Accountability

How bad would you have to screw up to lose your job? In today’s world we have seen some innocent actions lead to firings. One person, who worked for Marriot, was fired for liking a tweet that pissed off China. Generally, I feel like pissing off a country running literal concentration camps is good. Let’s say you totaled a company vehicle? Would that get your fired?

But if you happen to work for the Biden Administration, you’re completely safe, which is really shocking. Afghanistan is the evidence though. Not a single high-level official has been fired over what is still a disaster. The British demoted their Foreign Secretary over Afghanistan. The Dutch have fired two of their cabinet officials over Afghanistan. Why do Jake Sullivan, Antony Blinken, Lloyd Austin, and General Milley still have their jobs? I don’t know if they have no shame or if they have no soul but people – innocent kids – are dead because of their failures. Even a single one of them stepping up to resign would be a miracle at this point.

Thanks to the New York Times, we learned enough about the drone strike in Kabul to question if the target was ISIS-K. The powers that be investigated themselves and went, “Yep, it was a mistake. So sad. Anyway.” Oh and no disciplinary action is expected.

The United States murdered an aid worker and the kids running out to greet their dad/uncle. Prior to the NYT’s investigation, Gen. Milley called it a “righteous strike.”

So, what does it take to get fired? Obviously not lying about the capabilities of the Afghanistan Armed Forces or else Secretary of Defense Austin, National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, and Gen. Milley would have been fired along with 75% of the United States Officer Corp. Obviously, failing to adequately warn and prepare Americans to evacuate won’t get Secretary of State Blinken fired.

The Taliban offered to let us secure Kabul. You want to give the 13 KIA a fighting chance against a suicide bomber? Give them the space and authority to control the security situation. Instead, they were desperately saving lives while watching the Taliban terrorize innocents mere feet away. A US-secured Kabul likely would have saved hundreds of Afghan lives. Also, it would’ve put the United States in a position to dictate when we left to the Taliban.

Somebody made that call. Maybe it was the President. If that’s the case, then voters will have the opportunity to hold his party accountable in 2022 and himself accountable in 2024. But if it was anyone lower than the President who made that call, they should resign. Mistakes happen, but when the mistakes get people killed you should probably read the room and leave.

I think the reason no one will resign is because they want everyone to forget about Afghanistan, and if they resigned then they would have to admit that everything they said for the last couple of months was complete BS.

It is worth noting that Gen. Milley and Secretary of State Blinken suck at their jobs, even if we don’t talk about Afghanistan. It is reported, although unconfirmed at the moment, that Gen. Milley told his Chinese counterpart that he would warn him of an impending attack. If that’s true, then he promised to commit treason. Potentially a modern-day Benedict Arnold. The French just recalled their ambassador from the United States, because they felt the U.S. undercut them on a submarine deal with the Australians. While the deal is better for countering China’s influence, we only gave France, our oldest ally, a few hours’ notice before announcing the deal. Somewhat like breaking up with a significant other via text while on a date with another suitor. Our ‘professionals’ are incompetent at best.

The situation is Afghanistan was a disaster before people fell from airplanes, before babies were thrown over razor wire fencing, before the suicide bombing killed 13 American Servicemembers, before the US killed an aid worker and a bunch of kids with a drone strike. South Vietnam held out for 2 years before Saigon fell. Kabul held out for less than 2 months after the U.S. left Bagram Air Base. Twenty years of war, and the most powerful military on Earth was defeated. The Taliban controlled Afghanistan when we invaded, and they control it now that we left. Al Qaeda is already regrouping. Osama Bin Laden wasn’t even killed in Afghanistan. He was killed in Pakistan, a supposed partner. Who by the way have been helping supply the Taliban for the last twenty years. Seems stupid to me that we give aid money to a country that trained people to kill our sons and daughters.

So once again: even before the nightmare we witnessed, the situation was bad. Bad enough that in another timeline administration officials would be ashamed enough to resign for their role in a humanitarian crisis. But not this timeline!