Joe Biden just committed the cardinal sin of selling out his troops.
During Biden’s press conference, he went out of his way to blame everyone from Trump to his generals.
The problem, however, is that information available does not necessarily mesh with what Joe Biden said.
Conflicting Reports
The question at hand is why did we abandon Bagram when it clearly would have been a major asset to hold for this evacuation.
On this, Biden stated, “On the tactical questions of how to conduct an evacuation or a war, I gather up all the major military personnel that are in Afghanistan, the commanders, as well as the Pentagon.
“I ask for their best military judgment – what would be the most efficient way to accomplish the mission.
“They concluded, the military, that Bagram Air Base was not much value-added, that it was much wiser to focus on Kabul. So, I followed that recommendation.”
That was not the conclusion, though.
Bagram was closed because of the significant drawdown in troops and the forces that would have been needed to keep it open.
During an August 18 press conference, General Milley stated, “Our task given to us at that time, our task was protect the embassy in order for the embassy personnel to continue to function with their consular service and all that. If we were to keep both Bagram and the embassy going, that would be a significant number of military forces that would have exceeded what we had or stayed the same or exceeded what we had.
“So, we had to collapse one or the other, and a decision was made. The proposal was made from CENTCOM commander and the commander on the grounds, Scott Miller, to go ahead and collapse Bagram. That was all briefed and approved, and we estimated that the risk of going out of HKIA or the risk of going out of Bagram about the same, so going out of HKIA — was estimated to be the better tactical solution in accordance with the mission set we were given and in accordance with getting the troops down to about 600, 700 number.”
Whoever decided that Bagram needed to close first was simply wrong, as many current and ex-military have already attested to, including a statement from a helicopter pilot who had served in Afghanistan…
A Blackhawk helicopter pilot who served in Afghanistan explains why Bagram was the superior choice over Kabul International Airport: pic.twitter.com/V3GTmmr7vD
— David Sacks (@DavidSacks) August 26, 2021
I would also like to note that when Milley testified before Congress, he noted at the time that the powers that be had already decided that Bagram was not necessary to the mission at hand…
When Is Milley resigning? https://t.co/5lhhkYkD1e
— Dana Loesch (@DLoesch) August 27, 2021
The blame for this falls on either Biden or Austin, but neither is stepping up to take the blame. However, I do not give Generals McKenzie or Milley a free pass, as they clearly had some role in this as well.
My personal opinion is that both should be asked for the resignation or relieved of command, as this has been an epic failure like we have never seen.
However, we also have a commander-in-chief that is willing to sell out anyone so as not to take blame himself. Considering he has the final word, the first finger pointed must be at Biden.
It is one of the more shameful performances by any president in the history of this country.
Sources: Daily Caller, Breitbart, Defense.Gov
