Congressman Jim Bridenstine of Oklahoma is on Secure Freedom Radio

Join us for an analysis of the Iranian-backed proxy violence all across the Middle East including Iraq, Syria, and Yemen from a Capitol Hill insider. Rep. Bridenstine is combat veteran logging sorties over the skies of Afghanistan and Iraq, and it’s a treat to have hime on the show today.

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FG: Welcome to Secure Freedom Radio. This is Frank Gaffney, your host and guide for what I think of as an intelligence briefing on the war for the free world. One of the men that I have come to admire most in the United States Congress, both for his intelligence as well as his service to our country, both in uniform and now in the Congress of the United States, is Congressman Jim Bridenstine. He is a combat veteran navy pilot, a man who has had tours in, or at least over, the skies of Afghanistan and Iraq on a number of occasions. He has trained others to do the same. He is today a member of the House Armed Services Committee and also the Science, Space, and Technology Committee where he chairs its Subcommittee on the Environment. He represents with great distinction the people of the first district of Oklahoma and always welcome here. Congressman, thank you very much for taking a few minutes to join us.

JB: Always, Frank. Thank you for having me.

FG: Well, it’s Iran deal around here, Congressman, and I am anxious to get your thoughts as well as those of our other guest toady on the latest developments. You’ve recently penned a very thoughtful piece about the fundamental problem with this deal of course and before you get into all of the particulars – it’s who we’re dealing with. Talk about that if you would.

JB: That’s absolutely right. So we’re dealing with a country that is the world’s largest exporter of terrorism. We’re talking about a country that has destabilized the Middle East. They are sending troops, militias into Iraq and Syria. Of course they have for many, many years been funding Hamas and Hezbollah. On top of all of that, they have not renounced their terrorist ways. In fact they have said they are continuing their foreign operations, as they always have. This is a nation that has Americans held hostage right now. This is a country that, one of those people being held in an Iranian prison, is somebody guilty of being Christian, and that is what is so astonishing here. That we could go forward with this kind of agreement that enables them to have an industrial nuclear capability, knowing full well, that they intend to continue being belligerent throughout the world and exporting terrorism and they don’t recognize the right of Israel to exist. They have said and continue to say ‘we’re going to wipe Israel off the map’ and their leaders go to the streets of Tehran and start yelling ‘Death to America!’ and ‘Death to Israel!’. This is a country with whom we just made a deal.

FG: This seems absolutely insane especially the idea that we would give them 150 or so billion dollars, which your colleague Congressman Peter Roskam equated to roughly 8 trillion dollars in our economy. You’ve been at the pointy end of the spear defending our country against various enemies. One of those things that money is assuredly going to buy is conventional weapons as well as more nuclear capability that will almost certainly be used against us. Give us a sense of how you’ve seen the Iranians actually bring death to Americans and what you think they could do with 150 billion more dollars.

JB: There is no doubt that money will be used for their military. There is no doubt that their military is now spanning across the Middle East, expanding and growing and of course supporting the Assad Regime in Syria, continuing to destabilize Iraq and of course, their operations in Yemen, also with Hamas and Hezbollah. Look, we know 150 billion dollars is going to be used, not necessarily to support the domestic agenda of the Ayatollah, but to export terrorism around the world. There is no doubt about this.

FG: And again, to the extent that this is the case, this would appear, unmistakably, far from being the formula, as President Obama insists, for peace rather than the alternative, which he insists is war, just more war. A continuation of a war that we’ve been in since 1979 with these guys. What am I missing here Congressman?

JB: Hey it’s not if you sign the deal we have peace and if we don’t sign, we have war. It’s actually just the opposite. Once we sign this deal, we’re going to have war. The reason were going to have war is because Israel is not going to allow Iran to have a nuclear weapon. Israel will not allow that to happen. This means that if we, the United States of America, stand up and say ‘we’re going to give Iran a nuclear weapons capability, that means Israel is going to have to take care of the issue themselves, and they’ve done that in the past, I’m confident they’ll do it again. So this is a guarantee that war will come. Unfortunately now, if the Pentagon is wrong about how long this takes, we could be looking at a war that includes the release of nuclear weapons, and that’s the scary part of all this.

FG: I was addressing a rally in New York City, where I am recording from today. A point that I’m concerned about is whether or not the Israelis strike first, we’re assuring that the war the Iranians have been waging against them [Israel] and us, they will have a nuclear component going forward. So you’re looking at a dramatic and horrific ramp up of all of it, especially if others in the region decide they better get their own nuclear weapons. It’s a formula, of at least regionally, an Armageddon, if not something extending far beyond. Congressman with all of this being said and again, our guest is Congressman Jim Bridenstine of the First Congressional District of Oklahoma, a member of the House Armed Services Committee, whose personal service in uniform, with very, very considerable distinction, is one of the reasons he has such influence on these matters in regards to Congress. How do you see this playing out? One other component, especially with your other portfolio- the Science Committee that worries me is the Iranians are pursuing a nuclear capability it appears, in the expectation that they would be able to use it, an electromagnetic pulse – you’re a member of the EMP Caucus in the House – against our electric grid! This is an environmental catastrophe of the first order, as well as a formula for death to America. Is that something that we should realistically be expecting to be on the table as well?

JB: Certainly that capability will be there. This is why it’s absolutely critical that we have a missile defense capability. It’s critical that should they launch something like that, by the way they aren’t slowing down their ICBM capabilities. This deal doesn’t talk about them not being able to build intercontinental ballistic missiles. They’re still going to continue to develop and build newer and longer-range intercontinental ballistic missiles.

FG: Yeah and perhaps is as little as eight years and maybe much less, they’re actually going to be out of any embargo on technology flows.

JB: And they’re already launching into space, launching to the south, which comes over the western hemisphere. So this is what you’re talking about, a very, very real threat. It’s why you cannot allow Iran to have a nuclear weapon. It’s why we have to harden our infrastructure. When you talk about EMP, we’re not just talking about the grid, although that is critically important because if the grid goes down our entire way of life collapses, but we’re also talking about melting electronics, our cell phones not working and not being able to use the electromagnetic spectrum at all. This is why it would be a catastrophe for society in the west. So absolutely, we need to be very vigilant about that.

FG: Congressman Jim Bridenstine, you’ve made a very compelling case it seems to me. I’m sympathetic to it of course but objectively, it’s a very compelling case that the deal president Obama has made, I call it the ‘ObamaBomb’ deal, is ill-advised and dangerous in the extreme. That being said, what are the prospects that a sufficient number of your colleagues will join forces with you in opposing it to defeat this deal?

JB: Well I think first of all, everybody needs to understand – your entire audience I would presume is largely conservative, maybe Republican. But I want to be clear for those who’re listening right now who might not have a conservative bend. This is not a partisan issue. There are a lot of Democrats in the House of Representatives that are extremely concerned about this deal and rightly so. This is not partisan. The President is going to make an effort to make this partisan because he is committed to the deal. However there are reasonable minds, people that are thinking about this reasonably, who’re taking their time. This isn’t about being a Republican. It’s not about being a Democrat. They have tremendous concerns about what we need so we need to actively engage both sides of the aisle and let people know, this is not the direction our country should go. We should not give Iran an industrial nuclear capability, knowing full well that ten years from now, they’re going to be able to walk into a nuclear bomb without even breaking the deal.

FG: Right and to say nothing of protecting it in the meantime, this is madness upon madness. Congressman Jim Bridenstine we’ve got to let you go, I know you have a day job to attend to. We thank you for taking a couple minutes to visit us. I hope that your call for a bipartisan approach to this problem and a recognition that among other things, the EMP problem is the ultimate transpartisian threat, will actually carry through in the days ahead. Thank you again for your service both in uniform and in Congress.