Former DNI Ratcliffe exposes Biden's 'long list' of Iran blunders that led to the historic attack
Biden's weak warning to Iran of 'don't' does not mean anything, Ratcliffe warned Sunday
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In response to Iran's "unprecedented historic" attack on Israel, former Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe sounded the alarm on the "long list" of deterrence failures committed by the Biden administration.
During his appearance on "Sunday Morning Futures," Ratcliffe argued that the Biden administration’s "fractured" relationship with Israel emboldened Iran to strike Israel, an assertion that has been echoed by many Americans.
JOHN RATCLIFFE: The word people keep using to describe this attack is unprecedented, and it is. But that's why it's ironic that we find ourselves in the all too familiar position of talking about a long list of deterrence failures by the Biden administration. Of course, the failure to deter Vladimir Putin from invading Ukraine and then, after the attack on Israel on October the 7th, the failure of the Biden administration with hollow talking points, A single word 'Don't.' And the response to that, as you know, was more than 170 attacks on U.S. Forces. And the deaths of three Americans, dozens of traumatic brain injuries, so clearly not working. Which is why I was surprised that those very same hollow words and threats from the Biden administration, 'Don't,' were used last week, after Israel took out IRGC general. Mohammad Zahedi, who was the architect of those October 7th attacks.
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BIDEN CALLING FOR G7 MEETING IN RESPONSE TO IRAN'S 'BRAZEN' ATTACK
And again, it didn't work. An unprecedented attack, 300 drones, missiles, rockets – including cruise missiles and ballistic missiles. So, you mentioned the fact that there's been credit given for the good work of the Israelis and the Brits and the Jordanians and the United States in reacting to this and shooting down most of those threats, and minimizing the damage. But, reaction isn't as good as prevention. And Donald Trump is right when he said he would have prevented this and the Israelis believed that this would have been prevented.
They were understandably surprised and upset, as was I, that the seeds for this failure in deterrence took place in Joe Biden's reaction to that hit in Damascus, on Zahedi, where instead of just remaining silent, the Biden administration quickly came out and said the U.S. was not involved in this. And that sent a message to Iran and to the rest of the world that the U.S. was not with Israel, that the U.S. was reluctant to support Israel on this and that really shows how fractured this relationship has become between the United States and Israel moving forward. And I think that emboldened Iran. And as one of the former intelligence officials in Iran said to me last night, with friends like Joe Biden, Israel doesn't need more enemies.
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IRAN OFFERS ISRAEL OFF-RAMP TO 'CONCLUDE' ATTACK AFTER LAUNCHING MISSILES, DRONES ON JEWISH STATE