MIDLIFE CRISIS-19, Monday, October 16, 2023 – Biden, More Troop Deployments, What a Mess.
So here we are, two (2) years post the Afghanistan disaster, after a costly protracted twenty-year war, leaving a departure stain on the graves, hearts, and valor, of those American service members who were sacrificed or maimed in what amounts to a political stunt-withdrawal. Now, we are sending more troops back to the Middle East, amidst another President Biden reactionary blunder, and one of enabling and complicity.
“Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has ordered a select number of U.S. troops to prepare to deploy in support of Israel, multiple outlets have reported” (1.).
Why?
“About 2,000 such troops were chosen this weekend to be ready to assist with advising and medical support, The Wall Street Journal first reported” (1.).
That is not why, that is what we are being told they will be doing. The why is twofold. First, Biden’s disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan left a power vacuum in the Middle East, and second, Biden, and CIA, enabling and complicity in not responding to the warnings of the Hamas attacks on Israel. That is the why.
But let us not be misled by what would amount to a quasi-humanitarian aid routine, Austin is referring to a second U.S. carrier strike group (CSG) on its way, while one (1) CSG is already deployed to the region.
“The U.S. has continuously expressed support for Israel after the country was attacked, with the Pentagon over the weekend announcing it was sending a second carrier strike group to the Eastern Mediterranean. The strike group is meant to act as a deterrence amid concerns foreign aggressors could engage in the war and will join the USS Gerald Ford group, which is already there” (1.).
“[The] group led by the USS Eisenhower [deployed Saturday, October 14, 2023] will join them after Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin’s announcement” (2.).
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Fun Facts:
The Eastern Mediterranean is the western coast of Gaza, Israel, and Lebanon north.
“A carrier strike group, or CSG for short, is a type of carrier battle group that is a principal element of U.S. power, holding enough firepower to rival the air forces of entire nations.
“A U.S. carrier strike group, not to be confused with the United Kingdom’s battle group of the same name, typically operates with roughly 7,500 personnel onboard” (2.).
That would be approximately seven-thousand, five-hundred (7,500) Sailors and Marines, per CSG, for an estimated total of fifteen-thousand (15,000) U.S. servicemembers between two (2) CSGs.
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But wait, there is more.
“Washington has also sent munitions and interceptors for Israel’s Iron Dome defense system and moved fighter jets to the region” (1.).
So for context, what about the relational irony regarding the Afghanistan withdrawal, and our return to the Middle East?
From ABC News, conveniently reported on August 31, 2023 – just weeks before terror in Israel, “2 years on, Afghanistan withdrawal continues to cast pall on Biden administration: ANALYSIS. The chaotic exit is a ‘blind spot’ for the president, one analyst told ABC News” (3.).
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A tale of two (2) lying Bidens.
“Shortly after then-Sen. Joe Biden in 2001 joined his colleagues in unanimously approving waging war in Afghanistan, he declared the effort required American boots on the ground and predicted the world would judge the U.S. harshly if it did not stay the course, allowing ‘the hope of a liberated Afghanistan to evaporate.’
“Twenty years later, President Biden defended his decision to withdraw from Afghanistan with the same level of confidence, portraying it as a moral imperative while forcefully rejecting criticism over the chaotic exit and new era of Taliban rule that saw millions of Afghans' hard-won freedoms vaporize virtually overnight. And upon completion of the withdrawal, Biden applauded the ‘extraordinary success of this mission’” (3.).
Oh, but that is just politics and the rhetoric of a sleazy politician; what about a military opinion from a senior military officer?
“Retired Rear Adm. Mark Montgomery, now senior director of the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies' Center on Cyber and Technology Innovation, says what he called Biden's myopic approach resulted in the president shutting out critical warnings.
“’In the face of significant pushback from the senior military advisers, he overrode all their concerns and recommendations, and executed an absolutely catastrophically bad policy,’ he argued in an interview with ABC News.
“’He clearly has foreign policy bonafides. But with this president, there's a blind spot,’ Montgomery said, maintaining that attitude has now seeped through the ranks. ‘I do not believe that they are willing to have an open transparent discussion of what went wrong’” (3.).
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Here is post-Afghanistan, Middle East, gem that aged quite ripely.
“Daniel Byman, senior fellow with the Transnational Threats Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies and a part-time senior adviser to the State Department, says many officials feel they have turned the page.
“’I think that there's a limited focus on this at best within the Biden administration,’ he said. ‘It's not occupying the time of senior officials.’
“Their focus, Byman says, has turned to different areas they consider to be ‘major success,’ including the administration's support for Ukraine and approach to China, which many worry seems poised to invade Taiwan” (3.).
That would amount to a summary inference that the Biden Administration turned its back on the Middle East for political expedience for what amounts to the absence of any “major success.”
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Enter, a real only-Biden gem, one of keen déjà vu about death – American deaths. One-hundred (100), two-hundred (200), nine-hundred (900), Americans, who is counting anyways?
“Although Biden estimated at the end of August of 2021 that 100 to 200 American citizens who wanted to depart Afghanistan remained in the country, Secretary of State Antony Blinken indicated last month that the administration had facilitated the departure of roughly 900 U.S. citizens since the U.S. occupation ended.
“’I believe some 900 or so additional American citizens who’ve told us at one point or another that they wanted to leave we’ve made sure could get home,’ [Blinken] said at a press availability.
“But an unknown number of Americans are still trapped, including some who are being detained by the Taliban. Thousands of Afghan allies eligible for resettlement in the U.S. are also still awaiting relocation” (3.).
Also “unknown” is the real number of Americans killed and kidnapped by Hamas.
It is likely that little of what we are being told now about the aftermath of the Hamas attack on Israel is true regarding dead and at-risk Americans, and more gravely, that a broader war is likely imminent.
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Including the implied political opportunity, one that is coming to roost, please digest the following with gravity.
“On the world stage, Montgomery says the perception of calamity in Afghanistan has amplified the need for the United States to succeed in other theaters” (3.).
It is also a pre-election political “need.” Read that again, this blog is your oyster.
“’You really could see us as a very dubious ally,’ [Montgomery] said. ‘If you're Taiwan, if you're Japan or Korea, if you're Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, you have to be asking yourselves is the United States willing to sacrifice American service members to meet its treaty or stated obligations to us?’
“By backing Ukraine, Montgomery says the administration has restored some of its standing in the eyes of the world, but not all -- especially when it comes to deterring adversaries from inciting conflicts.
“’The credible belief that the U.S. would commit military personnel does deter China. And one has to call into question the credibility if that based on the last two administrations,’ he said. ‘In the end, we're not willing to put U.S. troops where our rhetoric is’” (3.).
And on that note, Biden now delivers, or did he trip again … cough, cough?
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Regarding loss of life, Gold Star Families – what this Afghanistan reporting grossly categorizes as “political costs” – we are grateful that, pre-retirement, General Milley graciously shared the following sheet of paper.
“Joint Chiefs Chairman Mark Milley submitted a statement that was read aloud at the start of the hearing, saying of the Gold Star families, ‘We owe them transparency. We owe them honesty, we owe them accountability if appropriate. We owe them the truth about what happened to their loved ones.’
“’We don't like what happened in Afghanistan. We don't like the outcome of Afghanistan. We owe it to the families to take care of them,’ his statement said” (3.).
He then retired less than a month later, Friday, September 29, 2023, having escaped the very accountability on which he dribbled on paper, one that he did not have the decency to read in person, to the Families.
Watch how this works.
“Tuesday marked the first time several Gold Star family members of the 13 service members killed in the 2021 Abbey Gate bombing at Kabul's airport gathered on Capitol Hill to voice their frustrations, repeatedly calling for transparency from the Biden administration and accountability for decision-makers they say failed their children” (3.).
Tuesday was August 29, 2023, one (1) month before Milly retired, which meant that upon his letter being read a month earlier, and on, he would have no skin in the game in administering, nor receiving, accountability.
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Here is another gem that has aged like festering entrails regarding voters, as there is absolutely no attention on the Middle East, now … more cough, cough.
“Montgomery says he doubts there's a real appetite to learn from experience because ‘the president thinks he did nothing wrong.’
“’There's no question this is not a story the administration wants a lot of attention on, so the fact that they're trying to bury it is not at all surprising to me,’ said Byman, noted earlier.
“But both Byman and Montgomery predict attack lines on the withdrawal ultimately won't land with voters, primarily because Biden appears to have kept at least one core promise: so far, Afghanistan has not become a safe haven for terrorists again.
“’Public attention is gone. It doesn't show up in polling as a major concern,’ he said (3.).
Our attention is “gone”? Right, it is now just east of Afghanistan on Iran, Israel, Gaza, and Lebanon.
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Regarding the future, Mongomery concluded, ‘The base of non-state actors to who want to damage the United States -- they're invariably going to grow inside Afghanistan,’ he said. ‘We could be facing a challenge like we did 20 years ago’” (3.).
But did he mean twenty (20) days from then? Wait, it was thirty-seven (37) days from that reporting, when Hamas attacked Israel, to be exact. Maybe October 07, 2023, was some type of Taliban, Afghanistan, anniversary.
China’s Xi Jinping? Plausibly celebrating Biden’s “accomplishments.” American global chaos at your service your Excellency, Xi.
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Biden, more troop deployments, what a mess.
- Matfucius
1.) https://www.yahoo.com/news/pentagon-puts-troops-notice-prepare-200825301.html
2.) https://thehill.com/homenews/4256649-carrier-strike-group-us-what-to-know/
3.) https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/2-years-withdrawal-afghanistan-continues-cast-pall-biden/story?id=102837216
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