Debating Iraq’s Invasion and Post-War Chaos: A Green Beret’s Reflections on Intelligence, Airstrikes, and Tribal Fractures in 2003 | Ep. 254 | Pt. 3

Mike Drop

Mike Ritland

Society & Culture, Personal Journals, Documentary, Politics, News

4.9 • 6.3K Ratings

🗓️ 29 August 2025

⏱️ 62 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In Episode 254, Part 3 of the Mike Drop podcast, host Mike Ritland continues his conversation with former Green Beret Mark Gianconia, delving into the complex motivations behind the Iraq War and Mark’s post-combat transition. The episode opens with a discussion on the murky intelligence surrounding weapons of mass destruction and the decision to invade Iraq, exploring whether it was a justified response to perceived threats or influenced by ulterior motives. Mark reflects on the chaotic post-invasion landscape, including his role in devastating airstrikes against the Iraqi military, navigating minefields, and managing volatile tribal factions in Tuz. He shares the emotional toll of combat, including feelings of guilt and fear, which led to his decision to leave special operations. Mark’s career pivots dramatically as he becomes an instructor for the 18 Fox intelligence course, mastering geospatial intelligence and coding, which propels him into a tech career. He also discusses his book, One Green Beret, a cathartic effort to process his experiences, and his current role in geospatial technology, emphasizing AI as a tool rather than a threat. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	I think it's safe or easy to ascertain or accurate to ascertain.
0:05.0	There's really only a handful of people on the planet that know the true story of what the intelligence said.
0:13.0	Yeah.
0:14.0	And it's the same handful of people that made the decision to go there.
0:17.0	So seeing as how neither of us are in that handful of people, it's obviously pure speculation,
0:24.4	but I'm curious what your take is on whether or not it was legitimately justified and it was
0:33.4	doing the best we could with what we had intelligence-wise, or do you think that there is a more nefarious component
0:40.1	to that group of people deciding to go into Iraq?
0:43.9	Yeah.
0:45.6	You know, there's always the,
0:48.8	give people the benefit of the doubt side of things,
0:52.4	and then the conspiracy theory-ish side.
0:56.8	And when I think about it from giving people the benefit of the doubt, you got to think of it
1:01.0	like this. If you have intelligence, it goes back to philosophy, by the way, too, how do you
1:06.8	know you know something before you're going to, you know, and how well do you need to know something before you're going to you know and how well do you need to know it
1:12.9	before you take action if there's a possible threat so if you give the decision makers a benefit
1:19.4	of the doubt and assume they aren't corrupt and they started the whole thing for their own
1:23.6	personal gain or whatever which i think most politicians are capable of that,
1:30.6	in my opinion, all of them.
1:32.6	But you have intelligence that there is weapons of mass destruction somewhere.
1:38.4	And the way intelligence works is there's like degrees of veracity.
1:43.1	You have human intelligence inputs you've got
	...

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