Source: American Truth Project, September 18, 2019
Barry Nussbaum: Hello and welcome to ATP Report. I’m Barry Nussbaum. Before we get started with a very special guest, Clare Lopez, today, I want to remind viewers to text “truth” to 88202. You’ll get signed up to be on the American Truth Project’s mailing list. You’ll get episodes and articles like what we’re doing now on your cell phone. It’s always free. Or you can go to our website by typing in FindBarry.com. You’ll go right to ATP. You’ll be able to sign up there. And again, it’s always free. So today, Clare Lopez is back formerly of the CIA. And for the last decade or so, the vice president of research at the Center for Security Policy. Clare, welcome back.
Clare Lopez: Thank you, Barry. Good to be with you.
Barry Nussbaum: Ok. We have got an amazing topic. You and I were just talking, and I’m shocked about this news. I’m shocked because it is huge news that is not front-page yet. But you have written an article breaking this story that we have on our website. People go to our website. They’re going to see your article that you are now going to explain. And what I’m referring to is this massive attack on the Saudi oil processing facility, the likes of which have never been seen before. It was initially reported that it was a drone attack coming from the Houthi rebels in Yemen. And you say that’s not what happened. So what’s the real story? Who blew up billions of dollars worth of infrastructure? And according to some reports, it took half of the Saudi oil production facility offline.
Clare Lopez: Yeah. That’s exactly what happened Barry. So on Saturday, the 14th of September, an attack that included apparently a couple of dozen drones or perhaps around 20, let’s say drones, as well as maybe up to a dozen cruise missiles struck two giant oil petroleum processing facilities in Saudi Arabia. And the damage was was massive. The strikes were very precise. Those drones and those cruise missiles landed with terrifying precision. Exactly against the elements of those production facilities that took them offline, as you just said, knocking out perhaps as much as 50 percent of the Saudi oil daily output and around 5 percent of the global world oil production per day. Now, I hasten to add that because thank you, President Trump, the United States is energy independent today. And also because we have a huge strategic oil reserve, President Trump was able to make a statement very quickly that he authorized the release of whatever is needed from our strategic oil reserve to keep supplies flowing around the world. Because even though the United States is energy independent, many of our friends and allies around the world, let’s say in particular out in East Asia, Japan and Taiwan and South Korea and others out in that area of East Asia are not energy independent at all and depend a lot on supplies coming out of the Persian Gulf. But so back to, you know, where did the attacks come from? Right? On the 14th of September itself, the day of the attacks, later on, that day, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo took to Twitter. Tehran is behind nearly 100 attacks on Saudi Arabia, while Rouhani that is Iranian President Rouhani and Zarif, that is Foreign Minister Javad Zarif pretend to engage in diplomacy. Iran has now launched an unprecedented attack on the world’s energy supply. There is no evidence the attacks came from Yemen. That is Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Twitter on Saturday the 14th. The very next day, President Trump took to Twitter, as he is want to do from time to time. And he said, and this is a quote from his tweet, “Saudi Arabia oil supply was attacked. There is reason to believe that we know the culprit. Are locked and loaded.” All right, “But waiting to hear from the kingdom that is of Saudi Arabia as to whom they believe was the cause of the attack and under what terms we should proceed.” So very correctly, you know, ensuring that Saudi Arabia takes the lead, after all, this was an attack on their territory, on their oil facilities. So we know right from the get-go that the administration had intelligence. I mean, reading between the lines here right. That the attack did not come out of Yemen where the Houthis, of course, are Iran backed Shiite terror militia that is fighting the government, the legal government of Yemen and an alliance of Saudi Arabia. The United Arab Emirates, backed by the United States and others, is fighting or at least supporting and backing that alliance, because for I mean, for good reason. Yes, the toll on Yemenis civilians has been horrific. But the point is Iran, and its proxies can not be allowed to have a foothold in a place, a strategic as Yemen. We could talk about that later or another time. But Yemen, of course, controls and sits astride the Bab-el-Mandeb, the narrow strait that lies between the Arabian Peninsula and the Horn of Africa. And it leads up into the Red Sea, into the Suez Canal, and thereby out to the Mediterranean. So hugely important strategic place. Formally, attacks against Saudi oil facilities had come out of Yemen as recently as July this year, 2019. And the missiles used obviously were supplied to the Houthis by Iran. But this time, apparently because of satellite imagery and other intelligence on the ground, for example, I understand that the Saudis have found pieces of at least some of the wreckage of at least one or perhaps more of these missiles and drones that were launched at it. And they can tell from the pieces they’ve collected on the ground that these were made by Iran. But more to the point that the the the attacks actually came from Iran. Now, we’ll, recall as well that as recently as a couple of months ago, attacks against the Saudi oil facilities had come out of another direction, the north out of Iraq, where the al-Hashd-Al-Shaabi or the Iraqi Shiite terror militias are under the command of the Iranian Quds force commander, Major General Kassam Suleyman. And those attacks were traced to Iraq, where Baghdad, unfortunately, is basically a satrap of Tehran. But these attacks, due to intelligence, satellite imagery, are understood by U.S. intelligence, and this has now been announced it’s public, to have come directly out of Iranian territory itself.
Barry Nussbaum: Clare, thanks for joining us. Thank you for visiting us on American Truth Project. Remember, you can find Clare on her website, The Center for Security Policy. And you can sign up on our website, AmericanTruthProject.org. Type in FindBarry.com. It will take you right to it. Or send the word “truth” to 88202 and sign up. All of our stuff is always free. Thanks again for joining us today. I’m Barry Nussbaum.
