Identifying The Threat with Yousef Badou | Mike Drop: Episode 60

About this video

Mike Ritland interviews Yusef Badou, a Kuwaiti-born Arab who became a US Marine. Badou recounts witnessing the 1990 Iraqi invasion of Kuwait as a seven-year-old, being evacuated through Baghdad, and returning to a war-torn country. He describes how those early experiences shaped his path to joining the Marine Corps in 2002, his three combat deployments including earning a Purple Heart in Iraq, and his current work in behavioral analysis and situational awareness training.

Key takeaways

• Badou’s guest recounts being present in Kuwait during the 1990 Iraqi invasion as a child, watching tanks roll in and later seeing the aftermath on the Highway of Death, experiences he credits with conditioning him to military service
• The guest describes growing up in a bicultural household (American mother, Kuwaiti father) and witnessing post-liberation Kuwait’s strong pro-American sentiment, including Independence Day celebrations with American flags
• Badou tells Ritland he now teaches behavioral analysis and situational awareness, emphasizing that Americans should stop explaining away suspicious behavior and think more like predators when assessing threats

Episode details: published July 13, 2020 · 57.3K views · 2:12:16 long. Summary written by Self Growth Videos from the episode itself. Stories told by Mike Ritland’s podcast guests are the guests’ own accounts, attributed to them — not independently verified. Commentary is Ritland’s, presented as his analysis.

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