WEBVTT
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Welcome back to the Lars Larson Show.
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Well, the Pentagon has now admitted that America has weapons in orbit, but won't say what they can do.
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Is the next war already shaping up right above our heads?
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I thought we'd talk about that with Michael Back, who, by the way, is producer and director of the last 600 meters, the battles of Najev and Fal Fallujah.
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He's also president of Manifold Productions.
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Michael, welcome back to the program.
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How are you?
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Thank you.
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It's good to be back.
00:00:32.079 --> 00:00:36.399
I should mention that also relevant is my new company, Palladium Pictures.
00:00:36.479 --> 00:00:44.799
We produce documentaries of the Wall Street Journal Opinion section, and we have one on the withdrawal from Afghanistan that was up in the last couple of weeks called The Path to Zero.
00:00:45.039 --> 00:00:47.439
Free, not behind the Wall Street Journal paywall.
00:00:47.600 --> 00:00:52.240
So they can just go to wsj.com or YouTube and search for the Path to Zero.
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I'm hoping that President AutoPen was not treated uh uh you know uh lightly uh when it came to uh the the the path to zero.
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Indeed.
00:01:03.840 --> 00:01:08.879
If we've been criticized for anything online, it's doing very well online, it's that we treated him too harshly.
00:01:09.040 --> 00:01:11.519
So that at least that means you won't be disappointed.
00:01:12.159 --> 00:01:18.959
No, and and that's the thing, because a lot of us talked about that endlessly, saying, how in the world could you mess things up so very badly?
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But that's a subject for another day.
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Let me ask you about this, though.
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So the U.S.
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military has launched weapons with secret capabilities into space.
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How much how much do we know about what's going on and what they could have put up there?
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Uh, because there are treaties about WMD in in orbit, but there are no treaties that forbid us necessarily from having certain kinds of weapons in orbit.
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Do we know what's up there?
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I don't think we know much.
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We know more than we did a couple of days ago.
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But I am in favor of a strong United States and a strong military, and that includes weapons in space.
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I don't see a problem with it.
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I mean, I I think that, you know, I was a big fan of Ronald Reagan's efforts to have um strategic defense stuff in space.
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I'm in favor of President Trump's Golden Dome variation on that.
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All that assumes, you know, defensive weapons in space, which is, I think, part of the idea of what we have now.
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And I am in totally for it.
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By the way, Michael, so am I.
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And in fact, uh, we've made this our ex-pole question for the day.
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We usually put up a brand new question every day uh out of the news of the day, and that is should we have weapons in space?
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Um and and I would answer yes.
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And in fact, I I threw out that uh a program that I've been reading about for years, uh uh known by a number of different names, like Operation Thor, Project Thor, or the Rods from God.
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And I got a number of people writing to me saying, well, that's impossible.
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You couldn't possibly do that.
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I said, no, it's it sounds like one of the most one of the most theoretically possible weapons, in a lot of ways, the cheapest.
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We're not talking about million-dollar, you know, missiles or million-dollar cruise missiles or or multimillion-dollar uh conventional missiles.
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We're talking about rods that once they're lofted in space and can be dropped back to planet Earth and precisely guarded to a time guided to a target might have the equivalent of nuclear uh a nuclear impact without the radiation and all the attendant problems of that.
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It's hard to know what's technically possible, and it changes very rapidly, as we've seen with AI and other things.
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I mean, look, a lot of these people that are against weapons in space, they don't like the idea of war.
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I'm not really fond of the idea of war either.
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It's just that it's not, you may not be fond of it, but there's been warfare from time immemorial and will be in the future.
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I just think we should be prepared to win the next one.
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Well, and and the best way to avoid a war, isn't it, to prepare for it so that when the other guys, whoever the other guys happen to be, when they say, hey, maybe we'll launch a f a physical, a kinetic attack on the United States, they say, but they appear to be ready for it, and we may end up being sorry that we launched that attack, as as we understand that some of the Japanese leaders were sorry they launched that attack on Pearl Harbor so long ago.
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Well, they're sorry now.
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Um, even at the time, didn't they say, I fear that we have awakened a sleeping giant?
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Well, turns out they were right.
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Yes, some some smarter ones than Japan thought that at the time, and and they were right on that.
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I mean, you know, who knows what would have happened if they hadn't done that.
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It's another one of those, you know, interesting things, you know, to think through.
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Um, but yeah, I completely agree.
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We have to be prepared, and that includes in space.
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President Trump was very smart to create to promote and to start and to fund, you know, the space part of the space command.
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I think that there's it's inevitable that that's another area of battle.
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It's inevitable.
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Um, I mean, and we just have to be prepared to win it.
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Um, I particularly fond, as I say, of defensive weapons in space.
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I mean, we it's a dream since Ronald Reagan, and President Trump mentions the Golden Dome from time to time.
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We need to be able to protect ourselves if China or Iran, if President Trump doesn't stop from having nuclear weapons, launch a nuclear weapon at us or at one of our allies.
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I'm talking to Michael Pack.
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Go ahead, Michael.
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Well, I mean, we just have to be prepared, exactly as you said, Lars.
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Michael Pack, producer and director of the last 600 meters, the battles of Najev and uh Fallujah.
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Hey, would you mind saying a word or two about the path to zero?
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Because that's one that I fear America left behind simply because the Biden administration was such a colossal series of disasters that just picking one of the disasters, people I think uh wanted to put it in the rearview mirror.
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A lot of us wanted to get some justice for the 13 who died.
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Indeed.
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And it it goes even beyond those 13.
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I mean, it's it was one of the biggest foreign policy disasters of recent history.
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It began with President Biden's decision early in his term in April of 2021 to go to zero, hence our film, The Path to Zero, deciding there'd be zero troops left behind at a date certain, originally September 11th, then the end of August.
00:06:09.759 --> 00:06:23.920
And that should there was a cascading series of bad decisions after that, leaving Bagram, not supporting the Afghan military, failure to announce an evacuation in an early enough time that that led to tragedy in Kabul at the airport.
00:06:24.000 --> 00:06:30.720
You know, the people falling from the planes, you know, chaos at the gates, babies being thrown over barbed wire.
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I mean, it was horrific.
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And then finally, as you say, culminating in the Abbey Gate bomb and killed 13 service members, but also 170 Afghans, and it wounded uh, I think 45 American servicemen and another 150 Afghans.
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I mean, it was a huge, avoidable disaster.
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And we tell that story from April through the end of August.
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It is a harrowing story, but I think it's one that we need to need to understand for just the reasons you said, so we don't repeat it and do it again.
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And it's called The Path to Zero.
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You can find it on the Wall Street Journal website.
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And again, as Michael pointed out, it's not behind the paywall.
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So God bless you for that decision.
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Michael, thanks so much.
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I appreciate the time.
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No problem.
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Good talking to you.
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Thank you.
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And nice talking to you as well.
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That is Michael Back, who's also producer and director of the last 600 meters, the battles of Najev and Fallujah.
00:07:23.759 --> 00:07:27.040
Glad to take your phone calls and your emails at 866-Hey Lars.
00:07:27.279 --> 00:07:30.639
That's 866-439-5277.
00:07:30.879 --> 00:07:36.240
Uh, naysayers always go to the head of the line at 866-439-5277.
00:07:36.560 --> 00:07:43.279
Send your emails to talk at LarsLarson.com, and you can vote in our poll on X, our X poll question today.
00:07:43.519 --> 00:07:44.160
Should the U.S.
00:07:44.240 --> 00:07:48.800
military put weapons in space to defend America from China and Russia?
00:07:49.040 --> 00:07:50.240
My answer to that is yes.
00:07:50.480 --> 00:07:52.560
Put those rods from God in orbit.
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There's nothing that forbids it.
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It's smart and it's inexpensive and it's very, very effective.
00:07:58.160 --> 00:07:58.720
Back in a moment.
00:07:58.879 --> 00:08:00.959
You're listening to the Lars Larson show.
00:00:04.480 --> 00:00:06.480
Welcome back to the Lars Larson Show.
00:00:06.639 --> 00:00:12.240
Well, the Pentagon has now admitted that America has weapons in orbit, but won't say what they can do.
00:00:12.320 --> 00:00:15.679
Is the next war already shaping up right above our heads?
00:00:15.839 --> 00:00:24.399
I thought we'd talk about that with Michael Back, who, by the way, is producer and director of the last 600 meters, the battles of Najev and Fal Fallujah.
00:00:24.559 --> 00:00:26.719
He's also president of Manifold Productions.
00:00:26.960 --> 00:00:28.399
Michael, welcome back to the program.
00:00:28.480 --> 00:00:29.440
How are you?
00:00:30.399 --> 00:00:30.800
Thank you.
00:00:30.879 --> 00:00:31.760
It's good to be back.
00:00:32.079 --> 00:00:36.399
I should mention that also relevant is my new company, Palladium Pictures.
00:00:36.479 --> 00:00:44.799
We produce documentaries of the Wall Street Journal Opinion section, and we have one on the withdrawal from Afghanistan that was up in the last couple of weeks called The Path to Zero.
00:00:45.039 --> 00:00:47.439
Free, not behind the Wall Street Journal paywall.
00:00:47.600 --> 00:00:52.240
So they can just go to wsj.com or YouTube and search for the Path to Zero.
00:00:54.479 --> 00:01:02.560
I'm hoping that President AutoPen was not treated uh uh you know uh lightly uh when it came to uh the the the path to zero.
00:01:03.119 --> 00:01:03.520
Indeed.
00:01:03.840 --> 00:01:08.879
If we've been criticized for anything online, it's doing very well online, it's that we treated him too harshly.
00:01:09.040 --> 00:01:11.519
So that at least that means you won't be disappointed.
00:01:12.159 --> 00:01:18.959
No, and and that's the thing, because a lot of us talked about that endlessly, saying, how in the world could you mess things up so very badly?
00:01:19.040 --> 00:01:20.799
But that's a subject for another day.
00:01:21.040 --> 00:01:22.239
Let me ask you about this, though.
00:01:22.480 --> 00:01:23.040
So the U.S.
00:01:23.200 --> 00:01:27.280
military has launched weapons with secret capabilities into space.
00:01:27.439 --> 00:01:31.519
How much how much do we know about what's going on and what they could have put up there?
00:01:31.599 --> 00:01:41.040
Uh, because there are treaties about WMD in in orbit, but there are no treaties that forbid us necessarily from having certain kinds of weapons in orbit.
00:01:41.200 --> 00:01:42.640
Do we know what's up there?
00:01:43.280 --> 00:01:44.799
I don't think we know much.
00:01:45.040 --> 00:01:47.599
We know more than we did a couple of days ago.
00:01:47.920 --> 00:01:54.560
But I am in favor of a strong United States and a strong military, and that includes weapons in space.
00:01:54.799 --> 00:01:56.480
I don't see a problem with it.
00:01:56.640 --> 00:02:05.280
I mean, I I think that, you know, I was a big fan of Ronald Reagan's efforts to have um strategic defense stuff in space.
00:02:05.359 --> 00:02:08.800
I'm in favor of President Trump's Golden Dome variation on that.
00:02:09.039 --> 00:02:15.199
All that assumes, you know, defensive weapons in space, which is, I think, part of the idea of what we have now.
00:02:15.360 --> 00:02:17.599
And I am in totally for it.
00:02:18.479 --> 00:02:20.000
By the way, Michael, so am I.
00:02:20.080 --> 00:02:23.439
And in fact, uh, we've made this our ex-pole question for the day.
00:02:23.599 --> 00:02:29.599
We usually put up a brand new question every day uh out of the news of the day, and that is should we have weapons in space?
00:02:29.759 --> 00:02:31.360
Um and and I would answer yes.
00:02:31.439 --> 00:02:42.240
And in fact, I I threw out that uh a program that I've been reading about for years, uh uh known by a number of different names, like Operation Thor, Project Thor, or the Rods from God.
00:02:42.400 --> 00:02:45.280
And I got a number of people writing to me saying, well, that's impossible.
00:02:45.439 --> 00:02:46.479
You couldn't possibly do that.
00:02:46.639 --> 00:02:53.199
I said, no, it's it sounds like one of the most one of the most theoretically possible weapons, in a lot of ways, the cheapest.
00:02:53.439 --> 00:03:01.199
We're not talking about million-dollar, you know, missiles or million-dollar cruise missiles or or multimillion-dollar uh conventional missiles.
00:03:01.360 --> 00:03:16.159
We're talking about rods that once they're lofted in space and can be dropped back to planet Earth and precisely guarded to a time guided to a target might have the equivalent of nuclear uh a nuclear impact without the radiation and all the attendant problems of that.
00:03:17.199 --> 00:03:23.520
It's hard to know what's technically possible, and it changes very rapidly, as we've seen with AI and other things.
00:03:23.759 --> 00:03:28.479
I mean, look, a lot of these people that are against weapons in space, they don't like the idea of war.
00:03:28.560 --> 00:03:31.039
I'm not really fond of the idea of war either.
00:03:31.280 --> 00:03:39.199
It's just that it's not, you may not be fond of it, but there's been warfare from time immemorial and will be in the future.
00:03:39.360 --> 00:03:42.319
I just think we should be prepared to win the next one.
00:03:42.719 --> 00:04:07.039
Well, and and the best way to avoid a war, isn't it, to prepare for it so that when the other guys, whoever the other guys happen to be, when they say, hey, maybe we'll launch a f a physical, a kinetic attack on the United States, they say, but they appear to be ready for it, and we may end up being sorry that we launched that attack, as as we understand that some of the Japanese leaders were sorry they launched that attack on Pearl Harbor so long ago.
00:04:07.840 --> 00:04:09.280
Well, they're sorry now.
00:04:09.439 --> 00:04:13.919
Um, even at the time, didn't they say, I fear that we have awakened a sleeping giant?
00:04:14.080 --> 00:04:15.439
Well, turns out they were right.
00:04:15.680 --> 00:04:21.279
Yes, some some smarter ones than Japan thought that at the time, and and they were right on that.
00:04:21.439 --> 00:04:25.839
I mean, you know, who knows what would have happened if they hadn't done that.
00:04:26.000 --> 00:04:31.120
It's another one of those, you know, interesting things, you know, to think through.
00:04:31.279 --> 00:04:33.759
Um, but yeah, I completely agree.
00:04:33.920 --> 00:04:36.399
We have to be prepared, and that includes in space.
00:04:36.560 --> 00:04:45.279
President Trump was very smart to create to promote and to start and to fund, you know, the space part of the space command.
00:04:45.519 --> 00:04:49.920
I think that there's it's inevitable that that's another area of battle.
00:04:50.160 --> 00:04:51.360
It's inevitable.
00:04:51.519 --> 00:04:55.120
Um, I mean, and we just have to be prepared to win it.
00:04:55.279 --> 00:04:59.120
Um, I particularly fond, as I say, of defensive weapons in space.
00:04:59.199 --> 00:05:04.560
I mean, we it's a dream since Ronald Reagan, and President Trump mentions the Golden Dome from time to time.
00:05:04.720 --> 00:05:14.800
We need to be able to protect ourselves if China or Iran, if President Trump doesn't stop from having nuclear weapons, launch a nuclear weapon at us or at one of our allies.
00:05:15.199 --> 00:05:16.399
I'm talking to Michael Pack.
00:05:16.959 --> 00:05:18.000
Go ahead, Michael.
00:05:18.399 --> 00:05:21.360
Well, I mean, we just have to be prepared, exactly as you said, Lars.
00:05:21.759 --> 00:05:26.879
Michael Pack, producer and director of the last 600 meters, the battles of Najev and uh Fallujah.
00:05:27.040 --> 00:05:30.160
Hey, would you mind saying a word or two about the path to zero?
00:05:30.319 --> 00:05:43.120
Because that's one that I fear America left behind simply because the Biden administration was such a colossal series of disasters that just picking one of the disasters, people I think uh wanted to put it in the rearview mirror.
00:05:43.279 --> 00:05:46.959
A lot of us wanted to get some justice for the 13 who died.
00:05:48.240 --> 00:05:48.800
Indeed.
00:05:48.959 --> 00:05:51.040
And it it goes even beyond those 13.
00:05:51.199 --> 00:05:55.360
I mean, it's it was one of the biggest foreign policy disasters of recent history.
00:05:55.600 --> 00:06:09.519
It began with President Biden's decision early in his term in April of 2021 to go to zero, hence our film, The Path to Zero, deciding there'd be zero troops left behind at a date certain, originally September 11th, then the end of August.
00:06:09.759 --> 00:06:23.920
And that should there was a cascading series of bad decisions after that, leaving Bagram, not supporting the Afghan military, failure to announce an evacuation in an early enough time that that led to tragedy in Kabul at the airport.
00:06:24.000 --> 00:06:30.720
You know, the people falling from the planes, you know, chaos at the gates, babies being thrown over barbed wire.
00:06:30.879 --> 00:06:32.399
I mean, it was horrific.
00:06:32.639 --> 00:06:45.839
And then finally, as you say, culminating in the Abbey Gate bomb and killed 13 service members, but also 170 Afghans, and it wounded uh, I think 45 American servicemen and another 150 Afghans.
00:06:45.920 --> 00:06:50.000
I mean, it was a huge, avoidable disaster.
00:06:50.160 --> 00:06:53.600
And we tell that story from April through the end of August.
00:06:53.920 --> 00:07:01.680
It is a harrowing story, but I think it's one that we need to need to understand for just the reasons you said, so we don't repeat it and do it again.
00:07:02.000 --> 00:07:03.519
And it's called The Path to Zero.
00:07:03.600 --> 00:07:05.680
You can find it on the Wall Street Journal website.
00:07:05.759 --> 00:07:08.959
And again, as Michael pointed out, it's not behind the paywall.
00:07:09.120 --> 00:07:10.879
So God bless you for that decision.
00:07:11.040 --> 00:07:12.000
Michael, thanks so much.
00:07:12.079 --> 00:07:13.360
I appreciate the time.
00:07:14.000 --> 00:07:14.560
No problem.
00:07:14.720 --> 00:07:15.279
Good talking to you.
00:07:15.360 --> 00:07:15.519
Thank you.
00:07:15.759 --> 00:07:16.720
And nice talking to you as well.
00:07:16.800 --> 00:07:23.519
That is Michael Back, who's also producer and director of the last 600 meters, the battles of Najev and Fallujah.
00:07:23.759 --> 00:07:27.040
Glad to take your phone calls and your emails at 866-Hey Lars.
00:07:27.279 --> 00:07:30.639
That's 866-439-5277.
00:07:30.879 --> 00:07:36.240
Uh, naysayers always go to the head of the line at 866-439-5277.
00:07:36.560 --> 00:07:43.279
Send your emails to talk at LarsLarson.com, and you can vote in our poll on X, our X poll question today.
00:07:43.519 --> 00:07:44.160
Should the U.S.
00:07:44.240 --> 00:07:48.800
military put weapons in space to defend America from China and Russia?
00:07:49.040 --> 00:07:50.240
My answer to that is yes.
00:07:50.480 --> 00:07:52.560
Put those rods from God in orbit.
00:07:52.720 --> 00:07:54.079
There's nothing that forbids it.
00:07:54.240 --> 00:07:57.439
It's smart and it's inexpensive and it's very, very effective.
00:07:58.160 --> 00:07:58.720
Back in a moment.
00:07:58.879 --> 00:08:00.959
You're listening to the Lars Larson show.
