10.1 | Who made rogue agents?

Lindsay Mast (0:00)

Hey, Mary, I've got breaking news.

Mary Reichard (0:02)

What? What happened?

Lindsay Mast (0:04)

Okay, not that kind of news, but still, I got permission to extend that sticker deadline for procrastinators like me. So here's the deal. You now have through tomorrow, Friday, October 2nd, to get your sticker celebrating 15 years on the air and 100 million downloads for The World and Everything In It.

Mary Reichard (0:23)

So cool. And here's how you do it. From your podcast player, tap your screen for episode notes, and the link will be right there. One more tap, and you are in. Just tell us who you are and where we should send it. Or you can do it through the browser. Visit theworldandeverythinginit.org/sticker.

Lindsay Mast (0:39)

Go on. And don't tell the reporters I extended a deadline. I'll never hear the end of it.

Mary Reichard (0:44)

You will not.

Good morning. Discussions in the Senate and the White House about the threat of AI to national security.

Josh Hawley (0:57)

It's time to have a conversation about who bears responsibility.

Lindsay Mast (1:00)

And small businesses are using tariff refunds to pay new tariffs. Also today, 50 years of the Hyde Amendment blocking taxpayer-funded abortion and the challenges that may lay ahead.

And later, scientists are trying cloud seeding to make it rain. Does it work?

David Legates (1:17)

If you don't have water in the atmosphere, as the phrase goes, you can't get blood from a turnip.

Lindsay Mast (1:21)

And WORLD commentator David Closson on abortion ballot initiatives.

Mary Reichard (1:33)

It's Thursday, October 1st. This is The World and Everything In It from listener-supported World Radio. I'm Mary Reichard.

Lindsay Mast (1:40)

And I'm Lindsay Mast.

Mary Reichard (1:44)

Time now for the news. Here's Kent Covington.

Kent Covington (1:48)

President Trump is celebrating the US military withdrawal from Iraq.

Donald Trump (1:51)

I'm pleased to announce that the last American forces are leaving Iraq.

Kent Covington (1:58)

The Pentagon says the final troops left an airbase in Erbil on Wednesday. That was the deadline set in a 2024 deal with Baghdad.

The moment comes 23 years after President George W. Bush sent American forces into Iraq to topple Saddam Hussein.

George W. Bush (2:12)

Our nation enters this conflict reluctantly.

Rhonda Copeland (2:16)

Yet, our purpose is sure.

Kent Covington (2:18)

Trump on Wednesday again called that war a mistake. But the troops leaving now were not fighting it. President Barack Obama pulled all US forces out in 2011 Critics of President Obama's decision, including his own Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, said the White House did not push hard enough to keep a residual force and that the withdrawal helped to create a power vacuum that ISIS rose up to fill.

In 2014, Obama sent troops back to fight the terror group, and that is the mission ending now.

Donald Trump (2:48)

So this day is a victory for the United States. It's a victory for Iraq and a decisive victory over ISIS, which has been completely decimated, which is the reason we went in there in the first place.

Kent Covington (3:00)

But officials in Iraq's Kurdish region say losing American air defenses worries them after more than a thousand drone and missile attacks there during this year's US war with Iran. Terror in the skies over the Middle East after a pilot apparently tried to hijack a commercial airliner.

Henry Hyde (3:18)

Why? We need, we need, we need we do.

Lisa McDonald (3:20)

We need we do. It's good for you.

No, we need.

Andy Kim (3:24)

It's good for you. Good for you.

Lisa McDonald (3:27)

No sleep.

Andy Kim (3:27)

Good for you.

Lisa McDonald (3:29)

You won't sleep?

Andy Kim (3:30)

You saved the plane.

Kent Covington (3:33)

Authorities say passengers aboard a 737 had to leap into action Wednesday after one of the pilots stabbed the other pilot and tried to crash the plane. The flight operated by the airline Fly Dubai had left the United Arab Emirates on its way to Tel Aviv. It was carrying around 170 people, mostly Israelis.

And a video heard here posted to social media during the flight, a bloody passenger, says they have, in his words, controlled the terrorists and are now in need of help. Another crew member on board was ultimately able to land the plane in Saudi Arabia. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he later spoke to one of the passengers who intervened.

Benjamin Netanyahu (4:16)

He told me that the plane went into a spin and began to dive. He told me that, against all odds, he managed to break into the cockpit with one of the crew members. And together, they neutralized the stabbing pilot while he was trying to sabotage the plane's systems.