Inside the White House on 9/11

Sept. 11, 2001 began as a beautiful late summer day in New York City and Washington, DC. Then, out of what was literally a clear blue sky, two hijacked passenger jets slammed into the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York City, another into the Pentagon just outside Washington. A fourth plane, thanks to the courage of the passengers aboard, did not reach its target but insteadcrashed in Pennsylvania.Lewis “Scooter” Libby was in the White House. He tells host Cliff May what took place over the days – and years – that followed. Relevant Link:  https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2026/sep/8/cruel-awakening-911/

On August 26, an ISIS-K suicide bomber killed 13 American service members and roughly 170 Afghans at Abbey Gate, one of the entrances to Kabul airport.Four days after that, the last U.S. service member left Afghanistan. Then, on Sept. 7, 2021, the Taliban declared the restoration of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan. These anniversaries have not sparked much media interest. One notable exception: A new documentary film from Wall Street Journal Opinion: “The Path to Zero: The Withdrawal FromAfghanistan,” looks at President Biden's April 14, 2021 order to draw American troop levels down to zero, and traces what followed. The film's producer and director, Michael Pack, talks with host Cliff May about what happened back then and the lessons we should have learned by now. Documentary Links:https://www.wsj.com/video/series/opinion-docs/wsj-opinion-the-path-to-zero/2EB4BA30-CF99-462F-BB52-222870D4F002https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8wwzv_B9x-k

In late Summer of 2001, the UN hosted what it called the “World Conference on Racism” in Durban, South Africa.Instead of combating racism, the conference incited it, becoming the worst international manifestation of Jew-hatred since World War II and the Nazi Holocaust.Cuban dictator Fidel Castro accused Israel of “genocide.” Yes, way back then.Gerald Steinberg, the founder and president of NGO Monitor, a think tank focused, as its name suggests, on non-governmental organizations, talks to host Cliff May about how and why those poisonous seeds were planted, and what they’ve grown into more than two decades later.

Joby Warrick, a fine storyteller and longtime national security correspondent for the Washington Post, has written a biography of the most infamous terrorist of the second half of the 20th century.“The Jackal: The Rise and Fall of Carlos, the World’s First Super-Terrorist,” relates the life story of Ilich Ramírez Sánchez – the Venezuelan-born Communist who enjoyed tailored suits, fine wine, beautiful women, and murdering in support of anti-capitalism, anti-Zionism, and other sundry causes for which he was well-paid.The seizure of the OPEC ministers in Vienna. Two French intelligence officers shot dead in a Paris apartment. The capture in Khartoum that finally ended his run.Since 1994, Carlos has been behind bars. In 2003, from his cell, he wrote a manifesto, L'Islam révolutionnaire, praising Osama bin Laden’s 9/11 attack, and urging revolutionaries of every stripe — leftists, atheists, all of them — to accept Islamist leadership.Today, Carlos sits in Poissy, a prison housed in a former monastery, where Joby interviewed him. In this episode of “Foreign Podicy,” Joby tells host Cliff May that the Jackal is no longer the wild animal he once was.

FDD’s RADM (Ret.) Mark Montgomery is a travelin’ man. He’s just back from Taiwan and Ukraine.He joins host Cliff May to debrief what he saw and heard abroad—and offer his analyses. They also discuss North Korea’s role in Russia’s war, cyberattacks—almost certainly by Iran’s rulers—on water utilities in Minnesota and Michigan, the Strait of Hormuz, the Houthis and the Bab el-Mandeb, and cognitive warfare.

A week ago, President Trump seemed to have decided to hit the Islamic Republic of Iran hard – to destroy what’s left of its missile arsenals, its military-industrial base, its command-and-control headquarters and perhaps the commanders themselves. Then the President heard that Iran’s rulers were finally ready to make a deal. Soon after, Iran’s rulers announced they were not. President Trump called that “unbelievably duplicitous.” FDD’s Reuel Marc Gerecht and Behnam Ben Taleblu join host Cliff May to discuss where the conflict stands and what would be the best way forward.

The United States faces the most complex geostrategic threat since 1945: an Axis of Aggressors — China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea — increasingly aligned across economic, cyber, technology, and military domains to diminish American power. Their most alarming tactic may be to trigger simultaneous major wars to stretch U.S. resources past the breaking point.Bradley Bowman, Elaine Dezenski, and RADM (Ret.) Mark Montgomery — senior leaders at FDD's Centers on AmericanPower — join Cliff May on Foreign Podicy to discuss their new book: "Axis of Aggressors: Countering the Cooperation of China, Russia, Iran & North Korea" — the result of two years of research, examining the threat and laying out a grand strategy to strengthen America, bolster its allies, and weaken this emerging axis.Learn more about Axis of Aggressors: https://www.fdd.org/analysis/axis-of-aggressors/Order the book: https://www.amazon.com/Axis-Aggressors-Countering-Cooperation-Russia/dp/1968919554/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0

Two places we need to watch carefully right now: the United Kingdom, which has just installed its seventh prime minister in a decade, and Yemen, where the Houthi rebels have declared anaval blockade of Saudi Arabia and resumed strikes on tankers transiting the Bab al-Mandeb Strait.  Edmund Fitton-Brown, FDD senior fellow and former British ambassador to Yemen, joins Cliff May on FDD’s Foreign Podicy to discuss the new government in Blighty and what’s driving theHouthis on the Arabian Peninsula.

Forget nukes and stealth jets — the next war may just be won with algorithms, drone swarms, and who spends smarter, not bigger.FDD Research Analyst and Foreign Podicy guest host, Mariam Wahba sits down with Aaron MacLean, host of the School of War podcast, to unpack how AI and rapid decision cycles are rewriting the rules of modern warfare — with Iran and Ukraine as live case studies. From strategic miscalculation and munitionsshortages to the death of old "theories of victory," they discuss why America's tech edge alone won't be enough to win the next war.

This week, Iran's rulers fired on commercial vessels attempting to transit the Strait of Hormuz -- an egregious violation of the Memorandum of Understanding which now appears to be a dead MOU. That doesn't surprise Zineb Riboua who has always been skeptical of attempts to forge "peace deals" with the Islamist revolutionaries in Tehran. Ms. Riboua, research fellow at the Hudson Institute's Center for Peace and Security in the Middle East and founder of the China in MENA Project, sitsdown with host Cliff May to discuss Iran, Morocco (where she was born), France (where she was went to school), Russia, China, Latin America and the rising ideology -- including in the U.S. -- of Third Worldism.