discussion comment
3 years ago
Quite a picture. 640 people evacuated on one plane:
https://www.defenseone.com/policy/2021/08/inside-reach-871-us-c-17-packed-640-people-trying-escape-taliban/184563/
discussion comment
3 years ago
Everyone agrees we should cut bait in Afghanistan. By pretending he alone believes in that, Biden hopes people won’t notice what a piss poor job he did it. Apparently, he managed to hypnotize you with his BS.
discussion comment
3 years ago
If Taiwan falls, we are fucked. It would take us 20 years to replicate the microchip supply chain. During the time, China would crush us.
discussion comment
3 years ago
Our bureaucrats and lackeys made sure that the Afghan government was lead by people just like them. Corrupt, globalist, politically correct toadies with low IQs. For example, we funded a graduate level gender studies program at Kabul University. In fucking tribal Afghanistan.
In the final analysis, the Afghan leadership was disconnected from the countries people and culture. It is no surprise that the goat herders, spice merchants, and day laborers were open to fundamentalism.
discussion comment
3 years ago
ICEE, you seem to be incapable of reading comprehension. Or, more likely, you pretend people are saying things that they never said because you know how to argue against those imaginary statements. I don’t think anyone in this long thread has said they are passionate about regime change in Afghanistan.
discussion comment
3 years ago
Also, for the record, out of total federal spending. 30% is Medicare/Medicaid, 25% is Social Security, Defense is 15%. As I recall, foreign aid is about 1%.
At the end of WW2, SS was almost nothing and Medicare didn’t exist. That’s over half of the Federal Budget in 2021.
discussion comment
3 years ago
“liberals like mark94 thought it best to spend US taxpayer dollars on shit holes like Afghanistan.”
For the record, I supported killing Al Qaedi. I opposed nation building, then and now.
discussion comment
3 years ago
ICEE seems to have repeated the false claim Biden made in his speech. We needed to get out and shit like this is inevitable. No, it’s not. This is a complete lack of competence.
discussion comment
3 years ago
Except we didn’t fold the tents, or load the howitzers, or destroy the ammunition. We left it all behind for the Taliban in massive warehouses. How many Americans will die from those weapons ?
discussion comment
3 years ago
“Did you care so much when Trump was conducting peace talks with the taliban and a potential power sharing move as the US was getting ready to pull out?”
The issue is not whether we should get out. We should. Trump campaigned on getting out.
The issue is HOW to leave in a manner that doesn’t lead to mass killing. Trump was negotiating a process for that. Reportedly, Biden simply told his military to pull out immediately. That’s why we are seeing the chaos and carnage now.
discussion comment
3 years ago
The reports are multiplying about public executions and Taliban going door to door with a kill list of collaborators. A British security force was told that thousands of especially brutal Taliban are being brought in tonight and the Brits better leave before they arrive.
discussion comment
3 years ago
Just heard someone point out that Biden is complaining about spending $1 Trillion over a 20 year period. Meanwhile, he has $4.5 Trillion of new spending being pushed in Congress.
discussion comment
3 years ago
Saw a former CIA say that, whenever we’ve evacuated in the past, the order has always been the same.
1. Evacuate civilians
2. Embassy staff
3. Military
In Afghanistan, the first evacuees were the military.
discussion comment
3 years ago
The Washington Post is reporting that Biden didn’t evacuate the Afghan women who were activists for female rights. They’ve been left behind to be gathered up by the Taliban. The next few weeks are going to be heartbreaking.
discussion comment
3 years ago
The Whitehouse has released its talking points ahead of Biden’s speech. It boils down to:
1. Unlike other administrations, we wanted out of Afghanistan
2. We planned out all contingencies and were prepared for whatever happened
3. The Afghan army failed but we knew that was possible
4. Right now, we are executing our plan exactly as needed given the Afghan Army failed
discussion comment
3 years ago
ICEE expects amnesty and reconciliation from the Taliban.
The U.S. embassy in Kabul said Wednesday that it was receiving reports that Taliban members were executing surrendering Afghan troops and unlawfully detaining some members of the government, including military leaders, provincial officials and police officers.
discussion comment
3 years ago
The big question is whether the Taliban will take Western hostages. They certainly could. Hundreds of Americans and Europeans remain in Kabul. This could be the ( Jimmy Carter ) Iranian hostage crisis times ten.
discussion comment
3 years ago
The Pentagon is leaking stories that Biden didn’t follow their recommendations. The finger pointing within the administration is just getting started.
discussion comment
3 years ago
The U.S. State Department on Sunday instructed Americans in Kabul, Afghanistan, that their best chance of survival is to “shelter in place.”
In other words, the Biden administration is essentially advising Americans to hide.
discussion comment
3 years ago
The Whitehouse released a photo showing Joe on a telecall with CIA operatives, outing them in the process. Heckuva job !
discussion comment
3 years ago
Yesterday was VJ Day ( Victory Japan ). Last time America won a war. 76 years ago. Now coincides with DA Day ( Defeat Afghanistan ).
discussion comment
3 years ago
Given enough time, any organization becomes corrupt and incompetent. If that happens in the business world, that eventually causes bankruptcy and a complete change in leadership. Often, even that is too late.
After 240 years, the federal government’s level of incompetence, corruption, and arrogance is staggering. It doesn’t matter whether Republicans or Democrats have won the latest election. They all suffer from the same rot. The waste in Afghanistan is a 20 year example of this. Bad decision after bad decision. Lie after lie, no matter who was in the Whitehouse.
discussion comment
3 years ago
“they really did take the presidential palace much more peacefully than the trumpanzee insurgents took the capitol.”
No one from January 6 had a gun. Do you think the Taliban had any guns ?
discussion comment
3 years ago
Another good movie is 12 Strong which shows how our military reacted in the early days of the Afghan war.
discussion comment
3 years ago
I recommend Charlie Wilson’s War if you want to know how this started.