The Castle Report

Podcast: Download

Subscribe: RSS | More

Darrell Castle talks about a bill currently working its way through the U.S. Congress which would, if passed, literally integrate the U.S. and Israeli militaries and would put funding for the Israeli military on auto pilot. Will it pass and be signed by the President? Many people seem to think it will so he takes a look at it today.

THE ISRAELIZATION OF THE U.S. MILITARY

Hello, this is Darrell Castle with today’s Castle Report. This is Friday the 12^th of June in the year of our Lord 2026. I will be talking about a bill currently working its way through the United States Congress which would, if passed, literally integrate the U.S. and Israeli militaries and would put funding for the Israeli military on auto pilot. Will it pass and be signed by the President. Many people seem to think it will so we take a look at it today.

Yes, unfortunately it seems that certain members of the House of Representatives and the Senate of the United States are now ready to complete the process of uniting the two countries militaries. The first bill introduced in the House would have literally combined the two. Many of the Israel first politicians are already dual citizens so why not complete the process and stop all the hypocrisy. Just go ahead and make the U.S. military the official enforcement arm of Israeli foreign policy.

The most egregious provision of the original bill is that the benefits due to American veterans like me, such as medical and educational benefits would have also been available to all Israeli veterans. That would have been a supreme insult to every American veteran who has ever served. The last time I checked there were about 15 million living American veterans so why not just insult them all while they are still alive. Just tell them all that “your service to this nation meant nothing” but certainly no more to America than an Israeli veteran meant to America.

Fortunately, that portion of the bill was pulled before it advanced but there are rumors that it is still out there in Congress or at least in some of their minds and it will be added back in. The bill being considered is the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) which would fund the U.S. military for another year. According to members of the House whose opinions I have read, there is near certainty that Section 224 of that bill will pass through the House and become law with the President’s signature.

Congressman Ro Khanna, Democrat, and Thomas Massie, Republican tried to pass an amendment to delete Section 224 but the amendment failed. That section will set up a “United States-Israel Defense Technology Cooperation Initiative” that integrates US-Israeli military research and development co-production of weapons systems, licensing agreements, AI, directed energy. Data integration, and missile defense. It creates the framework for bilateral research and development, co-production of weapons, joint ventures, licensing agreements, and virtually every manner of U.S.-Israeli military cooperation. The Director of this “Initiative” who will be responsible for coordination of the work will reportedly be an Israeli.

The funding will come 100% from the U.S, treasury through part of the $1.5 trillion defense budget requested by President Trump. The purpose as stated is to fully connect the functionality of the U.S. military with that of the Israeli military in what is being described as an equal partnership that will include the government of Israel and the Israeli Defense Forces as full partners.

There will be intelligence sharing and in fact the bill includes a requirement that intelligence must be shared. Israeli forces will be included in the planning process of how U.S. weapons are developed and procured.  This serves to explain at least in part why Netanyahu has been indicating recently that Israel might be willing to forego some of the mandatory $3.8 billion the U.S. gives it every year. He obviously knows there is an even bigger slice of American Pie coming his way via Section 224.

The intelligence sharing portion of the bill was introduced by Senator Tom Cotton of Arkansas which he calls “US-Israel Intelligence Sharing Enhancement.” Interestingly, at the same time the New York Times recently carried an article entitled “Pentagon Sees Growing Espionage Threat from Israel.” The article is sourced to the Defense Intelligence Agency which says that the espionage threat from Israel is at the highest possible level and even says that Israel eavesdropped on negotiations between the United States and Iran conducted in Pakistan.

The senators pushing this bill often refer to Israel as our best friend and most trusted ally but at the same time the DIA has that country listed as the highest possible espionage threat. Just to keep following this espionage threat let me tell you or remind you of a couple of things this best friend has done during its roughly 78 years as a political nation.

In 1984 when a man named Yitzhak Shamir was prime minister and Ronald Reagan was the US president; Israel dispatched an American of dual citizenship named Jonathan Pollard to do some spying against the US. Pollard worked in the US defense establishment and had access to some of the most highly classified military secrets. He stole and delivered the entire 10 volume DIA manual of in person or human intelligence operatives all over the world.

The manual contained the names and locations of US intelligence operatives working in the Soviet Union and Communist China both countries in a desperate cold war with the US. Pollard delivered the manual along with many other vital intelligence documents to his handlers in Israel. Can you guess what our best friend and most trusted ally did with the manual and other information. Yes, that’s right, they gave it to the Soviet Union and Communist China in exchange for “favors”.

Thousands of US personnel along with foreign operatives working with US Intelligence were arrested and many were killed so I guess as the saying goes with friends like that who needs enemies. Pollard did his work in 1984 and in 1987 he was sentenced to life in prison and he served exactly 30 years plus five years of probation. He was then allowed to move to Israel where he has hero status. The American Ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, had him over to the US Embassy for a little get together recently.

That Pollard incident illustrates the one-sided relationship the US has with Israel quite clearly but as bad as it was it was not the worst. No, the worst happened in 1967 when a man named Levi Eshkol was Prime Minister of Israel and Lyndon Johnson was US President. In fact, last Monday the 8^th of June was the 59^th anniversary of the Israeli attack on an American ship named USS Liberty.

The Liberty was an intelligence gathering ship operating in International Waters in the Eastern Mediterranean when it was attacked by air forces of Israel. This attack was not an accident or improper identification or anything except a deliberate act of murder. The Liberty, an unarmed vessel, was relentless bombed and strafed by Israeli jets while clearly flying the American flag.

The attack severed the radio mast and cut off the crew’s ability to send a distress call but one crewman managed to climb on deck despite strafing fire, raise an antenna and get off a distress call. Out in the Med a US carrier heard the message and immediately launched jets for a rescue effort. I can tell you from a lot of personal experience that there is nothing that motivates US soldiers, sailors, airmen, and Marines like coming to the rescue of brothers in trouble.

Unfortunately, the US Commander in Chief, Lyndon Johnson personally ordered the Carrier captain to withdraw his jets. They left Liberty to die on its own but the little ship and its crew refused to die. 34 men were killed and 171 wounded but the ship would not sink and made it back to port. The pilots of our most trusted friend and ally even machine-gunned wounded sailors in the water something honorable men do not do even when their nations are at war.

No real investigation by government investigators with subpoena power has ever been conducted to my knowledge. Oh, there was a cursory inquiry as there always is but according to reporter Donald Jeffries who did a yeoman’s job of private investigation and who has written extensively about the matter President Johnson ordered the board of inquiry to rule it an accident.

Why did the Israelis attack the USS Liberty. Without going into a lot of what amounts to guesswork, it was probably because Israel was fighting what came to be known as the six-day-war against a coalition of enemy nations one of which was Egypt. The Liberty was to be sunk and the incident blamed on the Egyptians which would have given the US an excuse to enter the war against Egypt as retaliation. In both the Liberty attack and the Pollard incident not a single thing regarding US policy toward Israel changed. Not one dollar was cut from the very generous support.

 Compare this to the reaction upon news this week that an Apache Attack Helicopter had been shot down in the Persian Gulf near Hormuz. The President said he would retaliate with a massive bombing attack and would “take over” Iran’s petroleum industry. I don’t believe the story which makes no sense but not much in this war makes sense. An Apache is an attack helicopter with a mission of finding and destroying enemy armor but it can be used for armed reconnaissance as well. Perhaps that was its mission over the Gulf. It landed in the water with no injuries to crew so no I don’t believe it and it was probably done by Israel if it was done at all. I don’t think it was more than an excuse to resume the war.

Finally, folks, the US has reportedly given Israel more than $300 billion since its founding in 1948 but it is on the brink of an even more egregious relationship whereby it combines its military with that of Israel. Something causes Washington politicians to shower our money that we work for on Israel and to support it while it robs the US at home and commits mass murder abroad. Why is the question. If all our politicians are blackmailed prostitutes shouldn’t we have some knowledge of our worth, How much do they get from the pimps who own them.

At least that’s the way I seen it.

Until next time folks,

This is Darrell Castle,

Thanks for listening.

Podcast: Download

Subscribe: RSS | More

Darrell Castle discusses President Trump’s angry, profanity laced tirade directed at Prime Minister Netanyahu of Israel. Did it really happen and if so why did it happen and if it did not happen, why say that it did.

Transcriptions / Notes

TRUMP UNLOADS ON NETANYAHU

Hello, this is Darrell Castle with today’s Castle Report. This is Friday the 5^th day of June in the year of our Lord 2026. My beat today is war and as usual there is no shortage of war to talk about but today I discuss President Trump’s angry, profanity laced tirade directed at Prime Minister Netanyahu of Israel. Did it really happen and if so why did it happen and if it did not happen then why say that it did.

Its no secret that Trump wants the U.S. role in the war against Iran ended and quickly. The war has placed the world’s economy in jeopardy and therefore its end is imperative. To that end Trump has been negotiating with somebody representing Iran while using Pakistan as the broker. Every time it looks positive and Trump announces that fighting has stopped it turns out to be a little premature.

Trump says we have a deal ending the war and fighting has ceased. In response gas prices in the U.S. come down and the stock market soars. The next step is for Israel to continue attacking in Lebanon as if there were no peace talks. Apparently Trump got tired of it this week and placed a call to the Prime Minister. The story, reported at first by people physically present for the call, and later admitted by the President himself went something like this.

Trump called Netanyahu F-ing crazy and accused him of ingratitude. “You’d be in prison if it weren’t for me. I’m saving you’re a**. Everybody hates you now. Everybody hates Israel because of this.”

In the meantime, whether Netanyahu got the message or not Israel continued its war in Lebanon as if nothing had happened. According to Lebanese news agency NNA, the Israeli attacks continued and Hezbollah continued attacks against Israeli forces inside Lebanon. Lebanon’s Embassy in Washington said Hezbollah would refrain from further attacks if Israel would show the same restraint but Israel does not seem interested. Israel announced that the fighting would continue but it would not strike Beirut while talks were ongoing.

Israeli and Lebanese Ambassadors are in talks at the State Department in Washington. That makes me wonder if the Lebanese government has the authority to negotiate for Hezbollah. I guess one answer to that question is that Hezbollah is the Lebanese government. Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said that President Trump backed the strikes in Southern Lebanon. It’s all very conflicting and confusing but there is one other possibility.

There is a possibility that the phone call never took place at all or if it did then the whole thing was a stage show between Trump and Netanyahu staged for our benefit. Why would the President stage a profanity laced conversation he had with a foreign leader. To me the better question is why would he allow that conversation to be publicly leaked and then why would he admit that he said those things. I suppose the answer lies in his response to criticism he has been getting from the media and from people in his own party about how he does the bidding of Netanyahu and that he says America First but in practice its Israel First.

I don’t know what is true here but if it were all fake it would be to bolster his image of a strong leader who doesn’t tolerate disrespect from allies. I don’t know which version is true but it is very suspicious that the administration made such a big deal out of what should have been a private conversation. Israel, through its defense minister, has said that it would be remaining permanently in Southern Lebanon so why does this tiny country of 9 million seem so aggressive and so intent on expansion.

For one thing its tiny size relative to its neighbors makes it very vulnerable. At its widest point it is only 71 miles wide and at its narrowest point it is only 9 miles wide. In other words, defense in depth is virtually impossible because it has no avenue of retreat to fall back and regroup as any retreat would put enemy forces right in Israeli cities. Therefore, it must attack constantly to push back its enemies who state clearly that they seek its destruction. Looking at Israel from the Israeli position they probably see their status as expand or die.

Since defense in depth is essential and determines if a country has enough space to recover from an initial attack Israel believes it must constantly seek to push out its borders because a defeat on its borders leaves it extremely vulnerable. Now, with the new form of unmanned warfare coming to light with drones and missiles one of Israel’s chief advantages is taken away or diminished.

That advantage is pilot courage and training which thanks to the U.S. is some of the best in the world along with top-of-the-line aircraft it all serves to make Israel a foe to be reckoned with. Drones and missiles are rapidly changing the dynamics of war and Israel and the U.S. are apparently late to the game and a little behind in how best to defend against them. Israel’s tactic seems to be to attack with as much force and with tactics as ruthless as necessary to push the enemy back as far as possible.

I admit this is guesswork, but to much of the world the Israeli tactics is genocide but to Israel they just don’t care because for them it is survival. Israel, it seems to me, could be controlled enough for the U.S. to make peace because it lives in a very bad neighborhood and without the U.S. Israel could not exist as a sovereign nation. It is a little unrealistic to think Israel, with its 9 million population would never face a superior force or coalition of forces.

Therefore, Trump’s phone call, if it did happen and was not a preplanned exhibit was probably necessary although the crass profanity which is so very common now could have been tempered. That type of profanity is so common it no longer has any meaning except that its user has no appropriate vocabulary. It reminds me of a different time when Harry Truman reportedly used the word Damn in the presence of Madame Chiang Kai- Shek the widow of Chaing who had been ruler of China until he was overthrown in the Maoist revolution. Madame Chaing resented it and complained and it was a front-page scandal.

A few Presidents have apparently resisted Israeli pressure to attack Iran. If the testimony of Obama’s Secretary of State is accurate then he is one who did and George Bush would not do it either but lots of Israeli money poured into the campaign of one who would and did do it. Often, national leaders opt for whatever they think necessary for staying in power rather than what they truly believe to be in the national interest. The smaller the group they actually have to please and make happy the better or at least that makes it easier.

If staying in power and the national interest happens to coincide well that’s just great, but in my opinion they rarely do.

Finally, folks, there are reasons for why people do things but quite often we don’t know what the real reasons are. In Truman’s day we were different and perhaps a little naïve about leaders and maybe we still are.

At least that’s the way I see it,

Until next time folks,

This is Darrell Castle,

Thanks for listening.

Podcast: Download

Subscribe: RSS | More

Darrell Castle talks about the resignation of Tulsi Gabbard from her position as Director of National Intelligence, and why she made the decision to resign. Was it because of her husband’s illness or something else.

Transcription / Notes

TULSI’S GONE

Hello, this is Darrell Castle with today’s Castle Report. This is Friday the 29^th day of May in the year of our Lord 2026. I will be talking about the resignation of Tulsi Gabbard from her position as Director of National Intelligence, and about why Tulsi made the decision to resign. Was her decision because of her husband’s illness or was it something else.

Tulsi never seemed to fit into Washington like a typical Washington politician. She never seemed willing to lie and cheat her way to the top as is typical of Washington. From the beginning of her prominence, she seemed a little too honest and too forthright for Washington politics. Nevertheless, she was a politician having served as a Democrat in congress from the state of Hawaii.

She left congress and ran for president as a Democrat but lost in the primary to Joe Biden. She became disenchanted with the Democrat Party and decided to back President Trump in his run for that office. President Trump appointed her Director of National Intelligence, in theory the most important national security position in the country. The U.S. now has 18 intelligence agencies or departments if you count their various components and they all report to the Director of National Intelligence, but once in the office I imagine that the DNI found out who holds the real power in the intelligence world.

Podcast: Download

Subscribe: RSS | More

Darrell Castle talks about President Trump’s recent summit with Premier Xi in China and points out the similarities with President Nixon’s summit in China in 1972.

Transcription / Notes

NIXON WENT TO CHINA TOO

Hello, this is Darrell Castle with today’s Castle Report. This is Friday the 22^nd day of May in the year of our Lord 2026. President Trump just completed a three-day historic summit with Premier Xi in China. He is not the first President to visit China since President Nixon made that trip in 1972 when China was a far different nation than today as it was in the throes of suffering through the Maoist revolution.

This is the Friday before Memorial Day when we pause to remember the fallen and for most it is the start of a 3-day weekend, but for Joan and I it is a different sort of anniversary to remember. Forty-nine years ago, on this date we saw each other for the first time because we were introduced on a blind date with mutual friends. So, we met forty-nine years ago on this date and we have been together ever since but our actual anniversary, the forty-nine will be in December.

This Memorial Day falls 81 years after the end of World War ll, seventy-seven years after the end of the Korean War, and fifty-one years after the end of the Vietnam War. I guess the other wars, the desert wars, are still going on. Since we are into a little nostalgia this week and to prevent burying the lead it was 54 years ago that Nixon made his historic trip to China. It was historic because China and the US, although friends in World War ll had been bitter enemies for 23 years or since the Maoist revolution.

Podcast: Download

Subscribe: RSS | More

Darrell Castle returns to the discussion of war by talking about a war not spoken of so much since it has been driven from the headlines by the war against Iran.

Transcription / Notes

VLADIMIR PUTIN, DONALD TRUMP, AND THE DECLINE OF EMPIRES

Hello, this is Darrell Castle with today’s Castle Report. This is Friday the 15^th day of May in the year of our Lord 2026. My beat today is once again war but we visit a war not spoken of so much since it has been driven from the headlines by the war against Iran. Yes, we don’t hear much about Ukraine these days but it continues to cost lives, and resources and it continues to threaten the global geopolitical order.

I’m sure you remember, if you are a long-term sufferer of these Reports, that back in 2014 in the eastern provinces of Ukraine the people voted overwhelmingly to become or remain part of the Russian Federation but that decision didn’t sit well with Victoria Nuland who was the U.S. State Department representative there. She helped instigate a revolution that replaced the pro-Russian government with one more pro Europe and that led to a Russian invasion and the current war.

Mr. Putin, like President Trump, has found that sometimes wars are easier to get into than they are to get out of. I remember from the war archives reading the discussions from the Japanese general staff when they were planning the battle of Midway. The admiral who was to command their carriers said this will work if the Americans do exactly what we expect and want them to. Well, the Americans didn’t do what the Japanese expected and the Ukrainians haven’t done what the Russians expected.

Podcast: Download

Subscribe: RSS | More

Darrell Castle doesn’t talks about war today, but about mothers and Mother’s Day.

Transcription / Notes

MOTHER’S DAY

Hello, this is Darrell Castle with today’s Castle Report. This is Friday the 8^th day of May in this the year of our Lord 2026. I am so happy today because my beat is not war but mothers which will make most people happy and uplifted because after all who doesn’t like and respect mothers and stories about them.

Mother’s Day as a national holiday had kind of a dual start or I guess you could say dual founders. Both of the women who started the day as a way to honor and support mothers did it because of the severe rural poverty and resulting infant mortality in their native Appalachia. In 1887 Mary Towles Sasseen from Henderson Kentucky led her class since she was a teacher, in what is believed to be the first observance of Mother’s Day. Mary traveled around Kentucky and Ohio trying to have the day recognized as a national holiday but she died in 1906 before that happened.

Schools in several states adopted the idea and in 1926 the Kentucky legislature passed a resolution officially recognizing Mary as the founder of the day. The creation of Mother’s Day as a national holiday is usually attributed to three women Ann Reeves Jarvis, Julia Ward Howe, and Ann’s daughter Anna M. Jarvis. Ann, known as “Mother Jarvis,” was an Appalachian homemaker who taught Sunday School lessons.

Podcast: Download

Subscribe: RSS | More

Darrell Castle provides some options to end the war that Washington is currently fighting against Iran.

Transcription / Notes

OPTIONS TO END THE WAR AGAINST IRAN

Hello this is Darrell Castle with today’s Castle Report. This is Friday the 1^st day of May in this the year of our Lord 2026. Yes today is May Day but my beat once again is war. This time I am looking for options to end the war that Washington is currently fighting against Iran.

Donald Trump began the U.S./Israel war against Iran apparently because he wanted to deny Iran the chance to build its own nuclear weapon. That was at least the stated reason for starting the war. Suppose you are Iran and the U.S, demands that you dismantle and cease your nuclear weapons development program. Would you have any reason to comply with that demand considering what has happened to other countries in the Middle East.

Acquiring nuclear weapons might be the only way left to prevent becoming a victim of a regime change war. Think about it like this for a moment. Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Iran, Venezuela, Russia and North Korea have all been demonized by the U.S. in one way or another this century. The only two that remain uninvaded, Russia and North Korea have nuclear weapons and the others do not. The leaders of those countries who do not have nuclear weapons are dead or locked in prison.

Podcast: Download

Subscribe: RSS | More

Darrell Castle talks about the war against Iran and the efforts to keep the Strait of Hormuz open for the commerce of the world along with the unexpected results being felt around the world.

Transcription / Notes

SOME UNEXPECTED RESULTS OF WAR

Hello, this is Darrell Castle with today’s Castle Report. This is Friday the 24^th day of April in the year of our Lord 2026. I will be talking again about the war against Iran and the efforts to keep the Strait of Hormuz open for the commerce of the world along with the unexpected results being felt around the world as a result of this war.

Let me start with a brief refresher regarding the history of the U.S. war with Iran before I get into unexpected results. The U.S. government back in 1953 started this long conflict by its overthrow of Mosaddegh who was popularly elect and his replacement with the Shah who was always seen as a U.S. puppet. If what I just said is true and I obviously believe that it is, then the U.S. has been in this conflict for 73 years. In 1953 the Korean War was just shutting down so maybe a new conflict was needed in the Middle East to feed the war machine, who knows.

Fast forward to today and we find that often history does repeat but barely is it noticed because it will always be different this time. We have lots of propaganda coming out of the war from both sides and unlike propaganda in earlier wars today’s propaganda reaches the whole world instantly through social media. In World Wars, for example, propaganda was designed only for the home populations of each side. Don’t worry we are winning etc. Except for the Tokyo Rose broadcasts to the U.S. Navy and the Axis Sally broadcasts to the U.S. bomber crews the propaganda was primarily to keep the population’s backs in the war effort.

I am a little tired of war and that is all there is to talk about this week. So, I am taking a break and will look forward to talking to you again next Friday.

Podcast: Download

Subscribe: RSS | More

Darrell Castle talks about whether or not the United States should leave NATO and whether that decision would bring about a new U.S./Iran order in the Middle East.

Transcription / Notes:

THE END OF NATO

Hello, this is Darrell Castle with today’s Castle Report. This is Friday the 10^th day of April in the year of our Lord 2026. My beat today is once again war but I am so tired of war each week that I have decided to carve a niche out of the unexpected results of our current war and that is NATO and its possible end for the United States.

I’m sure you all know what NATO is but as a refresher it is a treaty (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) in which the U.S. along with the other members agreed to come to each other’s aid if attacked. The purpose was to prevent and protect against a Soviet attack in Europe like the NAZI’s had done.

Everything worked fine when there was a Soviet Union to fight and to protect against. The cold war justified the massive defense spending by the U.S. which allowed Europe to rebuild from the war’s devastation and to provide generous welfare benefits to its citizens. The fall of the old enemy, the Soviet Union, triggered a crises in NATO because there was no longer a justifiable reason for its existence.