Rep. Steve Russell: Iran will “continue to destabilize the region”

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Frank Gaffney: A man who’s been in other phases of the war for the free world, other facets of it certainly in uniform in fact, the uniform the United States Rangers of the Army; he is a man who is now serving on the House Armed Services Committee in the House of Representatives, and representing the people of the 5^th District of Oklahoma, is Congressman Steve Russell. He’s distinguished himself in uniform, he’s distinguishing himself now in the congressional environment, and we’re always delighted to have him with us. Congressman welcome back thanks so much for taking the time to join us.   

Rep. Steve Russell: Well thank you Frank, it’s great to be with you.

FG: I’m anxious to talk about many things, particularly related to this sort of theater in which you’ve spent a lot of time, but before I do, the theater you’re in at the moment is pretty high drama too. Any thoughts at the moment and where we are with respect to the Republican leadership in the House? A decision that will be made, I guess formally on Thursday of next week.

SR: Well it will, we’ve got a big day on that day, I know there will be lots of discussion. I think really the backdrop of a lot of it is who has offered themselves as candidates, what are our choices, and what are the things that we have remaining to do by the end of the year, and all of those things are factors, and I understand the anger of everybody. I mean no one understands it more than those of us in Congress who receive it on a daily basis. But you know this notion that somehow we’re not listening, or we don’t care, all of that is just absurd, and the American people are really not informed on the inner workings of Congress and how it works, and I would dare say that McCarthy, if you had asked people who is Kevin McCarthy two weeks ago, 99 percent of America probably couldn’t even have told you who he was, and now suddenly they all have these opinions about it, and so it’s really rather fascinating to watch the dynamic.

FG: They’re being informed for good or ill by some of thing he’s being saying and doing lately, but there’ll be more opinions between now and Thursday I’m sure.

SR: Well, we’ll see some of that play out, and I am only aware of two people that have put their name forward, which would be McCarthy and Webster is also one of the candidates, and among those I’ve not heard any other. I certainly have been called and contacted by all kinds of people that if McCarthy were to go to the Speakership that would open up of course other races then everybody would be swirling on that, and that seems to be getting a lot of attention.

FG: It will and we’ll be looking forward to covering it here of course and perhaps talking to you about it in the near future as well. Let me turn to though the immediate issue that I was very anxious to visit with you about and that is the developments that are taking place. As I mentioned you served in uniform, notably in combat in Tikrit and were directly involved with the folks who brought Saddam Hussein out of the rat hole as I recall, the subject of your book, “We Got Him!: A Memoir of the Hunt and Capture of Saddam Hussein”. What do you make, Congressman Steve Russell, of what we’re seeing the Russian do at the moment in Syria and with the Iranians of course, with Bashar Asssad, but also with the people you use to work with, the Iraqis.

SR: Well it should not be surprising that Russia is involved. As you and I have discussed, I believe even on this radio show, you know I have been saying what 12-14 months ago, Russia will have an interest there because of the naval base at the port of Tartus. They have the air base at Lattakia, they have interest there and now that you see the rebels within striking distance of some of that, well it’s striking to me that our own administration acts surprised that Russia moved troops there to protect it, and I’m really saddened at how amature this administration is when it comes to that region and foreign policy. We missed an incredible opportunity more than a year ago, where, ok, we’ve got our differences, Crimea-Ukraine disaster – got that, we’re anti Russian on that get that, but with terror we still share intelligence with them Frank. With the war on terror and all these Islamo-fascist that are out there, you know there is a lager group of nations that cooperate, and ISIS is certainly chief among the worst of these, and so the missed opportunity more than a year ago was ‘look we know you have your naval base there at Tartus, we know you’re going to protect it, if you start in Damascus and work your way to the Iraqi border, we’ll start in Baghdad and work our way to the Syrian border’. Whether that’s through advising, whether that’s through whatever it is. We could have squeezed ISIS out much much earlier and we could have done something a lot more long lasting, and then you worry about the governments and the geo-political after that, that doesn’t mean you have to remain and stay. We also misread Russia’s interest there, and I’m not trying to be a Putin apologist, that’s the last thing I would be, but you have like we have our bases overseas, you have a community that has grown accustom to Russians, you have intermarried populations and cultures, you have decades of Russian presence in that area, and for us to just think well oh my gosh the Russian have come into Syria suddenly. Hello, they’ve been there for four decades.

FG: Steve let me ask you about one other piece of this equation. You talk about us moving in Iraq. One of the outfits that apparently the Russians are sharing intelligence with at the moment, and from what you say it may well be ours, is Iran. They’ve been partnering in propping up their shared ally, Bashar Assad. Do you have concerns about the role that Iran is playing in all of this at the moment?

SR: Of course I do, I mean Iran, as you know, I have and continued to oppose the President’s executive action on the Iran deal. We are still very much in play with stopping it. I was an original co-sponsor on Patrick Meehan’s Bill that he did yesterday, so that no funds could be sent out before settlements on terror victims were paid, a fantastic measure. I also dropped my own Bill that would prohibit any sanctions being lifted with the Iran Terror Financier Transparency Act and we are still very much in this fight, but Iran they are going to continue to fight proxy wars, they’re going to continue to destabilize folks in the region, they’re not going to change that behavior, we don’t need to embrace them. In terms of intelligence it’s kind of a two edged sword. On the one hand they have agreed to share intelligence with both Baghdad and Tehran with Russia. I’m kind of heartened by that because we’ll have a chance to read it.

FG: Well that’s an interesting thought.

SR: Well I mean I’m being facetious there, but we will be able to penetrate that more than likely.

FG: Let me ask you in connection with the work you’ve been doing, and it’s highly laudable, to counter this Iran deal. You’ve also recognized the importance of what states, I believe like yours Oklahoma, have done to impose prohibitions on investment by their public pension funds in companies doing business with Iran. This is something that’s suppose to go away pursuant of the ObamaBomb deal. Congressman Steve Russell, do you think that the states will be able to stands up against the pressure that the feds produce?

SR: We have 15 states now that have signed on to the efforts that we’re working. Attorney General, Scott Pruitt from the state of Oklahoma, and Bill Schuette from Michigan, they were the initial two this effort is being led by Oklahoma and now we have 15 state, I believe Indiana was the last one to join. The President says this is not a treaty, we agree with him, and because it’s not, the Supremacy Clause does not hold true, and consequently if you go back to Medellin vs. Texas the Supreme Court affirmed that states, have the absolute rights in these cases, and so we are very encouraged by it.

FG: Congressman Russell we have run out of time before we have run out of things to talk with you about. I appreciate so much your time and your service to our country, particularly that in uniform but that also your also providing today. I hope you’ll come back to us again soon and in the meantime good luck with the fights here and elsewhere, God bless you sir.