to them. We're taking out railroads, uh bridges, all the key um basically segues that come into Iran to keep them relevant. Uh they they can't resupply their supplies for missiles, uh, you know, anything that keeps the population going. So we're slowly uh we're uh not slowly, but we're increasing the pressure now to economically strangle them back. And we're gonna win this fight. We can we can outlast them far far more than they can outlast us. Um, but they still haven't figured that out yet. So this is where we're at.

SPEAKER_00 13:32

Yeah, back up to carg island again. What is the what are the downsides? Like, why haven't we just gone ahead and done that?

SPEAKER_02 13:39

Well, um the the threat uh and just controlling basically blockading anything coming in and out of carg island is already sending a message to them. So, you know, we don't uh carg island uh um China gets a lot of its oil from Karg Island. Other countries also rely on uh on oil coming out of Iran from for car from Karg Island, but primarily China. And so, you know, we also have to play that diplomatic dance between us and China as well. So we haven't gone into Karg Island yet, but we're very close, and President Trump can pull that trigger any day. And once we do, I mean you have 30,000 workers on Karg Island, you still have to manage that as well. So so it would require a little bit of a lift on our part. Doesn't mean we can't do it because the Marines are very good at it. But um, I mean, obviously we'd be putting people in harm's way as well. So so that's why the president's been waiting a little bit longer.

SPEAKER_00 14:36

Yeah, it's I mean it's obviously a huge um huge step up, and but it just seems like it is the linchpin. Um and I guess, you know, from a diplomatic perspective, it it could be uh it just too big of a slap in China's face, I guess. And um, but it seems like they would want to want to stop dealing with crazy people too. You know? I mean, don't the are the all the people that benefit from that, wouldn't they rather deal with a rational player? Uh or or do they like the instability because it makes them more powerful?

SPEAKER_02 15:07

No, it's not that it's because they were getting basically crude oil at a major discount. So okay.

SPEAKER_00 15:14

If it goes to an actual market situation, they're good the that that's gonna increase their economic burden.

SPEAKER_02 15:20

Yeah, they were getting it at 20% discount. So, you know, you add 20% on billions of dollars, it starts to add up.

SPEAKER_00 15:27

Yeah, yeah, it does, no doubt. No doubt.

SPEAKER_02 15:29

So, anyway, there's there's the economic piece, and then there's the strategic piece. I mean,

Iran’s Pressure Campaign And Karg Island

SPEAKER_02 15:34

uh the the Department of War is doing an exceptional job right now hitting targets, but at the same time, this is happening, we're doing layers of attack. So the way we do is we we fire missiles, we take out their radars, anything that they can see. Anytime then you have F-16s and F-15s that follow through with another strike package. So anytime they turn on their radar to look for missiles that are coming from our side, our F-16s pick up on them and they strike them. So we're doing all this, but at the same time, this is happening. There also is a growing um uh uh uh problem internally to Iran. Well, several growing problems. They have an economic they're in an economic free fall, number one, and number two, they also have a Iranian Kurds that have been fighting with the IRGC since February until now. They've had over 850 different skirmishes between the Kurds and the IRGC. And just recently, the Kurds have killed two IRGC members, and so it's been a tit for tat, but they're they're starting to increase that, seeing that the the you know, Iran, the regime has been at its weakest in over 47 years, so they're trying to take advantage of that as well.

SPEAKER_00 16:49

Yeah, yeah, yeah, man. Um, I I mean, obviously impossible to to to to predict, but you know, the big underlying question that that that we've had from the beginning is is it actually possible to remove the Islamic regime completely and and and get back to a constitutional monarch of some kind in Iran? I mean, that's so many factors there, but is that even in the realm of possibility in your mind?

SPEAKER_02 17:13

I I think it is. It just it's gonna take time. The problem is like 85% of the population hates the regime, but they won't speak up. But you need to arm them, you need to give them somebody that with strong leadership. Israel's been working on it for a while, but I think we're seeing that, you know, if we can really collapse the big monsters within the regime, you know, the the that 85% of the population may be able to rise up at some point and really push back. And I think that's a possibility over time. I think the regime right now, the trajectory it's on, it's it's literally choking itself. I mean, because of the economic pressure they're trying to put on us, we're putting it back on them, and and we're doing it in such a strategic way that sooner or later they are they're basically gonna be done. There's nothing gonna be, nothing will be left for them to stand.

SPEAKER_00 18:06

Man, that's the big one. That's the big one. Well, um, a couple of minutes left. Any any other area hotspot we need to inform people about today? I know you got a million, but if you had to pick one, what would be another one?

SPEAKER_02 18:16

Yeah, I think I mean segueing a little bit away from the Middle East, there's a lot happening right

Internal Unrest And Regime Change Chances

SPEAKER_02 18:22

now between uh Russia and Ukraine. Ukraine has been uh on this tear of hitting all the strategic spots inside Russia where they're sending these long-range drones and they're striking all the oil production facilities um, you know, in inside Russia. And so so the Russians are are basically, you know, taking uh a real beating right now by the Ukrainians. But what's really interesting is this Russia-China, this Russia-Ukraine thing is also playing out in parts of Africa. Currently, it's playing out in West Africa and Mali, where Mali's been controlled by a lot of Islamists. And on one side of the equation, you have the Ukrainians, on the other side of the equation, you have the Russians. And so we're I I think we're gonna start seeing a little bit more of that play across different parts of Africa, um, not only in Europe, and that's gonna be an interesting thing to watch and see how um you know Ukrainians target those resources where the Russians are getting, you know, the critical minerals and the gold and the stuff like that to keep the war machine going.

SPEAKER_00 19:34

Interesting. Very, very interesting. And I and I'm guessing, I mean, last question I've got is the this drone warfare that's that that's happening over there, um, you know, that that in in many ways help has helped us almost see uh and prepare for this next level of warfare. You know, the is that is am I anywhere close on that? Like I've I've I've wondered if what's happening there in the long run can help our military prepare. I mean, so much of our technology is being used and tested and whatnot, I'm assuming, um, almost by proxy, we're getting a chance to to to see that next level.

SPEAKER_02 20:11

Yeah, I think the best, you know, the the Ukrainians have really surpassed everybody in drone technology because of the war they've been in. But we we have a very good exchange with them. And what's really helped us out is it's helped us in here in the United States. I mean, with the World Cup, I think the FBI, since the World Cup started until the the final match, has thwarted uh hundreds and hundreds of drones that wanted to go over stadiums to to film uh the the matches and stuff like that. So we're employing a lot of the technology from the battlefield already on the on the domestic front. It's it's we're not 100% there yet, but you know, the the threat can happen here, and so we're employing it here, and then also we're learning from you know different parts of the world, but Ukraine-Russia war has taught us quite a bit.

SPEAKER_00 21:03

Yeah, yeah, very, very interesting. Rudy, always a pleasure, man. Thank you for your time today. Thanks for the update. Anytime, anytime. Stay with us, folks. Be right back with David and Tim Bart.

SPEAKER_01 21:17

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Russia Ukraine Drones And Africa Spillover

SPEAKER_01 21:36

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SPEAKER_00 22:19

Welcome back to the Wall Builder Show. Thanks for staying with us. Thanks to Rudy always for uh for joining us. And man, we could go for hours with him, guys. Uh so much to catch up on. But that was a really good kind of around the world update and covered so many of the of the different trouble spots.

SPEAKER_03 22:33

Well, even with Russia, I had not thought about Russia and Ukraine having an impact in Africa and and how much of both of those countries get resources from Africa and how it's affecting what's going on there and thus affect it. Okay. But there were still so many things there I had not heard about Iran, even though we're in the middle of that war. And and Syria, you know, it was interesting to hear about Syria because I've heard and been told um that the the Syrian president there had been a former terrorist, but that was kind of a necessity. He he had to be with one terror group or the other to f to defend himself against whoever was coming. And it seems like the guy in Syria has been really pretty reasonable and is working well with Christians and and and Jews and others that are in that area and and not taking them down. So I it's just it's interesting to see that maybe there's some stability in places we didn't think about, and maybe there's less stability in places we thought there was more stability. But I don't know. That was that was really a interesting round-the-world kind of trip, so many nations.

SPEAKER_01 23:46

Now, Rick, I know we didn't have time to get into with Rudy, but I but I was curious, um, and this might be something I I text him uh here in a little bit and be like, hey bro, what are your thoughts on this? Uh you know, when when he talks about

Ukraine’s Drone Lessons For US Security

SPEAKER_01 23:57

Iran and how crippled they were, uh, and and the fact that what 85% or something of their uh people do not support the regime. But I saw an article, I think the end of last week, that was talking about how China has been supporting Iran, and Iran got away from using GPS and is using now China's kind of global system. And because of it, they've been more effective in targeting some of the American bases and installations and facilities or kind of whatever's going on. Uh and and that dad, you kind of alluded earlier, uh, that he has a lot of classified information that he can't always share. And so he might not have been able to tell us uh what he did know about it. But I I do think it's

Founders Book Offer And Final Prayer

SPEAKER_01 24:37

interesting hearing uh that so many of the Iranian people are not supportive of what they are doing. And guys, on on a broader picture, it reminds me a little bit of what we've kind of seen and heard people talk about is that the majority of Muslims uh actually are not always radical. But when you look at how large the Muslim population is, if even only 10% of the Muslims are radical, that's hundreds of millions of radical Muslims. And it made me think also uh of Iran that even though the majority of the Iranian people uh uh are are not radical. And actually, even to clarify, if if you go back to Iran before the 1970s, they weren't even really Muslim. Uh it's it's been the takeover in Iran just like we have seen uh in Europe and are really trying to fight some in America, it it it's extremists inside of Islam that have brought so much violence and destruction and death uh to a lot of nations in the world. Uh, but seeing 85% of the people in Iran not supporting the the regime is also encouraging thinking, man, maybe maybe if they can rise up, they can help put a stop to some of this nonsense that's going on and hopefully end this conflict uh and bring peace and stability, which of course also benefits us as a nation.

SPEAKER_03 25:52

You know, it's interesting how m how often the fifteen percent runs the eighty-five percent, and Iran's a great example. I had not realized it was eighty-five percent, but that fifteen percent have all the missiles, have all the blood uh letting devices, you know, all the things that would kill those who oppose them, and and maybe we can weaken and destabilize Iran enough that and and taking them out, that 85% will rise up. But man, again, Iran is is backing virtually every militant group in the world right now. They in China, and if you can take either one of those out, you're gonna have a much more peaceful world.

SPEAKER_00 26:29

Yeah, huge change for the entire world. It would have a massive impact. Uh man, I just everybody out there pray for President Trump. Wise decisions right now. Pray for President Trump to have wise decisions. Thanks so much for listening today, folks. You've been listening to the Wall Booter Show.