Castle Report

The Castle Report

• Why Did the U.S. Attack Iran?
  Darrell Castle gives his best guess about some of the reasons for the attack on Iran's nuclear enrichment sites. Transcription / Notes WHY DID THE U.S. ATTACK IRAN? Hello, this is Darrell Castle with today’s Castle Report. This is Friday the 27th day of June in the year of our Lord 2025. Next Friday is the 4th of July so barring some catastrophe there will be no Castle Report next week. I hope you have that day off so you can celebrate Independence as Joan and I will. Today, I speak not of Independence but of war once again as I try to discern some of the reasons for the U.S. attack on Iran’s nuclear enrichment sites. I will admit that the reasons for the actions of nations at this moment are normally nothing more than someone’s or a group of someone’s best guesses so I will make some guesses of my own today. The attack raised an important Constitutional issue because the Constitution gives only Congress the authority to declare war. That was just one example of the wisdom of the founders because the decision to go to war puts the entire nation’s survival at risk. Perhaps, in this modern era we are expected to think differently and see that this attack was not such a Constitutional question because the last time the U.S. followed the Constitution in going to war was December 1941. Most politicians now on both sides of the aisle think and state publicly that the formal declaration of war is a relic of the past and just isn’t done anymore. So, we are constantly at war but nothing is ever declared and that is very convenient for those who love war. The two political parties have apparently reached a consensus to let the president handle the decision alone and afterward they can criticize or praise him at their leisure. It’s all just part of the theater of the absurd that we watch every day on our televisions or smart phones. Technology and speed are completely different now than in the days of the founders or even 1941. In the early days a debate about going to war might take months and there was little or no chance your adversary could learn of it before you acted but now those decisions take microseconds. It seems that in government today there are simply no secrets despite any top-secret classification, except for the very important secrets like JFK, RFK, MLK, the Epstein files, and of course 9/11. Those are the things we normal Americans are not supposed to know. For example, someone in the Pentagon or the defense intelligence agency leaked the top-secret bomb damage assessment or (BDA) of the attack which said it was unknown whether or not the nuclear enrichment capability of Iran survived the blast generated by 14 MOABs or mother of all bombs. A criminal investigation is underway to find the leaker. President Trump had previously told us that the nuclear sites had been “obliterated” by the bombing. When asked about it later he said that he got his BDA from Israeli Mossad agents who physically observed the sites. It turns out now that even the Iranians admit severe damage to the sites. Wars tend to be worse than expected. The ones who enter them expect and hope that the duration will be short and victory will come decisively and quickly but then reality sets in. For example, one could say that the Ayatollahs have been at war with Israel and the U.S. for forty-six years or the entire time they have held power in the Islamic Republic of Iran. They constantly inflame their people and incite international fear by leading chants in the streets of Tehran of “death to America” and “death to Israel.” It’s not much of a stretch to believe that those two nations would see that as declaring open warfare and act accordingly. When someone screams for your death for 46 years perhaps you should consider paying attention because he might just be preparing the means to bring his ambitions into reality. That is one reason then for the attack i.e. to end the death to America threat.
• Iran Cannot Have a Nuclear Weapon
  Darrell Castle talks about the attack by the nation of Israel upon the nation of Iran and what involvement the U.S. will have in the war. Transcription / Notes IRAN CANNOT HAVE A NUCLEAR WEAPON Hello, this is Darrell Castle with today’s Castle Report. This is Friday the 20th day of June in the year of our Lord 2025. My beat is war today and there is obviously a big one to talk about and that is the attack by the nation of Israel upon the nation of Iran. Will the U.S. attack Iran’s nuclear sites on behalf of Israel. We hold our breath to learn what Netanyahu will have the U.S. do. I have been a bit unsure about how to approach this Report since I’m pretty sure that virtually everyone knows about Israel’s attack by now. What most may not have considered is that in less than a week Israel, a nation of about 9 million people almost completely destroyed Iran’s ability to make war either offensively or defensively. Iran, a nation of about 90 million people or roughly 10 to 1 in population was believed to be at the end of a decades long pursuit of a nuclear weapon or that is at least what Israel keeps telling the world. Donald Trump told Iran that he wanted to negotiate an end to its nuclear ambitions and he gave them 60 days to enter into a deal to end their nuclear program. He at first seemed willing to allow enough enrichment for peaceful nuclear power but later backed away and said no enrichment at all. Iran said well, then we can’t have a deal so at midnight of the 61st day Israel attacked and destroyed all the above ground nuclear facilities of Iran and assassinated many of Iran’s top military leadership along with its nuclear scientists. Now, it’s pretty clear that when Trump invited them to negotiate what he really meant was accept my demands or suffer the consequences. So, what was Iranian leadership thinking by continuing nuclear enrichment and refusing to talk. I obviously don’t know the workings of the Mullah’s minds but I can use what I do know to make a reasonable guess. I think they did not recognize in time that the world has changed dramatically in a very short time. Since the October 7, 2023 attack by Hamas, Israel has essentially been at war dismantling the Iranian proxy, terrorist armies bit by bit. The terrorist proxies are the way Iran spread its control across the entire region. The three Iranian proxy groups Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis have all been reduced to ineffectiveness by the Israel attacks. Hamas, what is left of it, is a pile of rubble. The Houthis are under constant air attack and Iran publicly abandoned them. Hezbollah had its leadership destroyed in a now famous exploding cell phone attack, and their sponsor in Syria has been overthrown. Israel attacked the Iranian anti-air defense system a few months ago and rendered it ineffective obviously. Apparently Israel’s intelligence arm, the Mossad had so completely infiltrated Iran they built an Israeli military base inside Iran. Iran apparently didn’t recognize any of that and whether by inertia, or poor thinking just continued business as usual. With all their terrorist groups anemic or destroyed they literally have no friends left. Nations like Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and the Emirates may pay lip service to Iran but secretly I suspect they are cheering the Israelis on. The other change that Iran didn’t see was that Russia, their once staunch ally has been strangely silent other than offering asylum to Iranian leadership. Russia is no longer a Middle East power and protector of Iran because it has all it can handle in Ukraine. Perhaps Russia is secretly happy about the war because it detracts the U.S. from Ukraine and most importantly it might raise the price of oil worldwide thus helping Russia’s one product economy. China, Iran’s other powerful friend is presently trying to resolve a trade war with the U.S. and seems to have no desire to involve itself in a Mideast war although there are rumors of Chinese resupply...
• Anarchy and True Chaos
  Darrell Castle talks about the riots in Los Angeles currently ongoing as well as attempts to put them down with National Guard troops and even U.S. Marines. The question, what does that portend for America and our future? Transcription / Notes ANARCHY AND TRUE CHAOS Hello, this is Darrell Castle with today’s Castle Report. This is Friday, the 13th day of June in the year of our Lord 2025. I will be talking about the riots in LA currently ongoing as well as attempts to put them down with National Guard troops and even US Marines and what that portends for America and our future. I am recording this Castle Report as the chaos and anarchy rages on in the once great and beautiful city of Los Angeles California. Those words, chaos and anarchy, were the words chosen by Senator John Fetterman (D-PA). “I unapologetically stand for free speech, peaceful demonstrations, and immigration—but this is not that. This is anarchy and true chaos. My party loses the moral high ground when we refuse to condemn setting cars on fire, destroying buildings, and assaulting law enforcement.” Senator Fetterman’s party, the Democrat Party, at least the California branch of it, is apparently convinced that they are gaining a political advantage from the pain they have inflicted on their city and state. Governor Gavin Newsom is treating the event as a campaign launch for the 2028 Democrat nomination for the office of President. He makes tearful speeches and he blusters like a tough guy saying go ahead and arrest me and get it over with. I guess he thinks we are all on pins and needles awaiting his martyrdom. The mayor of Los Angeles, Karen Bass, is at least presently in the state, unlike when she allowed two of the most beautiful cities in America Pacific Palisades and Malibu to burn to the ground just a few weeks ago. She and Governor Newsom turned in mutually disgraceful performances by allowing the city to burn and now, well they seem to have some weird affinity for fire. Newsom and Bass together have only one answer to the problems of Los Angeles and that is Trump did it. They have no answers, no policy solutions, just Trump must be responsible. The recent presidential election and even current polling data seem lost on them. Never mind the reverse morality of letting your city be overrun by people crossing the border illegally. They don’t see the effect that thousands of people flying Mexican flags while burning cars, attacking police, looting etc. has on the rest of the country. The optics are very bad but they just don’t get it. They say the protests are peaceful and just over exuberance, while in the background fires are burning. It’s like that scene from the movie Police Story where Leslie Neilson’s character says nothing to see here folks please move along while the background has a view of Warsaw after the German invasion. Bass and Newsom are representative of many politicians who focus on power plays of jurisdictional dispute and efforts to appeal to emotions for people who don’t want to go back to where they came from while Mr. and Ms. Average American are focused on the need for law and order. It’s pretty easy for a person living in my city of Memphis to see those videos and conclude, thank God I don’t live in LA where the politicians don’t seem to care anything about the people who elect them except as political talking points and numbers. For a few days after the presidential election, it appeared that Newsom was pretending to move closer to the center because he noticed the results of pretending to be on the extreme left. Perhaps he noticed that illegal immigration was the number one issue to normal Americans so these riots were a perfect chance for him to appear sane. Just say a few words that might lead someone to think you care about law and order. Just give the appearance that you care about the lives and property of the people of California, but no, you just can’t seem to read the handwriting clearly...