Georgia Howe

After decades in power and after his regime murdered tens of thousands of its own citizens, Iran's supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, was killed in the initial strikes of Operation Epic Fury.

The Ayatollah's death has prompted both exuberance and concern about who or what might fill the power vacuum.

Now, for people who aren't familiar with Khomeini, how did he come into power 36 years ago?

Now, what do we know about Khomeini as a person?

I know there have been some almost flattering puff pieces and obituaries in some of the Western media, but what do we know about what he was actually like?

Now, even if those individuals were wiped out, presumably there are Iranians who are still loyal to the old regime.

Do we know what percentage of the population falls in that category?

That was Benham Ben-Taliblu of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.

And this has been a weekend edition of Morning Wire.

In this episode, we speak to a Top Gun instructor about what it's like participating in a mission on this scale and how the U.S.

military prepares their world-class pilots for combat.

I'm Georgia Howe with Daily Wire executive editor John Bickley, and this is a weekend episode of Morning Wire.

Joining us now is retired Marine Corps pilot and Top Gun instructor David Burke.

David, thanks for coming on.

And just to start off, I'm embarrassed to admit this, but I didn't realize that there were fighter pilots in the Marines.

How did you go from being in the Marines to a Top Gun instructor?

Wow.

So I want to ask you, given your background about what insights you have into Operation Epic Fury, which is the mission that was just kicked off over the weekend, what do you know about this mission and what kind of insights can you give us about what went down on Saturday?

How does this attack compare to some things that you saw, and how does it fit into the broader context of American military history?

Now, when you say 18 hours, is that one guy in a small plane flying for 18 hours?