Joe Biden Headed Back to Camp David to Resume His Vacation After Afghanistan Speech
President Joe Biden will return to Camp David on Monday evening to resume his vacation after returning to the White House for a few hours to deliver a speech defending his handling of the troop withdrawals from Afghanistan.
The White House released an updated schedule for the president, confirming he would return to Camp David, where he was scheduled to vacation until Wednesday.
In his speech, Biden tried to emphasize the importance of ending the American-supported conflict in Afghanistan but failed to accept his incompetent execution of the troop withdrawals.
“I am president of the United States and the buck stops with me,” he said. “I’m deeply saddened by the facts we now face but I do not regret my decision to end America’s warfighting in Afghanistan.”
But the president did not take questions from reporters about his failure in Afghanistan, as thousands of Americans remain stranded in the country.
Biden acknowledged he was overly optimistic of Afghanistan’s ability to defend itself.
“The truth is this did unfold more quickly than anticipated,” he said.
Earlier in the weekend, the president appeared reluctant to speak publicly as the crisis unfolded over the weekend, prompting heightened criticism of his handling of the situation as the capital city of Kabul fell under the Taliban’s control.
White House staff issued photos on social media of Biden taking video calls with national security and intelligence officials as proof he was taking the crisis seriously, but it did little to stem public criticism.
Staff also issued a 600-word statement in Biden’s name defending his actions but also tried to blame former President Donald Trump for the chaos taking place on his watch.
THE DANGERS OF LAWYERS IN THE WHITE HOUSE!
LAWYER JAKE SULLIVAN AND LAWYER JOE BIDEN. SEND THEM TO GITMO!
Jake Sullivan Presides Over Yet Another Foreign Policy Disaster
The Forrest Gump of American decline?
Andrew Stiles • August 17, 2021 4:59 amWhite House national security adviser Jake Sullivan is at the center of yet another U.S. foreign policy disaster. During the Obama administration, in his role as a top aide to former secretary of state Hillary Clinton and then-vice president Joe Biden, the highly credentialed wunderkind presided over some of the most humiliating failures in the history of American foreign policy.
Sullivan's extensive experience as an architect of American failure in Syria, Libya, Ukraine, Iran, and Myanmar, plus the fact that White House press secretary Jen Psaki is mysteriously out of the office, made him a natural choice to defend the Biden administration's handling of the rapidly deteriorating situation in Afghanistan.
"It is certainly the case [that] the speed with which cities fell was much greater than anyone anticipated," Sullivan said Monday during an interview with NBC's Savannah Guthrie, who also asked about President Joe Biden's assessment that a Taliban takeover of Afghanistan was "highly unlikely" and "there's going to be no circumstance where you see people being lifted off the roof of an embassy of the United States," as there was in Saigon at the end of the Vietnam War.
Fact check: False. Kimberley Motley, an international human-rights attorney who has worked in Afghanistan for more than a decade, described the situation in the country as a "nightmare" that was "like Saigon on steroids."
Sullivan was unable to muster a compelling response. "To be fair, the helicopter has been the mode of transport from our embassy to the airport for the last 20 years," he said as the network rolled footage of Taliban militants streaming into Kabul.
Perhaps the 44-year-old Sullivan has grown weary of presiding over epic failures. Despite being considered one of the most brilliant foreign policy experts of his generation, Sullivan's résumé is littered with embarrassing debacles, including both of Hillary Clinton's failed presidential campaigns. Afghanistan is merely the most recent example.
In 2011, as a top adviser to then-secretary Clinton, Sullivan helped orchestrate the "kinetic military action" in Libya. Even though the intervention resulted in the death of dictator Muammar Qaddafi, it is widely viewed as a failure. The U.S. ambassador to Libya, Christopher Stevens, was assassinated during the Benghazi terrorist attacks in 2012, and the country would eventually become a haven for Islamic State militants.
Less than a month before Stevens was killed, Sullivan was among the team of experts advising then-president Barack Obama on the escalating civil war in Syria. Obama warned Bashar al-Assad, the Russian-backed dictator, that the use of chemical weapons was a "red line" that would "change my calculus" regarding U.S. military action against the regime.
Assad crossed the red line on multiple occasions, and the United States responded by taking negligible action to deter the slaughter of civilians. Assad remained in power, Russia flexed its military muscle, and the Islamic State established a caliphate in northeast Syria, wreaking havoc in Iraq as well.
During an interview with the New Yorker in 2019, Sullivan said he considered it "a great regret of mine" that "we were not able to more effectively play a role in stopping hundreds of thousands of people from dying in Syria and millions and millions more losing their homes."
By 2014, Obama's failure to enforce his "red line" on chemical weapons in Syria had changed Vladimir Putin's calculus regarding Russian military intervention in Ukraine. Once again, the United States took no significant action to deter Russian forces from destabilizing the country and annexing Crimea. The conflict would claim thousands of lives, including the 298 people aboard Malaysian Airlines Flight 17, which was shot down with a Russian-made missile over eastern Ukraine.
Less than a month after Biden was sworn in as president, the government of Myanmar was ousted in a military coup conducted by individuals responsible for the genocidal atrocities perpetrated against the country's Rohingya population. Foreign Policy magazine called it "a failure of U.S. diplomacy orchestrated by some of [the Biden administration's] own players nearly a decade ago."
In other words, people like Jake Sullivan. In 2011, he was advising Clinton when she described meeting Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi as an "inspiration" and touted the Obama administration's efforts in the country as a diplomatic victory. The celebration was short-lived. Aung San Suu Kyi would go on to assume a senior role in the country's government but would be widely condemned for her refusal to denounce the military's campaign of violence against the Rohingya.
Sullivan, who played a key role in negotiating the failed Iran nuclear deal in 2015, is currently leading the Biden administration's efforts to revive the controversial agreement. He will almost certainly have a major role in crafting the pathetic U.S. response to China's inevitable invasion of Taiwan. He is the Forrest Gump of American decline, and one of the best rebuttals to the American system of meritocracy.
None of these policy failures will hurt Sullivan's glowing reputation among members of the Liberal Élite. After all, his credentials are impeccable: Yale University (Phi Beta Kappa), Rhodes scholar, Yale Law School, Brookings Institution. He was a debate team champion and president of the student council in high school, where he was voted "most likely to succeed." He clerked for Supreme Court justice Stephen Breyer and worked as chief counsel for Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D., Minn.), where he was presumably traumatized by the abuse he suffered.
In any event, these colossal blunders will likely pale in comparison to what he will be able to accomplish as U.S. secretary of state in the Kamala Harris administration.
McConnell: Biden Ignored Military’s Advice on Afghanistan
'It was pretty obvious to me what was going to happen' if Biden bucked military advice, Senate minority leader says
Jack Beyrer • August 16, 2021 5:30 pmSenate minority leader Mitch McConnell (R., Ky.) said President Biden directly ignored the advice of military leaders during briefings on the withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan.
"I was in a number of these briefings over the last couple months, it was pretty obvious to me what was going to happen," McConnell said Monday. "I know for a fact that the president's military leaders argued against this decision. I think the president himself felt strongly about this and overruled his own military leaders to do it, and he owns it."
McConnell slammed the Biden administration for its incompetent withdrawal of thousands of Americans and Afghans. Footage emerged Monday of havoc at the airport in Kabul, Afghanistan's capital, that caused civilian casualties.
"Honestly, this administration looks to me like it couldn't organize a two-car funeral," McConnell said. "It is a sad day for the United States of America."
President Biden responded Monday to critics of his withdrawal, saying he stands by his decision.
"We will continue to support the Afghan people," Biden said. "The way to do it is not through endless military deployments, but diplomacy."
Poll: Nearly 70 Percent of Americans Disapprove of Biden’s Handling of Afghanistan
Collin Anderson • August 16, 2021 4:20 pmNearly 70 percent of Americans disapprove of President Joe Biden's handling of the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, according to a national poll of likely voters.
The poll, conducted over the weekend by the Trafalgar Group, found that 69 percent of Americans disapprove of Biden's botched pullout, with nearly 60 percent saying they "strongly disapprove." Democrats also see the Biden administration's actions—which saw the Taliban take control of Afghanistan's civilian government in mere hours—as a failure. Forty-eight percent disapprove of Biden's military actions in the country, while just 40 percent approve.
The findings came as Biden prepared to address the American public on the ongoing crisis, cutting short his Camp David vacation. While Biden reportedly planned to wait a "few days" to discuss the fiasco, he returned to the White House Monday afternoon as U.S. evacuation efforts at the Kabul airport spiraled into a frenzy.
Just hours before Biden's scheduled speech, the White House released talking points on the issue, which state that the administration planned for a "quick fall" of Kabul. Just weeks before, however, Biden and top administration officials expressed confidence that Afghanistan's civilian government would retain control of the capital city for months, allowing American troops, civilians, and allies to exit safely.
"The jury is still out, but the likelihood there is going to be the Taliban overrunning everything and owning the whole country is highly unlikely," Biden said in July.
According to Convention of States Action president Mark Meckler, the poll shows "there is absolutely no question that the American people are not buying the lies on Afghanistan."
"This is Saigon, and it's far worse," Meckler said in a statement.
Fmr CIA Analyst Zeller: Biden Lied, No Plan to Stop Allies Being Slaughtered by ‘Nazi’ Taliban
Former CIA analyst Matt Zeller told MSNBC’s Nicolle Wallace Monday on her show “Deadline” that President Joe Biden lied to the American people during his address on the chaotic evacuation of Afghans that worked with our military over the last 20 years.
On Biden’s speech, Zeller said, “I feel like I watched a different speech than the rest of you guys. I was appalled. There was such a profound bald-faced lie in that speech, the idea we planned for every contingency? I have been personally trying to tell this administration since it took office. I have been trying to tell our government for years this was coming. We sent them plan after plan on how to evacuate these people. Nobody listened to us. They didn’t plan for the evacuation of our Afghan war-time allies. They’re trying to conduct it now at the 11th hour.”
He continued, “I have Afghans on the ground right now who are telling me the Taliban going door to door in Kabul and making lists of people who used to work with us. They’re telling them with smiles on their face, evil smiles. They will be back for them once we leave. So we either take them now, or these people are going to die. I have been trying to tell anyone who will listen that this is a never-again moment in the making. This is an administration that seems to be a profound champion and defender of human rights. Well, sometimes, human rights have to be defended at the barrel end of a gun. The Taliban are a modern version of the Nazis.”
Zeller added, “I’m not going to sit and list eastbound to a president that I voted for. I was happy this man took office. I’m now appalled at that speech. I’m not going to sit here and have him lie to the American people. We did not plan as a government for this contingency. The American people, the advocates who have been pleading with the government, did plan for it. You can go to our website, evacuateourallies.org. We have had a plan. We have receipts. I put them on social media. No one got back with us. No, no, I’m not going to let them get away with this. We have to take these people. We have to take them now, or they are going to die.”
He concluded, “These people went on to the next unit and the next mission time and time and time again, and how dare us to even contemplate leaving them behind to, again, what I consider to be a modern equivalent of the Nazi Party.
Watch: In 2003, Joe Biden Defended Nation-Building in Afghanistan
President Joe Biden repeatedly condemned the idea of “nation-building” in Afghanistan during his speech on Monday, but in 2003 he defended the idea of standing with the Afghan people.
During a February hearing that year on rebuilding Afghanistan in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Biden warned the United States needed to stay involved in the country.
“In some parts in the administration, nation-building is still a dirty phrase but the alternative to nation-building is chaos,” Biden said, warning that the ensuing chaos only generated more terrorists, warlords, and drug trafficking.”
The Senate hearing took place with Interim President Hamid Karzai, where Biden defended the idea of staying in the country.
“The facts make one thing very clear, we have a great deal of work left to do in Afghanistan and a continued obligation to the men sitting in front of us to allow them to be able to do the work that needs to be done,” Biden said.
Biden warned that when warlords and drug traffickers took over a country, it became a haven for terrorism.
“That’s what happened under the Taliban and I believe if we’re not careful it’s going to happen again,” he said.
Dem Rep. Moulton: Current Afghanistan Operation a ‘Failure’ and Biden Didn’t Plan for This Situation
On Monday’s broadcast of CNN’s “OutFront,” Rep. Seth Moulton (D-MA) said the ongoing operation in Afghanistan is a “failure” and President Joe Biden’s claim that his administration planned for every possibility in Afghanistan is false, because “if they had planned for this contingency, then they would have gotten our friends and allies out of Afghanistan a long time ago” like some in Congress urged the administration to, and then “we wouldn’t see the chaotic scenes at Kabul Airport today.”
Moulton said, “[W]hat matters today is the operation that’s ongoing in Afghanistan. That’s the failure that we’re talking about. That’s the operation that we need to fix. Because there are thousands of innocent lives on the line, and, make no mistake, it is still within the power of the United States to save those lives. So, I appreciate the fact that Joe Biden made, in some ways, a compelling case for his decision, but what we should be focused on right now is what’s happening on the ground in Afghanistan.”
He added, “Well, the president said in his speech that they planned for every contingency. But if they had planned for this contingency, then they would have gotten our friends and allies out of Afghanistan a long time ago. And that’s why I’ve been calling on the administration, for the last several months, to evacuate our allies, to evacuate American citizens, dispense with this bureaucratic special immigrant visa process, you can sort that out once they get to a safe place, just get these people out. If they had done that, we wouldn’t see the chaotic scenes at Kabul Airport today. So, I don’t see how he can make the case that he planned for this contingency. It’s clearly catching us by surprise.”
Rubio: Biden Admin ‘Arrogantly,’ ‘Smugly’ Ignored Afghanistan Warning Signs
Monday on Fox News Channel’s “Hannity,” Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) argued the warnings signs for what has occurred in Afghanistan after the precipitous U.S. withdrawal of military forces were ignored by the Biden administration.
The Florida Republican said the vacuum left behind could also mean the return of al Qaeda to the region.
“Sean, not just did I tell them, but it was a bipartisan warning, OK?” he said. “You look at the intelligence, you look at everything before us, it was clear that not only it was the worst-case scenario out there, it was the likeliest outcome that was going to happen, and we kept insisting, what is the plan of this happens? What is the plan? And they arrogantly, and they smugly ignored it. They ignored everyone who was warning them because they’re the experts, they know everything, and now we’ve seen the consequences.”
“There are two things now to keep in mind,” Rubio continued. “Number one is Joe Biden was elected promising competence, the return on normalcy, the return of expertise to foreign policy, and we see that they can’t even execute on something like this and ignore the people who know something about it. That does encourage people like China — countries like China and other adversaries not just to go out and try to undermine confidence in America, but actually test America and think they can get away with it.”
“And the other is something that the Pentagon’s already saying, and we’ve already been saying for close to nine months, the biggest problem here is going to be now that al Qaeda is coming back to Afghanistan, let there be no doubt,” he added. “They are coming back. They will reconstitute. They will pose a threat again, and this administration has no plan whatsoever to prevent that from happening.”
Follow Jeff Poor on Twitter @jeff_poor
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