Note: Brandon and I recorded yesterday around noon. It seems his prediction is coming true that American troops in the Middle East are at increasing risk of wounding and death from ambushes. This from late morning today/the 28th.
Meanwhile:
Houthis have entered the war.
Conflict has intensified.
Israel is rationing its interceptors.
US troops hit on Saudi base — two are seriously injured.
From the New York Times:
An Iranian strike injured 12 U.S. troops in Saudi Arabia, two of them seriously, in an attack on Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia, two U.S. officials, who were not authorized to speak publicly, said on Friday.
The combined missile and drone attack amounted to one of the most serious breaches of American air defenses in the course of the monthlong war with Iran. At least two KC-135 aerial refueling planes also suffered significant damage in the attack.
The strike comes as President Trump has vacillated between promising peace and escalating strikes aimed at critical civilian infrastructure. The president has said that peace talks are underway, and going well — a claim that Iranian officials have disputed — even as more warships and thousands of troops have been deployed to reinforce U.S. forces in the region.
Iran has bombed U.S. bases across the Middle East over the course of the war, deploying a vast arsenal of ballistic missiles and drones in an effort to retaliate and disrupt the American bombing campaign. The barrage has severely damaged bases and forced U.S. Central Command to disperse thousands of troops to move them out of the line of fire — some to as far away as Europe.
Meanwhile, Sky News is reporting that Israeli strikes in South Lebanon have killed three paramedics and wounded seven more. Three journalists have also been killed. So it looks like, in its push up to the Litani River, Israel is deploying the Gaza treatment. Meaning, no red lines.
Heck, why should there be when American Tomahawks can take out scores of school children in a double-tap episode without acknowledgement or an apology. I’ve been seeing some speculation the mistake was actually made by AI — which perhaps targeted the school because of its proximity to IRGC infrastructure.
The US-Israeli war with Iran has amplified long-standing concerns over the adoption of AI-supported targeting in warfare.
These concerns came to the fore in the aftermath of the 28 February strike on Shajareh Tayyebeh girls’ school in Minab, southern Iran, which Iran says killed at least 168 people, most of whom were schoolchildren.
The Trump administration initially blamed Iran for the strike, though it did not provide any evidence. The US says it is now investigating the bombing. The Washington Post has reported that the school was on a US target list.
US Senate Democrats have written to Secretary of War Pete Hegseth seeking information about the attack, including clarification on any use of AI in target selection. So far there has been no confirmation of whether or not AI was used in planning or executing the strike on the school.
Admiral Brad Cooper, the US commander leading the war in Iran, has confirmed the use of ‘a variety of advanced AI tools’ to sift through large amounts of data in the conflict, without naming any tools in particular. He said these tools allowed leaders to make ‘smarter decisions faster than the enemy can react’ and sped up processes from taking hours or days to seconds. Admiral Cooper also stated that: ‘Humans will always make final decisions on what to shoot and what not to shoot, and when to shoot.’
Listen to the entire interview with Brandon if you have the time this weekend. He is terrific.
Meanwhile, Alex Gibney — the award-winning doc director has a new film alleging that Netanyahu is keeping the wars going in order to avoid criminal prosecution in his corruption trials. And worse, that he might have looked the other way — from solid intel warning of October 7th — to save his own skin. We’ve been wondering and writing about this for two years and have been digitally accosted for it. But it looks like Gibney has the goods. Wow. But you heard it here first, folks.
Final word, I didn’t know until after our recording that Captain Steve, a savvy airline pilot with a Youtube Channel — believes the two Air Canada pilots who died at La Guardia are heroes. They hit the firetruck on the runway t-bone style, which killed them both — likely because turning would have ripped off a wing and caused a massive fire, risking passengers.
Meanwhile in Ottawa, our prime minister is pissed because Air Canada’s heartbroken CEO broke a language rule in making his initial statement about the crash.
Stay critical.
#truthovertribe
