Michael Knowles

There are some people who say we should never go to war.

We should be pacifists or the Iranian regime is actually good.

We could really work with these guys.

I've never said that the regime is awful and it would be great if we could swap out the regime.

But what did I say before, during and after the strikes?

I said, I just don't think you're going to unseat this regime.

The last time we changed regimes in Iran, the 1953 CIA coup that got rid of Mogadishu and consolidated the power of the Shah, that regime lasted for 26 years, was it?

Yeah, 53 to 79, 26 years.

The Iranian mullahs who won the Islamic revolution, they've been in power almost twice as long.

So we don't like them.

They're terrible for America.

They're terrible for the region of the world.

But I said, I think it's a more stable regime than some of the hawks are pretending.

And I don't think this is going to be an 88-minute mission like in Venezuela.

In other words, I agree with the CIA director.

I think that the notion that Iran was ripe for regime change was farcical.

I said that before, during, and after.

And now that we're six weeks in, five and a half weeks into this war, that would seem to be the case.

The Iranian Islamic regime has held on to power.

You don't need to think that's a good thing.