History tends to repeat itself. This is something we have all heard for as long as I can remember. The second version of that statement is most likely more appropriate in this instance. “Those that don’t study history are bound to repeat it.”
What am I going on about? Just look at the news today and you will see. This mess in Afghanistan and the way the retreat is being conducted is a disaster for the U.S., the Afghans that relied on us, and for every American. We no longer hold the high ground. We are all hypocrites in the view of the world. We said we would take care of women and girls. We said we would protect those that worked for us. We said we would never leave anyone behind. Well, that is not what is happening and there is no way to spin the pictures and videos we are all seeing. No level of White House speechwriter expertise can fix this and make it look like anything other than what it is, an unmitigated disaster.
Now to make matters worse, not only does the State Department not know how many U.S. citizens there are in Afghanistan, but they also have no plan to get them out. Just today the U.S. State Department issued a warning.
The U.S. Embassy in Afghanistan warned Saturday:
“Because of potential security threats outside the gates at the Kabul airport, we are advising U.S. citizens to avoid traveling to the airport and to avoid airport gates at this time unless you receive individual instructions from a U.S. government representative to do so.”
Well, that’s just great. The guidance was to come to the airport. The party line was that the Taliban are not stopping U.S. citizens and they are to use their best judgement. That guidance didn’t last long.
What is the real message they are putting out? It’s easy to read between the lines. The message is: You are on your own.
Contrasts in priorities
Countries including the UK, France, and others are sending special units into Kabul to rescue their people and gather others along the way as they can. These countries have not decided to sit back at the relatively secure airport and hope their people can somehow make it to the gates. They are going out into the city and bringing them in.
The U.S. has more troops and more capability on the ground than any of these other allies. Our troops, who are extremely capable of conducting rescue operations, are stymied by bureaucratic indecision. Our current leaders in the administration, the State Department and in the ivory towers of the Pentagon are afraid to take the risk. President Biden created this mess and now he is acting as if he is afraid that if he authorizes the rescue of U.S. citizens and those who helped us, he might incur a casualty. He is paralyzed by the prospect of taking a risk and making things any worse than they already are for his political future. He is out of his depth, and he is taking our country down with him.
I think back to the situation I was in while serving as a security contractor in Balad, Iraq. ISIS threatened to overrun the base and what happened? The State Department and the administration sent no one. We were on our own. After days of holding the base against ISIS, the company I worked for got an old C-130 to land on the runway just long enough for us to jump on and escape. The State Department had publicly released a statement that the U.S. was not responsible for “private contractors” and we were the responsibility of our respective employers. Just for clarity, my paycheck came from the U.S. government, and I was contracted by the State Department.
Then there was Benghazi. Again, American citizens, contractors, and even State Department security personnel were Left on their own. It was days before some bureaucrat got out of their insulated world and mainly got out of the way of the people that knew what to do and had the ability to do it.
Now there is an ironic twist to all this. Balad and Benghazi were under Obama’s watch. This newest and largest disaster is under Biden’s watch, but the players are all the same. During Balad and Benghazi, the State Department spokesperson and then later, the Deputy Communications Director for the White House was none other than Jen Psaki. Now with the Afghanistan debacle she is the President’s press secretary.
During the Benghazi attack, Antony Blinken was the National Security Advisor to the Vice President (Biden). During Balad, Blinken was the Deputy National Security Advisor. Now as Secretary of State, his handling of the disaster in Afghanistan has once again shown that he is ineffectual and a danger to the U.S.
But the one person at the center of it all is Uncle Joe Biden. He was Vice President during the first two abandonments of our people and now he has the top spot. As Commander in Chief, he must make decisions. He can no longer hide in the shadows, or in his basement, as the President. He has certainly demonstrated his decision-making ability with the disaster he has orchestrated. Oh, did I mention that when he was Vice President, he was the only administration official that advised President Obama NOT to go after Bin Laden?
No, we don’t study history because if we did, history would certainly show us that this group is making all the wrong choices now and always have.
So, I say to all those in harm’s way, to all those that try to protect our country, don’t depend on the current administration. Remember—at least for now,
You are on your own.
