The war in Afghanistan was always a loser.
Afghanistan isn’t a country. It’s a landmass with tribes.
Dolt45 sold us out when he negotiated all of this. Got 5,000 Taliban prisoners released. Set up 46 to fail.
But, 46 is like, we have to bring our soldiers home. And the time is NOW.
"This is all just talk now. So far, the Taliban has not taken action against US forces. So far, they have, by & large, followed through on what they said… we'll see. But the bottom line is this… I'm not about to send your son or your daughter to fight in Afghanistan" — Biden pic.twitter.com/EbrsNyWs8W
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) August 22, 2021
Let us bring some CONTEXT to what is happening now.
Spare me the make believe indignation from Republicans about the Afghanistan evacuation.
1/ Here's the story of the relentless Republican effort (led by President Trump) to undermine and destroy the programs that help bring Afghan refugees to the U.S.
— Chris Murphy 🟧 (@ChrisMurphyCT) August 22, 2021
3/ In 2016, Obama asked to increase the cap for the SIV program. Senate Republicans objected.
Then, the Trump Admin started slowing down SIV processing. When Biden took over, there were 10,000 unfilled visas, despite 17,000 applications in the pipeline.
— Chris Murphy 🟧 (@ChrisMurphyCT) August 22, 2021
5/ And today Trump Republicans are making it clear they will oppose bringing more Afghan refugees to the U.S..
Steven Miller: "Resettling [Afghans] in America is not about solving a humanitarian crisis; it’s about accomplishing an ideological objective to change America,”
— Chris Murphy 🟧 (@ChrisMurphyCT) August 22, 2021
Adam Silverman at Balloon Juice has been writing some good thoughtful pieces on Afghanistan..
The Failure In Afghanistan Was the Result of Everyone Wanting to Grade Their Own Homework
by Adam L Silverman
……………………
It is also important to keep pointing out that despite everyone in the news media, the punditariat, and the various national security experts that have spent the past week to ten days screaming the Biden administration is failing, President Biden has lost the plot, why wasn’t Biden and his team prepared, and why didn’t they do something earlier, THE DEPARTMENT OF STATE ISSUED AN EVACUATION ORDER FOR AMERICAN CITIZENS IN AFGHANISTAN BACK IN MAY!!!!!!
If Americans in Afghanistan ignored these instructions, even for the best of reasons so they could continue their work with Afghans on a variety of projects from education to governance, this is not the fault of the Biden administration. We can’t send a SEAL Team to round up every American who decides not to evacuate when told to evacuate. Not least of which because we don’t have that many SEALs.
Clearly Secretary Blinken and his people were not ignoring the intelligence, or confused by it, when they issued this order. Nor, as I wrote about on Friday, did Secretary Blinken and the Biden administration ignore the dissent cable sent by Foreign Service officers in Afghanistan on 13 July warning that the Taliban could take over the country much more quickly than expected. While that dissent cable estimated 31 August, within 36 hours of the cable’s receipt, by 15 July, the Biden administration announced Operation Allies Refuge, which is currently being carried out quite effectively. So here too there was neither an intelligence failure in term of collection and analysis nor of receiving it by senior leaders and decision makers and acting upon it.
The real outstanding concerns right now need to be the ability of spoilers, such as Islamic State in Khorasan (IS-K), which is a serious enemy of the Taliban, attacking Kabul airport to derail the NEO and cause problems for the Taliban as a result of the US responding to such an attack. Another is the Taliban’s recently announced 31 August deadline for the US to complete the NEO. I think this is likely going to be less of a concern than some are making given that right now Afghanistan’s funds are frozen and being held by the Federal Bank of New York. This provides significant leverage over the Taliban, which both needs to access those funds and wants to do so. The Taliban still might not budge, but leverage, if it is used correctly, can be very effective.
……………………………..
I think the problem is where do we draw the line on who – as in which Afghans – we will bring out and who does not qualify for relocation. I think it will be a problem in and of itself because at some point a decision delineating this will have to be made and some Afghans are going to be on the wrong side of it. But I also think it will be a problem for Afghanistan’s long term viability to eventually move past the Taliban. This is going to be a huge societal drain that will have long term consequences for Afghanistan as a state and a society and for the region. The Afghans we are going to get out, no matter how many, are going to enrich the states and societies they are relocated too. And they’re going to have far better lives even as they become exiles beginning new lives in very different places than those they’re used to. But Afghanistan, as a state and a society, is going to be significantly impoverished as a result. And that, in and of itself, is going to create new risks and future problems.
The Failure In Afghanistan Was the Result of Everyone Wanting to Grade Their Own Homework
"My job is to make judgments. My job is to make judgments no one else can or will make. I made them. I am convinced I am absolutely correct in not deciding to send more women and men to war, for a war that in fact is no longer warranted" — President Biden pic.twitter.com/hggboH7zeq
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) August 22, 2021
Involved are 18 aircraft: 3 each from American Airlines, Atlas Air, Delta Air Lines and Omni Air; 2 from Hawaiian Airlines; and 4 from United Airlines. They will not fly into HKIA. They'll be used to fly passengers out from temporary safe havens and interim staging bases. (2/3)
— Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III (@SecDef) August 22, 2021
Thread
We've known for a while that the state-building is futile (Biden told Obama when he was VP), but in US politics, sticking w/ a disastrous military intervention is less politically risky than ending one, so no one actually did it until Biden.
— David Roberts (@drvolts) August 22, 2021
Now, Biden — along with *everyone else*, including US intelligence agencies — believed that, while the gov't & military were weak, they would, at least, fight off the Taliban for a few weeks or months. Everyone thought that Taliban takeover would take a while.
— David Roberts (@drvolts) August 22, 2021
David Roberts (@drvolts) tweeted at 3:28 PM on Sun, Aug 22, 2021:
It is obviously clear now that the Taliban was more prepared, and the gov’t & military even weaker, than anticipated. The takeover happened much faster than anyone (again: anyone) predicted. It made for some ugly imagery, though things have proceeded fairly well since.
Rest of the thread can be read on Twitter.
I am not a journalist but it seems to me the story isn't about how the withdrawal was "chaotic," but how nearly every foreign policy decision Trump made ultimately benefited Putin.
— Christopher Bouzy (spoutible.com/cbouzy) (@cbouzy) August 23, 2021
Biden explaining all allies are helping us with evacuues. Underlining message: No one but the US could put together a coalition like this in a week
— Jennifer Truth Over Phony Balance Rubin 🇺🇦🇮🇱 (@JRubinBlogger) August 22, 2021
Nick Walker @nw3:
Al qaeda is the Gen x of terrorists. ISIS is the Gen z.
https://twitter.com/nw3/status/1431175158212042754?s=20
hᎥᏢᏢᎥᎬ ᏟᎪhᎥᎬᏒ™@hippiecahier:
So…ISIS-K, Boomer?
https://twitter.com/hippiecahier/status/1431040194833170432?s=20
Ragıp Soylu @ragipsoylu:
The US State Dep says Taliban and Haqqani network are separate entities.
Lol
https://twitter.com/ragipsoylu/status/1431354663887122438?s=20
@ragipsoylu:
Here is Khalil Haqqani who is freely roaming in the streets of Kabul. No surprise. Since he is in charge of its security
https://twitter.com/ragipsoylu/status/1431355707366985738?s=20
Ted Sohns @SohnsTed:
#Thread
How to tell scum apart.
https://twitter.com/SohnsTed/status/1431037485199642625?s=20
AFP News Agency @AFP:
Jul 19
#UPDATE President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Monday said Turkey was planning talks with the Taliban over the hardline Islamist group’s refusal to let Ankara run Kabul airport after US troops withdraw from Afghanistan
https://twitter.com/AFP/status/1417088076052975624?s=20
1:34 AM · Aug 27, 2021
@AFP:
#UPDATE President Recep Tayyip #Erdogan on Friday said Turkey has held its first talks with the Taliban in #Kabul adding that Ankara was still assessing the Islamist group’s offer to run the Afghan capital’s airport http://u.afp.com/UHYZ
https://twitter.com/AFP/status/1431173217192972288?s=20
@juliahahntv:
Aug 25
The Taliban had warned Turkey against keeping soldiers in Afghanistan to secure the airport – but the government in Ankara has also faced heavy opposition criticism for plans to stay+guard the airport after US troop withdrawal is completed on August 31st
https://twitter.com/juliahahntv/status/1430643739270189067?s=20
Anthos Helpa @AnthosHelpa
15h
Aaaah. So the answer to the question ‘who benefits’ ….is Turkey? First Turkey wanted to run the airport, Taliban said no. Turkey withdrew troops 1 or 2 days, b4 there was an ISIS attack, now Taliban are offering Turkey what Turkey initially wanted? Curiouser and curiouser.
https://twitter.com/AnthosHelpa/status/1431179364381732864?s=20
Clint Watts @selectedwisdom:
For those confused on ISIS-K why they’d want to attack US & Taliban, lots of intricacies but short, summary version – Taliban aligned to Al Qaeda remnants (Haqqani Network, etc), ISIS rivals of al Qaeda, biggest difference between ISIS and al Qaeda is generational
https://twitter.com/selectedwisdom/status/1430917876895133700?s=20
(Former head of Afghan Intelligence, currently, self-appointed Acting President)
Amrullah Saleh @AmrullahSaleh2:
Every evidence we have in hand shows that IS-K cells have their roots in Talibs & Haqqani network particularly the ones operating in Kabul. Talibs denying links with ISIS is identical/similar to denial of Pak on Quetta Shura. Talibs hv leanred vry well from the master. #Kabul
https://twitter.com/AmrullahSaleh2/status/1431078856207785984?s=20
😢😢😢😢
Doctoring Differently (@DocDifferently) tweeted at 4:01 PM on Thu, Aug 26, 2021:
Me: [a pediatrician doing veteran disability exams]
70 yr old Black, female veteran: “I have never once had a Doctor who looked like me. You could be my daughter. I’m just so proud of you.”
Whew, these feels 🥲😭😭
(https://twitter.com/DocDifferently/status/1430998772121694215?s=03)
Christopher Bouzy (@cbouzy) tweeted at 5:14 AM on Fri, Aug 27, 2021:
Ashli Babbitt was a domestic terrorist who was fatally shot while carrying out a domestic terrorist attack. She is not a hero nor a martyr; she is a traitor who died betraying her country. Period.
(https://twitter.com/cbouzy/status/1431198397118230529?s=02)
And The Tweet Goes On (@lacadri34) tweeted at 6:46 AM on Fri, Aug 27, 2021:
COVID 19: Can we please stop pretending an airborne illness which tends to infect 5 to 6 people at a time, causing severe illness or death is in remotely the same category as smoking, obesity & diabetes.
(https://twitter.com/lacadri34/status/1431221628956987392?s=02)
This Trifling Trick:
Joe Biden needs to either address the country and take questions from every single journalist from the press corp or resign.
Resigning might be simpler for everyone at this point. https://t.co/NU4RLGbexW
— Meghan McCain (@MeghanMcCain) August 26, 2021
People kept telling you to quit The View but you stayed for five years, and you were way less qualified for that job than Biden is for his. https://t.co/kW9by2WEYR
— Roy Edroso (@edroso) August 26, 2021
Ha..
Lesson/reminder..
Your enemy/competition’s enemy, is still not ya friend..
No matter how much ya praise them, or how many choice Ambassadorships ya hand them.. or how many cheap brownie points ya try to score with contrived photo-ops with an eye to the future…in the hope of ‘winning’ them over, to extract support to win their state..
In the end, they’ll still come for ya..
Who can forget the Clintons, and the Bidens, eternally yucking it up and effusively praising and burrowing their way up the McCains’ ya know what …even joining in with and using the McCains to stick it to the Obamas.. and as the McCains routinely maligned and lied against the Obamas..
If they’ll do it with ya.. they’ll eventually do it to ya..
P.S:
Hard to understand the whole ‘allies’/‘friends’ who not only continue to pal around with, but boast of, and go out of their way to sustain ‘deep friendships’ with those who not only hate ya, but actively seek to destroy ya..
I hope someone followed up by asking about previous terrorist attacks. During Trump’s term, there were at least 560 causalities from ISIL attacks in Afghanistan. 141 of these occurred under McMaster’s watch. 98 more were killed in the 3 weeks after McMaster’s resignation https://t.co/Ax4pDf47Li
— Mangy Jay (@magi_jay) August 26, 2021
AshleyStevens (@The_Acumen) tweeted at 7:21 AM on Thu, Aug 26, 2021:
It’s time for mainstream media to put the “covid death counter” back on their daily programming. Maybe that’ll help people realize how much worse it’s gotten. They are supposed to be “journalist”, afterall. Their job is supposed to be to inform the public.
(https://twitter.com/The_Acumen/status/1430867890966724617?s=03)
Greg Sargent (@ThePlumLineGS) tweeted at 10:52 AM on Thu, Aug 26, 2021:
Abbott and DeSantis are both blaming covid on migrants.
We should see this as propaganda about a *joint infestation,* covid and migrants jointly infecting the nation.
This idea and anti-mask hysteria add up to much more than the sum of their parts:
https://t.co/mUN9nBdCKJ https://t.co/azOz5pfH7n
(https://twitter.com/ThePlumLineGS/status/1430921114700681222?s=03)
Greg Sargent (@ThePlumLineGS) tweeted at 10:23 AM on Thu, Aug 26, 2021:
Something ominous is happening. The fusion of anti-mask hysteria and demonizing of migrants for Covid points to a new politics, a form of ethno-nationalist cruelty and scapegoating for future global problems that we should prepare for right now. My latest:
https://t.co/mUN9nBdCKJ
(https://twitter.com/ThePlumLineGS/status/1430913816263598083?s=03)
She is family.
She is as smart as she is beautiful 🤗
https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=1717375658446488&id=100005222117810
Right now every third conservative is demanding Biden resign because he got us out of Afghanistan https://t.co/dzxTLDS4Zm
— Roy Edroso (@edroso) August 26, 2021
Sabrina (@Charmed86) tweeted at 6:44 AM on Thu, Aug 26, 2021:
Americans have been told for months to LEAVE. This is not a surprise to any of them. They knew the war was ending and if they wanted to leave they should have. Stop trying to act like this shit just popped off out of the blue.
(https://twitter.com/Charmed86/status/1430858577728606208?s=03)
😡😡
Hershel Walker Belongs in Hell! (@Geechee4Kamala) tweeted at 8:47 AM on Thu, Aug 26, 2021:
@politico AKA Political TMZ is sold to Axel Springer (which is worse than Fox News) for over $1 billion.
Expect their awful coverage towards Democrats, BIPOC politicians and female politicians to be far worse than what you get from Murdoch brands https://t.co/u8mCdETEpw
(https://twitter.com/Geechee4Kamala/status/1430889558946709509?s=03)
PhDeezNutz (@D4Real8645) tweeted at 7:04 AM on Thu, Aug 26, 2021:
Mississippi’s nurses are resigning to protect themselves from Covid-19 burnout – CNN https://t.co/nGn9jB2nXZ
(https://twitter.com/D4Real8645/status/1430863715684003844?s=03)
Acyn (@Acyn) tweeted at 10:31 PM on Wed, Aug 25, 2021:
Carville: There’s no elegant way to lose a war. We lost this war 15 years ago. All Joe Biden was doing was telling us what time it is and the hysterical and stupid coverage of the mainstream press, it’s just been awful https://t.co/tP5PgaHwpk
(https://twitter.com/Acyn/status/1430734618081173505?s=03)
#DidYouKnow..
“…Former Afghan finance minister Ashraf Ghani has apparently retained the services of famed Democratic party strategist James Carville in his bid to unseat President Hamid Karzai. The ragin’ cajun was typically circumspect in his comments:
“This is probably the most important election held in the world in a long time,” Carville told The Associated Press in a telephone interview late Tuesday. “This is probably the most interesting project I have ever worked in my life.”
I’m not sure how Carville defines “a long time,” but I seem to remember an election last year that was pretty darn important.
Anyway, Carville’s getting some questions about whether he cleared this with the Obama administration, but working abroad is nothing new for Carville who has worked in elections in over 18 countries.
I think the bigger question is what exactly Ghani — currently polling between 2 and 4 percent of the vote — thinks he’s going to get out of Carville.
Perhaps Ghani is hoping that the veteran Clintonite has some pull in Obama’s state department. But given Ghani’s already sterling Washington pedigree — he’s worked for the World Bank, founded the D.C.-based Institute for State Effectiveness, and was a U.S. citizen for years until starting his campaign — his energies might be better spent winning over Kandahar rather than Foggy Bottom..”
https://foreignpolicy.com/2009/07/08/does-afghanistan-really-need-james-carville/
“…DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Afghanistan’s president, driven out by the Taliban, is the latest leader on the run to turn up in the United Arab Emirates. Others who found refuge here include Spain’s disgraced former king and two Thai prime ministers.
In nearby Qatar, meanwhile, the Taliban’s political leaders have been given refuge for years.
The UAE announced late Wednesday it had accepted hosting Ghani and his family, citing humanitarian grounds — even as members of his own government slammed the Afghan president for his escape from Kabul.
Afghanistan’s ambassador to Tajikistan accused Ghani on Wednesday of stealing $169 million from state coffers and said he’d call for his arrest via Interpol.
The Western-backed Afghan government he presided over has long been rife with corruption.
Ghani joins a roster of high-profile exiles who’ve sought shelter in the UAE in past years. Some have resided in Abu Dhabi, others in the UAE’s commercial and tourism hub of Dubai.
Siblings and former Thai prime ministers, Thaksin Shinawatra and Yingluck Shinawatra — the former ousted in a military coup amid charges of corruption, the other fleeing a criminal conviction — are among them.
Others include former Spanish King Juan Carlos, who is facing financial probe; Palestinian figure Mohammed Dahlan, who was banished by his party and sentenced to prison, and Ahmed Ali Abdullah Saleh, the eldest son of Yemen’s longtime leader who was also assassinated.
https://apnews.com/article/europe-middle-east-39610b0102a926c1a573da3d6feb0eea
“..DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Afghanistan’s president, driven out by the Taliban, is the latest leader on the run to turn up in the United Arab Emirates. Others who found refuge here include Spain’s disgraced former king and two Thai prime ministers.
In nearby Qatar, meanwhile, the Taliban’s political leaders have been given refuge for years.
The UAE announced late Wednesday it had accepted hosting Ghani and his family, citing humanitarian grounds — even as members of his own government slammed the Afghan president for his escape from Kabul.
Afghanistan’s ambassador to Tajikistan accused Ghani on Wednesday of stealing $169 million from state coffers and said he’d call for his arrest via Interpol.
Ghani joins a roster of high-profile exiles who’ve sought shelter in the UAE in past years. Some have resided in Abu Dhabi, others in the UAE’s commercial and tourism hub of Dubai.
Siblings and former Thai prime ministers, Thaksin Shinawatra and Yingluck Shinawatra — the former ousted in a military coup amid charges of corruption, the other fleeing a criminal conviction — are among them.
Others include former Spanish King Juan Carlos, who is facing financial probe;
https://apnews.com/article/europe-middle-east-39610b0102a926c1a573da3d6feb0eea
“..Dubai is just one of many enablers of global corruption, crime, and illicit financial flows, but addressing the emirate’s role presents anticorruption practitioners, law enforcement agencies, and policymakers with particularly complex challenges.
The wealth has helped to fuel the emirate’s booming real estate market; enrich its bankers, moneychangers, and business elites; and turn Dubai into a major gold trading hub. Meanwhile, both Emirati leaders and the international community continue to turn a blind eye to the problematic behaviors, administrative loopholes, and weak enforcement practices that make Dubai a globally attractive destination for dirty money.
Corrupt and criminal actors from around the world operate through or from Dubai. Afghan warlords, Russian mobsters, Nigerian kleptocrats, European money launderers, Iranian sanctions-busters, and East African gold smugglers, all find Dubai a conducive place to operate.
Dubai’s property market is a magnet for tainted money. Built to attract foreign buyers, the emirate is dominated by towers of upscale flats and man-made islands studded with luxury villas. Property developers and real estate agents accept huge sums from politically exposed persons—individuals entrusted with a prominent public function, as well as their families and associates—and other suspicious buyers. Even individuals targeted by international sanctions use Dubai property to launder money due to weak regulations and lax enforcement.
The UAE is one of Washington’s and London’s key security and trading partners in the region.
Moreover, many of the illicit activities outlined in this report have strategic consequences for the United States and UK insofar as they exacerbate conflict, transnational organized crime, terrorism, and poor governance in countries all around the world.
https://carnegieendowment.org/2020/07/07/dubai-s-role-in-facilitating-corruption-and-global-illicit-financial-flows-pub-82180
James Carville..
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=TSyPNSvWn-A
kilgore trout, terminal hiccups patient (@KT_So_It_Goes) tweeted at 0:09 PM on Tue, Aug 24, 2021:
here’s the simple calculus: the taliban could get bored with this any time and decide to shell the airport or shoot down planes or start horrific public executions or atrocities. but they’re not doing it now, and that’s only because they just want us to take our shit and leave
(https://twitter.com/KT_So_It_Goes/status/1430215746156732421?s=03)
John W. Dean (@JohnWDean) tweeted at 4:55 PM on Wed, Aug 25, 2021:
Americans in Afghanistan have long known it was dangerous to be there. In most every cases it is NOT the USA’s fault they are now stuck in a bad situation. News media finger pointing at Biden is over the top and the MSM should be asking why a war they ignored is now so important?
(https://twitter.com/JohnWDean/status/1430650047868194821?s=03)
Uh huh 😒😡😡
Jesse Lee (@JesseCharlesLee) tweeted at 1:00 PM on Tue, Aug 24, 2021:
Hundreds of thousands died in a pandemic under Trump, many as a direct result of Trump’s actions, and these guys couldn’t have possibly cared less.
Biden fulfills Trump’s Afghanistan plan, zero US troop casualties, and it’s “blood” and “impeachment” everywhere.
(https://twitter.com/JesseCharlesLee/status/1430228494903042049?s=03)
Lynn V (@lynnv378) tweeted at 1:16 AM on Thu, Aug 26, 2021:
I was slow to realize that Rep Meijer is a GOPer. Seth Moulton’s dumb ass got played by a GOPer. Did y’all see how fast Meijer went on Fox? Moulton gave the GOP’s attacks legitimacy. Someone should find out if Kevin McCarthy knew about their Afghanistan trip. I bet he did.
(https://twitter.com/lynnv378/status/1430776070530379776?s=03)
Betty Cracker 🐊 (@bettycrackerfl) tweeted at 5:37 AM on Thu, Aug 26, 2021:
Failed leadership, that’s what went wrong. DeSantis politicized mitigation efforts, and here we are.
Florida is the only state where more people are dying of COVID now than ever before. What went wrong? https://t.co/hiYvg1dkGl via @YahooNews
(https://twitter.com/bettycrackerfl/status/1430841941328109568?s=03)
Eric Topol (@EricTopol) tweeted at 11:27 AM on Wed, Aug 25, 2021:
Taking note of a >20-fold less hospitalizations for Canada vs US in the Delta wave
@OurWorldInData https://t.co/SRYj9H9lxt
(https://twitter.com/EricTopol/status/1430567401553207296?s=03)
delthia ricks 🔬 (@DelthiaRicks) tweeted at 4:02 PM on Wed, Aug 25, 2021:
#DeltaVariant: People infected with highly transmissible delta have a viral load that’s ~300x higher than those infected w/ the original version of SARSCoV2, according to a South Korean study. But the load decreased to 30x as high in 4 days & ~10x in 9 https://t.co/ls4JCP2BJ2
(https://twitter.com/DelthiaRicks/status/1430636638204530688?s=03)
The Associated Press (@AP) tweeted at 3:31 AM on Thu, Aug 26, 2021:
An Australian farmer unable to attend his aunt’s funeral because of pandemic restrictions has paid his respects by arranging dozens of sheep in the shape of a love heart. Ben Jackson’s farm is in New South Wales while the funeral was in Queensland state. https://t.co/U8RAw5aGwH
(https://twitter.com/AP/status/1430810002957160451?s=03)
Slimy political opportunism ..posturing.. gaslighting.. selective amnesia.. revisionism..
The insidious morphing into what one once loathed and railed against re: the other side.. the glaring lies, exaggerations, daggers in the back ..as one seeks to elevate oneself..
What was that they said about the winner getting to (re)write history.. Beware, the ever-changing ‘power’ toggle.. it’s all musical chairs.. fleeting.. here today.. and pow.. just like that.. gone in a flash..
And based on who controls and wins the ‘sources’ and ‘write-up’ wars.. who has the most ‘credible’ ‘old-hand’ D.C relationships.. the stories and narratives keep changing.. as will the ‘heroes’, ‘losers’, ‘intentions’, ‘motives’.. ‘reputations’… it’s all cheap theater masquerading as ‘serious policy debate, governance, history’..
It’s all ‘fluid’.. all ‘relative’.. all ‘subjective’.. it’s never quite what it appears to be.. It’s not really about ‘principle’ or integrity, or ‘empathy’.. or, ‘patriotism’ ..
In the end, it really comes down to who ‘wins’ the spin game.. who gets that ever moving ‘upper hand’..
It’s about whose reputation/ego/‘legacy’ is massaged, and whose reputation/ego/‘legacy’ is stomped on.. and who gets to have ‘history’ spun to their advantage.. who gets the last laugh..
For a while, anyway..
Because, it’s all about ‘power/ego’ (no matter how much faux-humility it’s packaged in) .. and settling scores.. by actors and bit players alike..
It’s all musical chairs.. one minute you’re it, next, you’re not.. And then one hopes they have enough ‘stans’ embedded in every structure.. D.C press, MSM, rah-rah-ing astroturf foot soldiers..
And even if one doesn’t have enough ‘stans’ willing to massage/revise narratives to positively elevate one.. one better hope that there are enough who hate/resent one’s competition enough to still spitefully spin the narratives to stomp on the ego/reputation/legacy, of said competition..
It’s the D.C way after all.. one minute you’re the scum of the earth, next thing, you’re sitting on a throne of sand, hailed ‘hero’.. one minute they’re mocking and spitting on you a minute ago, next, they’re talking you up, swearing you’re the best thing ever..
Beware, it’s all quicksand.. next thing you know, you’ve gone under..
——————————_——————————_———————————-_————————-——-
“…The memo summarized the arguments he had been airing for months to the growing irritation of the military’s top brass. The Pentagon’s strategy was too broad, too expensive, and too focused on the Taliban insurgency, instead of al-Qaeda.
There was little in Biden’s past that could have predicted that he would stake out such a hard position in his first months as vice president.
The mismatch is a product of an approach to foreign policy that is guided largely by impulse and feeling rather than abiding philosophy. And it reflects a decades-long career in which Biden has been all over the map on the biggest questions of war and peace.
Biden voted against the first Iraq War in 1991 and in favor of giving President George W. Bush the authority to launch the second invasion of Iraq in 2003. He later expressed regret over both votes. In the intervening years, he blasted the Clinton administration for its initial reluctance to use military force to stop the killing in Bosnia. “This is truly a policy of despair and cowardice,” he railed.
Even on Afghanistan, Biden had been maddeningly inconsistent, calling for more U.S. troops and money in 2008 only to abandon the position in 2009 when he moved from the Senate to the White House.
As a law student in the late 1960s, Biden wasn’t the type to join the angry throngs demonstrating against the Vietnam War. “When I was at Syracuse, I was married. … I wore sport coats. I was not part of that,” he told reporters on the campaign trail in 1988. Others “felt more strongly than I did about the immorality of the war,” he said.
He got a draft notice after law school but failed his physical because of asthma. When he ran for the Senate in 1972, opposition to the war wasn’t a big part of his campaign.
As a Cold War-era senator with White House ambitions, Biden modeled himself after heavyweights like Sens. Michael Mansfield and Sam Nunn — serious, independent statesmen who advised presidents of both parties and gave big speeches on foreign policy that drew the attention of national newspapers and the Council on Foreign Relations.
Biden mastered the arcane details of Soviet-era arms control treaties. He tried to make up for his dovish vote against the Gulf War by insisting that President George H.W. Bush should have removed Saddam Hussein after the liberation of Kuwait. The elder Bush’s caution had led him to choose the “worst” option, Biden said in a 1991 speech. The result was “immense human suffering within Iraq.”
At a moment of unrivaled American power, Biden transformed into an ardent interventionist. He returned from a trip to the Balkans in 1993 and blasted President Bill Clinton for ignoring the slaughter of besieged Muslims. Biden cast American inaction as a moral failing.
“We have turned our backs on aggression. We have turned our backs on atrocity,” he warned. “We have turned our backs on conscience.” A year later, Clinton began bombing Bosnian Serb targets.
After the 9/11 terrorist attacks and the toppling of the Taliban, Biden called for setting aside billions in aid to rebuild Afghanistan — a proposal that was rejected as too costly. In Iraq, he dramatically recounted an encounter in Fallujah with an unnamed U.S. general to make the case for more U.S. soldiers. “Senator, anybody tells you that we have enough troops here, you can tell them they’re a GD liar,” Biden recalled the officer confiding to him in 2004 as he boarded a Black Hawk helicopter for Baghdad.
Two years later, Biden was looking for a way out of the war.
As a senator and vice president, he relished the pageantry of state visits and enjoyed jawing with world leaders, such as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, his friend and frequently nemesis.
Brian Katulis, a national security expert at the Center for American Progress, crossed paths with Biden late one night in 2008 at the Marriott Hotel in Islamabad, Pakistan.
By that point, Biden was beginning to turn against the war in Afghanistan.
Back in Washington, though, Biden took a position that was largely in line with the presidential front-runners, who viewed the war as faltering but still winnable. “More blood will be spilled, and more treasure will be spent,” he said. “But … it is nothing, nothing, nothing compared to the blood and treasure we’ve devoted to Iraq. And, it is much more doable than what we’ve done thus far in Iraq.”
Later that summer, Obama chose Biden as his running mate.
Biden seemed giddy to be at the center of the action, and the center of the Afghanistan debate, where Obama urged him to voice his skepticism.
Biden also sought to ensure that the Pentagon brass didn’t try to mislead the new and inexperienced commander in chief. “The military doesn’t [screw] around with me,” he told aides. “I’ve been around too long.”
In the 1990s, Biden had made an impassioned argument that U.S. credibility and the country’s moral standing demanded that it use military force to stop a slaughter in the Balkans.
In Afghanistan, Biden rejected the notion that America had any moral obligation to improve the lives of Afghans or prevent civil wars.
In Situation Room meetings, Biden seized on the Afghan government’s failings to show that the administration’s strategy was unworkable. In 2010, senior Afghan officials had been caught looting nearly $1 billion from the Kabul Bank.
A few months before his death in 2010, Richard Holbrooke, Obama’s special envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan, met privately with the vice president in Washington. Their relationship dated to the 1970s. “They were practically the same age, similarly dominating, agreed on almost everything, and so naturally couldn’t stand each other,” wrote George Packer, Holbrooke’s biographer, in his book “Our Man.”
Both Biden and Holbrooke were convinced that the war was unwinnable. Still, Holbrooke argued that the United States owed Afghans continued aid and assistance, particularly directed at the women who had suffered under the Taliban’s brutal rule.
The United States simply couldn’t abandon the country.
Holbrooke’s appeal infuriated Biden, who was so angry that he rose from his chair, according to Holbrooke.
“I am not sending my boy back there to risk his life on behalf of women’s rights!” the vice president shouted at him. “It just won’t work, that’s not what they’re there for.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/02/18/biden-afghanistan-military-power/
Jake Lobin (@JakeLobin) tweeted at 4:17 PM on Wed, Aug 25, 2021:
Holy shit. Jen Psaki just DECIMATED Erik Prince for charging $6500 to leave Kabul:
“I don’t think any human being who has a heart and soul would support efforts to PROFIT off of people’s agony and pain as they’re trying to depart a country & fearing for their lives.”
Amen 🔥🔥
(https://twitter.com/JakeLobin/status/1430640402114228227?s=03)
“Afghanistan isn’t a country. It’s a landmass with tribes.”
The one chance we might have had for nation building in Afghanistan is when the Soviets were defeated. Having missed that or having screwed that up, there was really no other opportunity.
After 9/11, I always thought we could have bombed Al Qaeda’s training camps, hunted down bin Laden, followed the money, and left it at that. The training camps would have been re-built, so they would have to be bombed repeatedly until Afghanistan could not provide a safe haven for terrorist training.
Now Afghanistan is going to have a long, dark winter. They have no international support, no US support, and the Taliban want to take them back to the 14th century. It will be hell.
Mother Jones (@MotherJones) tweeted at 9:49 AM on Wed, Aug 25, 2021:
Erik Prince is charging $6,500 a person to evacuate Afghanistan on his chartered planes https://t.co/lyrwEyioZA
(https://twitter.com/MotherJones/status/1430542864124104707?s=03)
As per usual a blood sucking evil person.
Sam Sweeney (@SweeneyABC) tweeted at 9:17 AM on Wed, Aug 25, 2021:
BREAKING: Delta Air Lines says unvaccinated employees must pay $200 per month surcharge for health insurance. https://t.co/Lye141Oed9
(https://twitter.com/SweeneyABC/status/1430534784074256388?s=03)
The Nation (@thenation) tweeted at 8:00 AM on Tue, Aug 24, 2021:
Turns out the Koch network bankrolled the astroturf backlash against teaching kids about racism. https://t.co/gp6eFICCZm
(https://twitter.com/thenation/status/1430152924223754245?s=03)
The New York Times (@nytimes) tweeted at 8:04 AM on Wed, Aug 25, 2021:
Breaking News: About 89% of the federal funds meant to help renters avoid eviction during the pandemic has not been distributed, the U.S. Treasury Department said.
https://t.co/55q18cBYY6
(https://twitter.com/nytimes/status/1430516531134451717?s=03)
Spandan @ Reclaim the Fight 🇺🇸 🏳️🌈 🇮🇱 (@reclaimthefight) tweeted at 10:06 PM on Tue, Aug 24, 2021:
The missing storyline for the elections of the next 18 months is going to be how hopping mad Democrats are at Republican politicians for playing politics with the pandemic and trying to overthrow the government. The polls are not registering this, but the ballots will.
(https://twitter.com/reclaimthefight/status/1430365853518733324?s=03)
TRUTH
Richard N. Ojeda, II (@Ojeda4America) tweeted at 6:31 PM on Tue, Aug 24, 2021:
I don’t remember Donald Trump flying one Kurd to safety. He let Turkey slaughter them. They were our allies that served side by side with our troops. Where is the outrage from the Fox Russian Propaganda Machine??? Biden has safely evacuated over 79,000 Afghans. Let’s take score!
(https://twitter.com/Ojeda4America/status/1430311712788463623?s=03)
THIS,😡
NoChillMood (@ritaag) tweeted at 7:22 AM on Wed, Aug 25, 2021:
My question is why US citizens in Afghanistan didnt leave the country when the US embassy in Kabul told them to fucking leave not once but several times in April, May and June? Why their asses stayed there when the US military base closed? They didnt listen and now are whining https://t.co/Ny1Tkz8qM5
(https://twitter.com/ritaag/status/1430505890919108614?s=03)
Eric Boehlert (@EricBoehlert) tweeted at 7:55 AM on Wed, Aug 25, 2021:
Politico gives away the game.
after hysterically overplaying the Kabul airport story and convicting Biden of doomed mission, Politico announces it doesn’t believe 70k+ have been evacuated.
zero proof WH is lying. Politico just doesn’t like the new facts. https://t.co/wqod30xIEv
(https://twitter.com/EricBoehlert/status/1430514278373724164?s=03)
Ronald Brownstein (@RonBrownstein) tweeted at 6:57 PM on Tue, Aug 24, 2021:
Not a single House Republican voted for the new Voting Rights Act. This after Rs have passed voter restrictions in state after state on virtually complete party-line votes. Needless to say, more than a bit insincere for Manchin/Sinema to insist there are R votes for voting rights
(https://twitter.com/RonBrownstein/status/1430318445040525314?s=03)
Truth
John Pavlovitz (@johnpavlovitz) tweeted at 7:21 PM on Tue, Aug 24, 2021:
The people not wearing masks are helping me easily identify people I have no desire for relational proximity with.
(https://twitter.com/johnpavlovitz/status/1430324316827262977?s=03)
Nick Sawyer, MD, MBA, FACEP (@NickSawyerMD) tweeted at 9:27 PM on Tue, Aug 24, 2021:
This is how I know COVID is going to get worse.
There are adults – and parents of children – who not only refuse to get the COVID-19 vaccine but also REFUSE TO GET TESTED IN ER or let THEIR CHILDREN GET TESTED IN THE ER.
They don’t care if they have it or are spreading it.
(https://twitter.com/NickSawyerMD/status/1430356169814528000?s=03)
Zerlina on Peacock (@ZerlinaShow) tweeted at 6:27 PM on Tue, Aug 24, 2021:
After recent controversies surrounding Simone Biles, Lizzo and Sha’Carri Richardson, @ZerlinaMaxwell has a question: Why are people obsessed with breaking Black women down?
“You may call it jokes, but it comes off as hating on the same women you swear you want to protect.” https://t.co/ziptaM5ytJ
(https://twitter.com/ZerlinaShow/status/1430310874292662282?s=03)
United for the People (@people4kam) tweeted at 0:38 AM on Wed, Aug 25, 2021:
Vice President Harris has announced in Vietnam that the US will immediately send 1 million doses of the Pfizer vaccine to Vietnam within the next 24 hours.
(https://twitter.com/people4kam/status/1430404078836719620?s=03)
Jenn | זלדה 🏳️🌈✡️🏜️ (@JennieTetreault) tweeted at 8:14 PM on Tue, Aug 24, 2021:
Republicans: start a war in Afghanistan, end it by cutting a bad deal with the Taliban.
Democrats: honor the deal to prevent the Taliban from retaliating and airlift tens of thousands of people out with no casualties.
The media: how dare the Democrats do this.
(https://twitter.com/JennieTetreault/status/1430337788742823940?s=03)
Madam Vice President Harris is GOAT! (@flywithkamala) tweeted at 5:08 AM on Wed, Aug 25, 2021:
VP Kamala Harris visited John McCain’s memorial in Vietnam, where his Navy aircraft was shot down in the Vietnam War, and placed flowers at the location. Today marks the three-year anniversary of his death. 🙏🏾 https://t.co/gpzsdHnFZa
(https://twitter.com/flywithkamala/status/1430472244950708226?s=03)
The Hill (@thehill) tweeted at 6:22 AM on Wed, Aug 25, 2021:
Unvaccinated 29 times more likely to be hospitalized with COVID-19, CDC study says https://t.co/OQBgUVYGLS https://t.co/tg2z6poqqa
(https://twitter.com/thehill/status/1430490658855276550?s=03)
Brian Tyler Cohen (@briantylercohen) tweeted at 6:33 PM on Tue, Aug 24, 2021:
BREAKING: The House passes the John Lewis Voting Rights Act by a vote of 219-212. Zero Republicans voted in favor of the legislation.
The bill now moves to the Senate.
(https://twitter.com/briantylercohen/status/1430312288364367877?s=03)
Palmer Report (@PalmerReport) tweeted at 10:29 PM on Tue, Aug 24, 2021:
During tonight’s Eagles concert, Don Henley thanked the audience for complying with the vaccination protocols for the show, and reminded everyone that “with freedom comes responsibility.”
(https://twitter.com/PalmerReport/status/1430371682313818118?s=03)
“..some dance to remember… some dance to forget..
..Bring your alibis..
We are all just prisoners here, of our own devise..
And in the master’s chambers, they gathered for the feast..
They stab it with their steely knives, but they just can’t kill the beast..
..last thing I remember, I was running for the door.. had to find the passage back..to the place I was before..
“Relax,” said the night man..
You can check-out any time you like.. But you can never leave..”
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=oop_w1P9EL8
Cognoscente of Cognomens (@ShimminyKricket) tweeted at 7:18 PM on Tue, Aug 24, 2021:
Annual PSA: Private schools are not any better than public schools. This is conclusively demonstrated in the data. Most of the reason people believe it is because “public school” is a proxy for “non-white kids go there in uncomfortable numbers”.
(https://twitter.com/ShimminyKricket/status/1430323781222944769?s=03)
Greg Sargent (@ThePlumLineGS) tweeted at 4:01 PM on Tue, Aug 24, 2021:
Look at these numbers. Large majorities reject just about everything Ron DeSantis stands for on mask mandates. A remarkably thorough repudiation:
https://t.co/1YH2LrFFWY https://t.co/EjcTVv2uPb
(https://twitter.com/ThePlumLineGS/status/1430273994943606787?s=03)
Greg Sargent (@ThePlumLineGS) tweeted at 3:45 PM on Tue, Aug 24, 2021:
The new Quinnipiac poll of Florida is amazing: Large majorities reject just about everything Ron DeSantis is saying and doing to block mask mandates. Wholesale rejection. Biden and Dems must lean much harder into speaking to this neglected silent majority:
https://t.co/1YH2LrFFWY
(https://twitter.com/ThePlumLineGS/status/1430270177581617154?s=03)
Good Morning Everyone 😊😊😊