Like millions of Americans, I am disgusted and disillusioned by seeing 20 years of blood, sacrifice and treasure (about $2 trillion worth) go up in smoke due to the Biden administration's thoughtless, reckless, and rapid withdrawal from Afghanistan.
Just in the past few days, dozens of cities and provinces have fallen like dominoes to the Taliban, and the experts say the capital city of Kabul may well fall into Taliban hands within a few days.
The Taliban savages are murdering untold numbers of people whom they suspect of helping or sympathizing with the government and/or American troops. They are kidnapping girls and women to serve as sex slaves. And they've assumed possession of hundreds of millions of dollars worth of American military equipment, weapons and ammunition.
A similar fiasco occurred in 2011, when Biden and his then boss, President Barack Obama, hastily withdrew from Iraq without thinking things through.
And I'm old enough to remember the sad and terrifying day for the people of South Vietnam when the United States pulled out of Saigon (now Ho Chi Minh City) in April 1975.
Most of the military forces had been withdrawn months before, but there was a mad scramble to evacuate diplomats, their support staff and key Vietnamese citizens who had worked with the Americans in opposition to the communists. Many terrified Vietnamese scaled the American embassy's 14-foot walls in a desperate bid to be allowed on one of the Marine helicopters handling the evacuation. Again, the bad guys ended up with a motherlode of American equipment, weapons and ammo.
Just a few days ago, the Biden administration announced it was sending 3,000 troops back to Afghanistan to help secure the evacuation of civilian personnel. This is evidence of how haphazard and ill-conceived were the administration's plans for pulling out of Afghanistan. The ineptitude is shocking -- even for those of us who never believed Biden was competent.
I get that millions of Americans don't give a rat's ass about the rape and slaughter of the innocents -- whether it's girls, their families and former government soldiers in Afghanistan, Christians in Iraq or Syria, or, going back four decades, the killing fields in Cambodia when the Khmer Rouge ran wild. We're tired of seeing our fighting men and women get maimed and killed, and often suffer psychological damage.
But the harsh truth is, sometimes we need to make long-term (i.e., DECADES-long) commitments to ensure a country is stable and American security is protected. Pulling out early and establishing a reputation as being unreliable encourages future aggression from bad actors.
We've probably overstayed our welcome in Japan and Germany, and could have scaled back dramatically in those countries years ago. These countries are strong, stable allies. But Iraq and Afghanistan have been too fragile to abandon. Once the Taliban takes firm control, can al Qaeda and ISIS be far behind?
The blame can be spread far and wide. Let's be blunt: Former President Donald Trump also advocated pulling out of Afghanistan, and indeed, it was he who initiated the process. There's no doubt in my mind, his administration, were it still in power, would have thought things through and implemented a phased, logical plan for disengaging. But now we're left with chaos not unlike the meltdown on the southern border.
When I say the Democrats are superficial and all about imagery, I really mean it. Obama was so simple-minded he thought that just withdrawing American troops from Iraq meant the war was over. Too bad it's not that easy.
Going back to at least the Korean War, it has been commonplace for generals and other enlisted personnel to pin the blame on politicians for failed military campaigns or unpopular decisions (See President Eisenhower vs. Gen. Douglas MacArthur). In many cases, they are right. It was shameful the way the Obama administration would hamstring our troops with unrealistic, suicidal rules of engagement. And it's reprehensible that leftist kooks are force-feeding transgenderism and gender reassignment surgery onto our military, as if it's a giant social laboratory.
These days, with a dangerous number of "woke" generals and other officers in the ranks, and a slew of activist causes to tend to, military personnel themselves can often be blamed for military failures.
What's really appalling is the fact that no one is ever held accountable in the aftermath of American military failures and debacles. (Well, I guess Jimmy Carter losing his re-election bid was being held accountable for the failed Operation Eagle Claw in 1980, but that was the exception.)
We have plenty of generals, presidents, advisors and other politicians who have misunderstood enemy intentions and capabilities, given bad advice, made wrongheaded moves and advocated for ill-fated policies. Yet few, if any of them, pay a price.
The no accountability zone reminds me of the ungodly number of corporate CEOs over the past 20 years who have run their companies into the ground, yet still somehow manage to depart with a golden parachute (often times, the payoff may be hush money and a way to prevent lawsuits).
Today's leaders who have failed military engagements on their resume never seem to lack for book deals, exorbitant speaking fees, TV appearances, and other perks of prominence. Maybe it's time we demand a little more accountability, because I'm damned sick of seeing Islamofascists wielding American firearms and driving American vehicles as they continue on with their savagery and we are forced to head home, tail between legs.
Ha ha!
Posted by: Allah Akbar! | August 15, 2021 at 05:01 PM