From the transcript:
STEPHANOPOULOS: [W]hy not have th-- everything in place to make sure Americans could get out, to make sure our Afghan allies get out, so we don't have these chaotic scenes in Kabul?
BIDEN: Number one, as you know, the intelligence community did not say back in June or July that, in fact, this was gonna collapse like it did. Number one.
STEPHANOPOULOS: They thought the Taliban would take over, but not this quickly?
BIDEN: But not this quickly. Not even close. We had already issued several thousand passports to the-- the SIVs, the people-- the-- the-- the translators when I came into office before we had negotiated getting out at the end of s-- August. Secondly, we're in a position where what we did was took precautions. That's why I authorized that there be 6,000 American troops to flow in to accommodate this exit, number one. And number two, provided all that aircraft in the Gulf to get people out. We pre-positioned all that, anticipated that. Now, granted, it took two days to take control of the airport. We have control of the airport now.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Still a lotta pandemonium outside the airport.
BIDEN: Oh, there is. But, look, b-- but no one's being killed right now, God forgive me if I'm wrong about that, but no one's being killed right now. People are-- we got 1,000-somewhat, 1,200 out, yesterday, a couple thousand today. And it's increasing. We're gonna get those people out.
STEPHANOPOULOS: But we've all seen the pictures. We've seen those hundreds of people packed into a C-17. You've seen Afghans falling--
BIDEN: That was four days ago, five days ago.....
STEPHANOPOULOS: So you don't think this could've been handled, this exit could've been handled better in any way? No mistakes?
BIDEN: No. I-- I don't think it could've been handled in a way that there-- we-- we're gonna go back in hindsight and look, but the idea that somehow there's a way to have gotten out without chaos ensuing, I don't know how that happens. I don't know how that happened.
STEPHANOPOULOS: So for you, that was always priced into the decision?
BIDEN: Yes. Now, exactly what happened-- is not priced in. But I knew that they're gonna have an enormous, enorm-- look, one of the things we didn't know is what the Taliban would do in terms of trying to keep people from getting out, what they would do.What are they doing now? They're cooperating, letting American citizens get out, American personnel get out, embassies get out, et cetera....
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87 comments:
Biden: "That was 4 days ago."
what Biden didn't say: ...'my handlers told me that the news cycles move fast and Americans have no attention span. You know, man. Especially those taught in public schools run by the Teacher's unions.'
Feeble Biden. (sigh)
Biden starts out strong, "Number one, as you know, the intelligence community did not say back in June or July that, in fact, this was gonna collapse like it did. Number one.
... But not this quickly. Not even close." No doubt, that is covering his ass, but it also seems to be true. Which means he should have continued, "This is a massive and unforgivable failure in our intelligence community. We will thoroughly investigate and change procedures and personnel to make sure this never happens again." Instead, he just wanders off.
Weak, weak, weak. Such lack of leadership.
Let's just cut through the bs of a Democrat operative playing like he's a serious journalist, interviewing the very guy he covered for to get him into office. NOW he's asking questions. Too late.
Biden is full of shit in this interview, as he has been his entire political life- all 49 years of it. There are no words needed. Or if you want to know what they're doing about it, you can quote his two main military guys in charge:
>Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin: "We don't have the capability to collect Americans. We can't do it." (PS- the Brits are doing it.)
>General Mark Milley, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff: "The Biden Administration is still working through the details."
Translation: They don't have a plan. They've been in office since January and the only thing they did was to remove Trump's plan and insert...nothing. Hope? LGBT Flags?
Joe Biden can look at the same videos and photos the rest of the world is looking at. THE REST OF THE WORLD. They see it. And like us, they are disgusted with the entire thing. The Brits were not even told by the US what was happening and now they are moving forward, sending their best paratroops into harms way to get the UK citizens out, while our Generals set aside their CRT training books and try to put a plan out there that the media will praise for them.
We have never been led by such mediocre people in our history. And we have a long history of such people. This is the basement now. Look around you, folks. Is this the best American we can be? You like what you see?
Now, what do we do about it?
Joe Biden was vice-president for eight years, was on the senate foreign relations committee, campaigned on getting out of Afghanistan, and this is the best he could do?
So the Intelligence agencies are incompetent according to Biden.
"Let's just cut through the bs of a Democrat operative playing like he's a serious journalist."
Indeed.
It's laughable watching democrats like Clinonopolis and Chuck Todd etc.. interview their democrats - pretending to be objective.
It's such a performance.
What a *bleeping* disaster.
Leaders in Moscow, Beijing, and Tehran must be seeking medical attention for their broken ribs, for all the deep laughter they've been emitting these past several days.
It's gonna be a long Biden Administration, unless he resigns for "health reasons."
But that gives us President Harris.
The mind reels.
Do these idiots “in charge” not understand how it sounds when we hear “nobody told us it would be like this!” and yet the statement is NOT followed by calls to fire the intelligence heads? Why isn’t Joe pissed off at his advisors? Why is Jake Sullivan still employed? Lloyd Austin? Blinken and Nod?
We know why. It’s all BS. They did know. They didn’t plan for it regardless. And they just don’t fucking care! That’s the Biden Doctrine: I don’t care.
Why has no one asked the most basic questions? ===> President Biden, what exactly were the details of your plan? How was this supposed work? Who crafted this plan and why did you approve it? Shouldn't a viable plan have included options to handle timing contingencies? Why did you restrict yourself to a single airfield?
Years from now, we'll find out that Joe was being given drugs to wake up and drugs to sleep, the timing based on whatever news conference or event he needed to attend.
Think Michael Jackson in the White House (except with hair sniffing)...
I agree with every word the estimable Temujin just said, but I would substitute feckless for mediocre in the final paragraph. Otherwise, my head simply nods up and down while reading.
"That was 4 days ago."
Just so much water under the bridge.......
What incredible contempt!!
Why are the Taliban letting Americans out? Because they're a kinder, gentler Taliban? No, because their leaders know that if they start killing them the US political leaders will have no choice and will have to resume the war. Biden is fortunate that they realize that, because we are a hairs breadth from having to launch a major offensive on an enemy that has thousands of hostages.
Per the state dept. spokeshole, they “are opening the aperture”.
Be of good cheer!
“They aren’t killing anyone right now”…
Emphasis on the “right now”, eh, Joey?
So they send Harris to Vietnam during this watershed event, this defining moment. It’s almost as if they want to rub America’s nose in something.
Just wait until they begin separating American heads from shoulders. Which, in all probability, will happen.
Would love to see the unedited version.
STEPHANOPOULOS: But we’ve all seen the pictures. We’ve seen those hundreds of people packed into a C-17. You’ve seen Afghans falling–
BIDEN: That was four days ago, five days ago.
I guess ABC edited the Biden-bad parts out.
"Our society is run by a technocratic-managerial class that never pays a price for failure. Democracy is a glossy finish over an unelected administrative state that isn’t really accountable to anyone and measures success or failure in terms of budgets, p.r. and power, not results." Glenn Reynolds NY Post 8/19/21
Heads should roll but manifestly will not. And that's why this country is doomed. This piece "Farewell to bourgeoise Kings https://tinkzorg.wordpress.com/ is a also must read. I've been pretty pessimistic about the prospects for our future for some time but didn't expect the fall to come so soon. I thought it would be a slower unraveling, I should have kept Hemingway's line in mind (“How did you go bankrupt?"
Two ways. Gradually, then suddenly.”)
Don’t be fooled… NeverTrump are still down wit’ Dementia Joe. They cooked their meal, let them choke it all down. Every. Last. Bite.
Biden, July 8:
“the likelihood there’s going to be the Taliban overrunning everything and owning the whole country is highly unlikely.”
Biden, August 18:
“The idea that somehow there’s way to have gotten out without chaos ensuing . . . I don’t know how that happens”
They released the cleaned up transcript but not the full interview. The clips are bad. Imagine how incoherent and rambling the full interview is.
Ladies and Gents- The President of the United States!
Being fellated by a member of the fourth estate. Hopefully, we got the gay pride flag out in time. and when can we get back to important issues, like 'white supremacy" feminism, and CRT for the military. “We make men without chests and expect from them virtue and enterprise. We laugh at honor and are shocked to find traitors in our midst.”
― C.S. Lewis,
this 'interview' is just another snapshot of the decline of America. 81 million voted for this.
Temujin said: We have never been led by such mediocre people in our history.
I would ask: Wasn't all this apparent to everyone before the election? If not, it should have been. I have a hard time controlling my anger at those who voted for Joe Biden simply because he wasn't Trump. This coming from a former life-long, genetically-based Democrat.
It wasn't 4 or 5 days ago it was two and even that lie wasn't challenged. They fell to their deaths on Monday the 16th and the Stephanopoulos hand job was on Wednesday the 18th. Geez Joe is it too much to ask the nominal leader of the free world to get a date straight? Seems a fairly low bar but we're in unknown territory here.
Vote in haste, repent at leisure.
RIP, guy! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F-njzHg2vbY
"...the intelligence community did not say back in June or July that, in fact, this was gonna collapse like it did."
"...the idea that somehow there's a way to have gotten out without chaos ensuing, I don't know how that happens. I don't know how that happened."
A master class in leadership.
"...one of the things we didn't know is what the Taliban would do in terms of trying to keep people from getting out, what they would do. What are they doing now? They're cooperating, letting American citizens get out..."
We are at the mercy of the Taliban. Thankfully, they are cooperating. If they don't there's not a god damn thing we can or will do about it. Except maybe beg.
Hard to avoid? I read the transcript. It was mostly hard to decipher. Seriously, it is a glimpse into a terribly confused mind. God help us all.
"Now, what do we do about it?"
We'll be lucky if we manage to survive as a republic.
Biden is more interested in punishing republican governors than he is in getting our citizens home. Our border is wide open bringing who knows what into your town USA. Democrats want to spend us into oblivion and the cowardly republicans are more than willing to help as long as they get their cut. The lame stream media is complicit in spreading the administrations lies. Our elections were a joke and again the cowardly republicans help the corrupt democrats to prevent any investigations.
Unless we rise up and refuse to comply we are toast.
It is even funnier to watch Jake Furrowed Brow in Deep Thought Tapper do the interviews. These people are clowns.
"Just wait until they begin separating American heads from shoulders. Which, in all probability, will happen."
Insert Vic Morrow joke here.
Too soon?
It’s morning in America! We have a barely functional Alzheimer’s sufferer as our President, and a leftist lunatic as his deputy and likely successor.
Be of good cheer!
People wonder why Biden does not ask for heads to roll with the Intelligence community failure. Maybe this will help"
'“Let me tell you: You take on the intelligence community — they have six ways from Sunday at getting back at you,” Schumer told MSNBC’s host Rachel Maddow.'
I would say with Hunter in the picture, 6 is more like 60. But it could also be that there are too many friends of the party in control, and we don't punish our friends.
Just remember, the IC was not on Trump's side so we got peepee tape and Russian collusion out of it.
Or it could be a lack of leadership.
Or both.
Blogger Mike (MJB Wolf) said...
That’s the Biden Doctrine: I don’t care.
Exactly. And why should he/they? There are no consequences for any of this. It's a PR problem that will be gone by autumn. And the 81 million (or at least the actual 75 million) who voted for him could not care less. The honor of a nation is drowned in an ocean of incompetence and indifference, in which retreat and surrender cannot even be done well.
Three things:
1. Iman (9:01): "Per the state dept. spokeshole, they 'are opening the aperture'." I'm pretty sure the first draft said "orifice", and someone who was stupid enough to work for Biden, but not quite THAT stupid, edited it to make the metaphor for what comes next a little less obvious.
2. Jimmy Carter had 52 hostages in Iran for 444 days. Biden has 15,000+ hostages in Kabul for as long as the Taliban want to stretch this out. That makes Biden 300 times more incompetent than f*$&ing Jimmy Carter. Let me repeat a prediction I wrote on Ace of Spades a few days ago: I expect Carter to die in the next few months. He's 6 weeks away from turning 97, and now he can go out with a big fat smile on his face, knowing that the number of Americans who think he was the worst president ever has gone from 9 digits (hundreds of millions) to 3 digits in the last 7 months. (Those few hundred who still think so were already far gone in senility - like Joe - when Joe was elected, and haven't been keeping up.) He's been hanging on for years hoping to somehow get out of his bottom-rank position, and now he can die happy, surrounded by loving relatives and former staffers grateful that being former Carter staffers is no longer the worst thing they could have on their resumes.
3. A few days ago, Meade was talking about the possibility that Biden and Harris could put Trump back in office by resigning and appointing him Vice President in the appropriate order. This is now much more likely to happen. Quod Verum reports that Harris doesn't want the job and I'm quite certain she doesn't want it until the Kabul situation is resolved one way or the other, with no more hostages because all Americans are either safely out of the country or dead. If things get really bad, the Dems may want to dump the whole thing back on Trump. If so, he needs to make them admit they stole the election and hand over the proof as a condition of accepting, and provide amnesty from prosecution for no one except (possibly) Biden and Harris. All others go to jail. He could promise no death penalty, even for proven paid Chinese agents.
That was four days ago = what difference, at this point, does it make
Just watched Lara Logan and Tucker Carlson for an hour on Fox Nation.
It was sobering. She took apart our relationship with Pakistan, which dominates mindshare in the region because of their nukes. She believes that US military and financial aid flows through the Pakistani intelligence services to the Taliban and Al Qaeda, so that the US is and has been more or less funding the Taliban's operations. Pakistani propaganda pollutes every news report about the region, right down to the creation of the term "Northern Alliance", which is intended to demonstrate that the opposition to the Taliban doesn't really represent the Pashtuns in the south. She is scathing on the "negotiations" to leave, which excluded the Afghan government and military.
Carlson looked stunned by her observations.
Two essays on this topic, both with basically the same point- one does it with style and eloquence, the other with biting sarcasm and mockery. The theme is that our elites ruling over us are incompetent and dumber than the people they are ruling over. I don't think anyone watching what happened this weekend and what is happening in response to a virus that is 99%+ survivable can miss the point.
Farewell To Bourgeois Kings
Dead Superpower Walking
From the Tinkzorg essay:
"It is not just that the elite class is incompetent – even kings could be incompetent without undermining belief in monarchy as a system – it is that they are so grossly, spectacularly incompetent that they walk around among us as living rebuttals of meritocracy itself. It is that their application of managerial logic to whatever field they get their grubby mitts on – from homelessness in California to industrial policy to running a war – makes that thing ten times more expensive and a hundred times more dysfunctional. To make the situation worse, the current elites seem almost serene in their willful destruction of the very fields they rely on for legitimacy. When the ”experts” go out of their way to write public letters about how covid supposedly only infects people who hold demonstrations in support of ”structural white supremacy”, while saying that Black Lives Matter demonstrations pose no risk of spreading the virus further, this amounts to the farmer gleefully salting his own fields to make sure nothing can grow there in the future. How can anyone expect the putative peasants of our social order to ”trust the science”, when the elites themselves are going out of their way, against all reason and the tenets of basic self-preservation, to make such a belief completely impossible even for those who really, genuinely, still want to believe?"
From the Steyn essay:
"Wokeness is weakness, and diversity is where nations go to die. Contrast our spokesmen with theirs: in the White House, Jen Psaki picked the weekend to take a vacation, possibly to film her scenes in another hilariously viral Mr Non-Binary Goes To Washington video; at Foggy Bottom, Buffoon McStriped Pants III issued a stern warning on the need for the firebreathing mullahs to include more female deputy-assistant-undersecretaries; and, at the Potemtagon, Kabul Kirby stood there doing his usual anguished-eyebrows Saddy Sadcakes routine.
All these images project global impotence: none of these people would be a serious and prudent power's projection of itself to the world.
Meanwhile, back at the palace in Kabul, the Taliban commander giving a victory speech is Gholam Ruhani, released from Gitmo (under Bush) because he said his "only wish" was to return to Afghanistan to (per the Department of Defense documents published, natch, in a London newspaper) "assist his father, who is sick, in operating the family appliance store in Kabul".
I don't know what appliances they sell at Ruhani & Son over at 237b Sword of the Infidel Slayer Street, but evidently they're enough to take out the global superpower. On social media, the wags are having great sport with Joe Biden's recent taunt that no American needs an AR-15, because, if you want to defeat the mighty US government, you're gonna need fighter jets and nukes."
In the major press websites today the positioning is that americans support withdrawal from Afghanistan.
They are trying to spin that (which both Trump and Biden agreed on) as if somehow Biden today is fine. Full on propaganda and positioning happening.
NO headlines on the major websites that thousands of Americans are stranded in Afghanistan with the State Dept sending conflicting messages IN THE SAME COMMUNICATION as to whether they should head to the airport or wait for furthe rcommunication because our state department can't guarantee safe transport.
We made a separate peace with the Taliban and then expected the Afghan National Army to be our rear guard for us to make a dignified withdrawal. Our intelligence people thought it would be weeks or months before the ANA fell to the Taliban. Many ANA commanders made a similar assessment and decided it was better to surrender now and not be our rear guard. It does seem obvious that it was a mistake to rely on the ANA. But so far there haven’t been any U.S. military or civilian casualties reported in the withdrawal.
That was four…five days ago. Why should it matter now??? Nothing to see here, so let’s talk about Covid booster shots.
That was four…five days ago. Why should it matter now??? Nothing to see here, so let’s talk about Covid booster shots.
If it’s confirmed that Biden decided to leave the Afghans who assisted us (e.g., translators) and their families to be murdered because he didn’t want it to be coupled with his disastrous border “policy” and used against him - as the WP is apparently reporting - the Biden presidency is gone.
Remember when Trump called out the generals and the intelligence community as incompetent and the media lost their sh!t over it all?
Here's what to watch for: after the last American is out, let's see if Joe really serious about accountability by cashiering Austin and Miley. Their F-ups on this are unforgivable
I am seeing comments in some articles that massive amounts of US weaponry is being left behind and taken by the Taliban. I cannot even compose words to describe this. You sneak out of Bagram at night and pull forces out of the country before removing usable weapons? Can this possibly be true? I just can't think about it.
Also, hawkeyedjb, this is not a PR problem that will be gone by autumn because the Chinese and Russians are not blind.
Well, the Brits have weighed in, with Parliament holding President Biden in contempt. The New York Times was quick to point out that it was not a formal vote of contempt, but the sense of betrayal, of not coordinating with — totally ignoring, in fact — the needs of (what used to be) our most reliable ally is pretty obvious.
Harriet, Blazing Saddles: "Isn't anybody going to help that poor man?"
He will abandon Texas even faster than he abandoned Afghanistan, if Texas gets invaded by a foreign government.
"That was four days ago, five days ago" = "What difference, at this point, does it make?"
With the NSA hoovering up every electron and visuals from drones and satellites the military has watched the Taliban invasion in real time since they crossed the Pakistan border. No one can claim surprise. They CHOSE this outcome.
With the NSA hoovering up every electron generated in the region and drones/satellites providing video the military and government have watched the Taliban invasion since they crossed the Pakistan border. NO ONE can claim surprise. This is exactly the outcome they chose.
Left Bank: "But so far there haven’t been any U.S. military or civilian casualties reported in the withdrawal."
Just read that.
And let the stupidity pour over you.
No civilian casualties? What do you think happened to those bodies that fell off airplanes or were carved up in the wheel wells of those jets?
Of course, as long as Left Bank's favorite media organs don't report something, it never happened.
Left Bank probably still thinks all 3 of Hunter's laptops were all russian disinformation....because that was what Left Bank's Pravda sources told him and then told him nothing else.
BTW, women are throwing their babies over razor wire at the airport but according to Left Bank, at least no real civilians are being harmed or anything.
Left Bank, if you are thinking about when a good time might be to withdraw your last comment, the answer to that is "now". Right now. Now would be a good time to withdraw it.
Or are you going to "pull a Biden" and, no, not grope a small nearby child, but simply double down on your previous inanity?
Insane in the Joe Brain
Who you trying to get crazy with ése?
Don’t you know I’m loco?
To those who be dissin’ my plan
I’ll just toss that ham in the frying pan
Toe jam, taste good when it’s spread on Spam
Damn, makes me feel like the Son of Sam
Don’t make me talk shit, man up
Shriveled scrotum sweats, drink a cup
Hey, the lights are blinking, I’m thinking
I’m Irish so I’ll go out drinking
No! It make my mind slow
That’s why I can’t fuck with the big 4-O
I’m Prez, I got to maintain
‘Cause a laddie like me is going insane
Insane in the Joe brain
Insane in the brain
Insane in the Joe brain
Insane in the brain
Insane in the Joe brain
Crazy insane, got no brain
Insane in the Joe brain
Insane in the brain
As pointed out by others online.....
During Stephy's tongue bath for Joe Biden yesterday, *President Gropey McIceCream said this:
Joe Biden: “We don’t have military in Syria."
The U.S. has 900 troops.
According to the Althouse lefties/LLR Lefties, the only reason Biden spit out that lie is because the Evil Orange Man put out a plan last fall for the President to lie about that very thing yesterday.
mezzrow writes, "I agree with every word the estimable Temujin just said, but I would substitute feckless for mediocre in the final paragraph. Otherwise, my head simply nods up and down while reading."
Feckless alone isn't strong enough. Diseased also applies.
Biden is Caligula minus the raffish charm.
Many commenters have condemned US intelligence for failing to warn of the likelihood of a rapid Taliban sweep.
But, in his comments with Muir at 2:00, Stephanopoulos said that, in claiming there was no intelligence predicting the rapid Taliban takeover, Biden was “contradicting what we’ve heard from a lot of senators who got intelligence briefings with some leaks from intelligence officials as well.”
Yet, in the clip of his interview with Biden, Stephanopoulos accepts Biden’s denial regarding intelligence reports without even mentioning the evidence that showed Biden was lying.
Roger Sweeny said...
Biden starts out strong, "Number one, as you know, the intelligence community did not say back in June or July that, in fact, this was gonna collapse like it did. Number one.
What seems to be a universal rule is that "when the boss is consistently lied to, it's because that's what the boss wants and encourages."
I guarantee you there were people at lower levels saying this would happen. But their inconvenient views weren't passed on to higher ups. Because those in the chain of command have repeatedly made it clear that they don't ever want to get reports that contradict their desired views.
And that is why Biden didn't say "This is a massive and unforgivable failure in our intelligence community. We will thoroughly investigate and change procedures and personnel to make sure this never happens again." Because no one at the top of the Biden* Admin wants to be told any truths that go against their desires.
Be prepared for a really f'ed up 4 years. Because Harris isn't the least bit different. And what they want is not in accord with reality, so there will be more failures, some which will make this look like a tea party
Just pathetic, demonstrating to anyone with eyes to see how diminished and impaired he is. But this is probably all he is capable of at this stage. Going forward, the stress of the job, even given the limited way in which he is performing it, will take its toll and make him even worse. The only answer his handlers have come up with is the omni-present lid -- making Biden the omni-absent president, a truly empty suit.
The pairing of this interview against the one Trump featured in the preceding post highlights an interesting subtext: even as the MSM ignores the Trump interview, Trump and reactions to him are still driving the narrative. Everyone (at least everyone paying any attention) remembers the combative press conferences with Trump, how the reporters sought to frame their questions in the most provocative and insulting way, while the treatment of Biden (during the campaign and now as president) is the exact opposite. Trump was brutal, then and now, in hammering on the difference in treatment, and the obvious partisan motives behind it. In interviewing Biden, Stepho tries to thread the needle -- can't be all softballs since that would validate Trump's take on the MSM, but can't press Biden hard to avoid having the reality of Sleepy Joe hit every viewer in the face.
Biden and Stepho are both losers in that game because people will believe what they see rather than the spin, while Trump ends up looking better than the guy whose entire campaign was that he's the not-Trump candidate. The powers-that-be in Dem-land must be afraid, very afraid, not only about how badly Biden is doing and how much worse it's going to get, but how their allies in MSM are being so obvious about trying to hide the ball while preaching to an ever-shrinking choir.
our elites ruling over us are incompetent and dumber than the people they are ruling over
Reagan was making the same point 40 years ago. Buckley was making the same point 60-70 years ago, preferring to be ruled by the first 2000 people in the phone book than the Harvard faculty.
To the elite experts only now discovering that the elite experts are maroons, the only response is NSS.
(If you want to go back further with this -- try the opening pages of human history when they ate the fruit of the tree, which only made humanity stupider, not wiser and smarter.)
This is merely the first act. The Stunning Surprise at the end of the second act is Taiwan.
Can we except the China Stooge running the US military to defend Taiwan (or any other ally, for that matter)?
Left Bank of the Charles said...
We made a separate peace with the Taliban and then expected the Afghan National Army to be our rear guard for us to make a dignified withdrawal.
Stop lying, Leftie. Trump made a separate peace, with the expectation that we would stay at Bagram Airbase until the removal was complete, and that any time the Taliban got frisky the US would excessively retaliate.
The ANA would have had the choice of trying to do a split with the Taliban (you get the rural areas, we get the cities and some connecting strips), or else bugging out. But under Trump's plan, we would ahve been our own "rear guard".
Now, the "Biden* plan" is as you describe. An utterly feckless abortion from a brainless putz and "his" corrupt advisors.
"But so far there haven’t been any U.S. military or civilian casualties reported in the withdrawal."
There were no US casualties in Afghanistan in the last year of the Trump Admin, IIRC. So your claim is worthless, even if it turns out to be true.
But when you have 10k+ US civilians apparently trapped in Afghanistan, claiming that "so far" there haven't been any "casualties reported" is like the guy falling off a tall building, and shouting "so far, so good" as he passes the 20th floor
"Stop lying, Leftie." Is that even possible? I mean, if your whole socioeconomic policy is based on legalized theft, and you come out of a tradition of "No truth but socialist truth" . . . what can you expect?
Daniel Jackson said...
"Can we except the China Stooge running the US military to defend Taiwan (or any other ally, for that matter)?"
Israel doesn't believe so. And they can't afford naiveté or false hope.
https://www.jpost.com/middle-east/how-the-taliban-takeover-changes-the-dynamics-in-a-biden-bennett-meeting-analysis-677094
Drago said...
Left Bank: "But so far there haven’t been any U.S. military or civilian casualties reported in the withdrawal."
Just read that.
And let the stupidity pour over you.
No civilian casualties? What do you think happened to those bodies that fell off airplanes or were carved up in the wheel wells of those jets?
Those are, IIUC correctly, Afghan civilians. And while Leftie would totally support them crossing the US border illegally, worrying about their deaths just isn't done when that worry might hurt a Democrat.
It's really educational watching all the people who "care" about "poor oppressed foreigners" lose that care the second it's no longer short term politically advantageous.
The Taliban killed a woman for not wearing a burqa on same day they vowed to honor women’s rights.
At least they didn't send her a mean tweet.
Left Bank: "Those are, IIUC correctly, Afghan civilians. And while Leftie would totally support them crossing the US border illegally, worrying about their deaths just isn't done when that worry might hurt a Democrat.
It's really educational watching all the people who "care" about "poor oppressed foreigners" lose that care the second it's no longer short term politically advantageous."
I was wondering what little rhetorical cubby hole you would run into after your pathetic and moronic statement.
Your adolescent bait and switch ploy fails as miserably your original comment.
You might consider taking a timeout and reevaluating just what the hell it is you are posting.
A retraction has been demanded but I will only offer a clarification. By “U.S. military or civilian casualties” I mean U.S. military or U.S. civilian. What’s happening to Afghan civilians is terrible, as it has been all along.
I’ve read the agreement Trump negotiated with the Taliban. In terms of peace in Afghanistan, all he got was “the Taliban will start intra-Afghan negotiations with Afghan sides” and “a permanent and comprehensive ceasefire will be an item on the agenda of the intra-Afghan dialogue and negotiations”.
The pilot of the plane the people were clinging to the sides of shouldn’t have taken off, but it was a chaotic situation. The people who does may have thought it was the last plane out of Kabul, their last chance, but it wasn’t.
Drago,
I can see how difficult it is to tell who said what in there, but that is Greg the Class Traitor attacking Left Bank. You ought to have been able to tell by the "Leftie" in the quoted matter.
Biden: "No one can name for me a time when this would end. And what-- wha-- wha-- what-- what constitutes defeat of the Taliban? What constitutes defeat? Would we have left then? Let's say they surrender like before. OK. Do we leave then? Do you think anybody-- the same people who think we should stay would've said, "No, good time to go"? We spent over $1 trillion, George, 20 years. There was no good time to leave."
Yep. Biden was right on that.
Left Bank: "I’ve read the agreement Trump negotiated with the Taliban. In terms of peace in Afghanistan, all he got was “the Taliban will start intra-Afghan negotiations with Afghan sides” and “a permanent and comprehensive ceasefire will be an item on the agenda of the intra-Afghan dialogue and negotiations”.
The agreement Trump negotiated was s***-canned by Biden and Kamala (by their own admission) and they altered every element of that plan to create their own, they then showed their plans to the their democrat allies who then publicly praised the Xi/Putin/Biden plan, notably Chuck Schumer.
Everyone is on to yours and LLR Chuck's and Howard's pathetic attempts to assign this Biden/Harris effort to Trump is already timelate by days as your media and democratical allies have already read the tea leaves and know that no one is buying that transparent lie and have already moved on.
Once again, as always, the lefties of Althouse blog are the most pathetic of all lefties and are always days/weeks behind the powercurve of the latest iteration of democratical lies.
We truly need a better crew of lefties who can at least keep up with the most current versions of demcratical lies. This crew ain't cutting it.
Quaestor: "The Taliban killed a woman for not wearing a burqa on same day they vowed to honor women’s rights."
According to LLR Chuck and Howard, that was a "relatively peaceful" murder.
Or, as a certain long time Althouse lefty poster would put it, a "spark of divinity" murder.
As we speak, the Brits and French (the French!) Special Forces are moving through Kabul to retrieve their citizens.
Meanwhile, Biden is "resting" after the implementation of his Xi/Putin/Biden Retreat Plan and is likely currently experiencing a chemically-induced deep slumber for at least the next 24 hours prior to the next "pick me up" chemical cocktail that will enable him to stand and haltingly speak for approximately 10 minutes or so before the next "lid" is called.
Biden is awful. He never had the mental capacity to be president and now his capacity is diminished. An honest media would be repeatedly raising the question of a cognitive assessment. That almost certainly will not happen, but D's will monitor the situation to determine if and when the time comes to force Biden out. The force out will be relatively easy, perhaps with Obama playing a role.
I find Stephanopoulos fascinating. He is a biased liberal, but I think he makes some effort to play it close to straight in significant interviews such as this one. To me, he gets about 75% of the way to to neutral. He is unwilling to go for the jugular, out of politeness, bias or lack of ability, but he does cover important issues and seeks answers (with the use of leading questions on some issues in a manner that potentially hurts Biden: "so you priced that into the decision?"). If I had time, I would contrast his style with Biden versus his style with Trump - my recollection is that it might be close to the same (although I might be way to kind to Stephanopoulos).
This isn't that complicated. Whatever plan Orange the Clown had or didn't have is beside the point. Contrary to what some of his more ardent supporters believe, he isn't the president, Joe Biden is. As such, Biden is responsible for the decisions he makes and the results of those decisions. Trying to blame the last guy for your f*ck ups is not leadership.
Another tell-tale that the American Experiment of government "of the People, by the People , etc" is completely over is the Praetorian security guards surrounding ALL the bigwigs.
And their fancy jets, and their limos, and their utter insulation from charges of criminality.
It's over, folks.
Me? I'm investing in torch and pitchfork futures. But I'm sure others are arming drones they can send up outside DC's airports.
Is Joe reeling psychologically? I keep thinking of Hillary on the night she lost it all, except worse.
https://www.nationalreview.com/the-morning-jolt/something-is-wrong-with-the-president/
Hawkeyedjb: "Israel doesn't believe so. And they can't afford naiveté or false hope." With respect to my comment, can we expect [Biden] to do the same with respect with Taiwan (given China's threats it will take "back" the island.
I think we are on the same page. This appears to be the main concern in South East Asia right now: https://indianexpress.com/article/world/kamala-harris-faces-task-of-convincing-asia-of-us-reliability-after-afghan-chaos-7462687/?utm_source=ground.news&utm_medium=referral
Harris is hardly more astute with a poker hand than Papa Joe. In short, current credibility with the US is in the toilet.
This is why the Afghan debacle has strengthened Bennett's hand in the coming "talks" especially when the US promises to protect Israel if any plans go south.
From the Maghreb, the US appears to be in total chaos with respect to domestic and foreign policy. It will take a long while (possibly a clean sweep of the current political culture) before we can regain credibility.
What a mess!
I spent the election season stating, simply, that Biden has dementia. I'm not going to continue stating that obvious truth. Anyone who can't admit that now has more serious problems than even good old dementia Joe.
Left Bank of the Charles said...
A retraction has been demanded but I will only offer a clarification. By “U.S. military or civilian casualties” I mean U.S. military or U.S. civilian. What’s happening to Afghan civilians is terrible, as it has been all along.
Which is to say "I (Leftie) don't give a sh!t about them. Never have, never will. I care about power for my side, and that's it. Since their suffering is inconvenient to my side, I'm going to blow them off."
I’ve read the agreement Trump negotiated with the Taliban
News flash: Trump isn't President any more, and the Biden* Admin nuked his plan. This is a Democrat sh!tshow, not a Republican one.
Trump destroyed ISIS, Trump killed Soleimani. The Taliban knew that he would have no problem killing their leaders if they got out of line.
Biden was VP when Obama let ISIS grow from nothing, and established "red lines" that meant nothing. As President he killed the American Keystone II Pipeline, while approving the Russian Nord Stream pipeline. The Taliban know they have nothing to fear from him, no matter what they do.
Trump's credibility meant the Taliban would have had to be restrained while he was President. Biden's utter lack of credibility means the Taliban know they can run wild.
You own that.
The pilot of the plane the people were clinging to the sides of shouldn’t have taken off, but it was a chaotic situation.
And, why was it that it was a "chaotic situation"? Oh, I know: It's because the Biden* Administration is an incompetent group of screwups who were completely blindsided by things everyone else realized, and so despite close to 7 months to get this going, they had no plans in place that had any contact with reality.
I suppose that, when you have no credibility, you think there's no cost to trying to defend / excuse the indefensible. But it's really sad to watch
Every single voter who voted Democrat, all 80 million (or only 70 million real voters?) Americans, voted for this.
That's democracy - you vote for the best AND the worst from who you vote for.
There's not a single Trump policy or action, as President or candidate, which is as bad as Biden on Afghanistan.
Or Biden on the border.
Arguably, or Biden on the debt - tho Trump would have also been a big, inflation causing spender, it would be less, with far lower gas prices.
Those voting Democrat are responsible.
Democrats, whether they "wanted" it or not, voted for it. By their action.
If they didn't want death and rape of hundred or thousands of Afghan girls and women, they should not have voted for Biden.
After 5 years of US intel lying about Trump, neither the voters nor Biden should have believed the CIA nor the FBI - but too many Democrats believe Dem lies.
"We have never been led by such mediocre people in our history." Temjun
Our elites hate America, hate Truth, hate actual, individual Justice, and hate ...
the American Way.
Which, with imperfect people, is not perfect. But for a couple of hundred years was the BEST in the World.
Not anymore.
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