“One Democrat who spoke to Obama recalled the former president warning, ‘Don’t underestimate Joe’s ability to f*** things up,’” Politico reported. “Speaking of his own waning understanding of today’s Democratic electorate, especially in Iowa, Obama told one 2020 candidate: ‘And you know who really doesn’t have it?

   Gates,  secretary of defense by former President George W. Bush in 2006 and retained by former President Barack Obama until 2011, chronicling his time as defense secretary, said Biden had been “wrong on nearly every major foreign policy and national security issue over the past four decades.”

Biden went on to say that adequate forces and equipment were already in place, adding that he intended for the United States to continue to aid the Afghan government — just not with boots on the ground.  One reporter asked whether a Taliban takeover was inevitable once U.S. forces cleared the region, and Biden said it was not.  “No, it is not, because the Afghan troops have 300,000 well-equipped — as well-equipped as any army in the world — and an air force against something like 75,000 Taliban. It is not inevitable”

What has and is happening in Afghanistan with the rapid departure of our remaining troops and most important, discontinuing our intelligence and air support to that Nation’s army is nothing short of disgraceful.   

As such it will be part of our history as a dark passage of our foreign policy.   

There are many factors and decisions that have contributed to this takeover of a country by a band of inhuman killers that will share power with our sworn enemies of Al Qaeda, Isis, and Nations like Iran, China and Russia.   

Politics aside, this tragedy happened under the mandate and instruction of our President Joe Biden.    He, as noted above, has never been able to prove his reputation as a foreign policy expert.    

So, it was with great interest that I watched his public appearance this afternoon.   

 “Better late than never” I thought hoping to hear some valid reasons for his actions and an assumption of responsibility.   

After all, this is the credo of every noted statesman.    Of course as I truly expected it was not.   

His first tirade was to blame others including Afghan’s army and leadership, his advisers and as usual former president Trump.   

Then he criticized the war, our prolonged stay, and late departure, not emphasizing the ordeal was launched by his Obama/Biden administration as the “real needed war” vis a vis Iraq.   

Then he justified his actions with the rationale of needing to return the troops back to our country.    This was baffling, as this was the same as Trump’s plan that he had just disapprove of.   

The only, but most important difference, was that in his hurry of outdo Trump; he hurried the withdrawal to an extent that surprised many, mostly the Afghan army and leaders.   

This army he now blames as cowardly has been successfully holding up against the Taliban with the US only adding air, logistical, and intelligence support.   

In short, it was not the plan that failed but the execution.   

On this, he has only himself to blame as his attempt to justify it because of faulty intelligence or Army leaders advise was strongly denied and refuted by them.   

In fact they warned that a rapid withdrawal would indeed bring the chaos, we are now living.   

After the elimination of Osama Bin Laden, an action that Biden objected to, and the elimination of the first Taliban regime, did we need to stay?   

Was the neoconservative ideology of “nation building” wrong?    

Were both the Iraq and/or Afghanistan’s wars necessary?   

These are legitimate questions, but at present the recent actions backfired, should be condemned, and responsibility assumed by the ones who decided on it.   

Now we can only hope that the thousands of our citizens and allies that are still in situ are able to evacuate without further loss of life.

DECONFLICT AND POSSIBLE DOES NOT CUT IT!!

Possible definition;    Able to be or become; potential.    Having as much or as little of a specified quality as can be achieved.   That may exist or happen, but that is not certain or probable.

Conflict definition;    Refers to a sharp disagreement or collision as in interests or ideas and emphasizes the process rather than the end [the conflict over slavery]; fight, a rather general word for any contest, struggle, or quarrel, stresses physical or hand-to-hand combat; , struggle implies great effort or violent exertion, physical or otherwise [the struggle for existence]; contention most frequently applies to heated verbal strife, or dispute [religious contention broke out]; contest;   refers to a struggle, either friendly or hostile, for supremacy in some matter [athletic contests, a contest of wits.

The stated future actions expressed by the Assistant Secretary of State, the Secretary of Defense, and the Chair of the Joint Chiefs left much to be desired.   

We the people hoped that they would be the ones to explain what the plan was to get our American citizens and our Afghan allies out of harm’s way.  

 Everyone was extremely disappointed with our president Biden’s reasoning and expressing his responsibility using Truman’s “the buck”, as if it were a train that made multiple stops before arriving at the final and only destination.   

Our Vice-president remains AWOL accompanying our Secretary of State.    Finally we heard the main tactics to be utilized consisted of “deconflicting” and doing as much as “possible” to achieve our mission.  

 I cannot fathom a weaker form of confronting a cruel and radical opponent.  

 Chamberlain in his appeasement of Hitler sounded tougher than them.     You should explain clearly to the Taliban thugs, that if they would not allow safe passage for our troops to pick up our people they WOULD have a conflict in their hands against the full power of our armed forces, and that “not possible” is NOT an option!  

 So much for “America is back”, and supporting NATO.    

We have shown ourselves as weak, cowardly, incapable fools and Europe is already strongly criticizing us, but internally thinking “if Trump would only be the President!”   

Do you miss him yet?   

 Even with his personality flaws, or maybe “because of”, the words deconflict and possible would not have been symbols of our needed measures.