The Patriot Post® · A Victory Lap? Seriously?

By Gary Bauer ·
https://patriotpost.us/opinion/82426-a-victory-lap-seriously-2021-09-02

Virtually no one in America is proud of how we left Afghanistan. In spite of the heroism of 6,000 U.S. troops and the sacrificial deaths of 13 military personnel, Biden’s Afghanistan fiasco has deeply demoralized the country.

But our tone-deaf president angrily went to a microphone to do a victory lap around all the unnecessary pain, suffering and betrayal that he set into motion.

It appears to most Americans that 20 years of blood and treasure were just wasted. To our veterans: Your service was not wasted. You gave our country 20 years without another 9/11. God bless each one of you!

We have watched terrorists marching around in U.S. military uniforms, carrying guns supplied by the Biden Administration that wants to take away your gun. Far worse, we left hundreds of Americans behind. How long will it be before ISIS or the Taliban is holding them as hostages?

While Biden stood by his decisions and claimed history would show he did the right thing, he went on to blame President Trump for whatever problems existed. And when he wasn’t blaming Trump, he blamed the Americans he abandoned, saying, “We reached out 19 times to Americans in Afghanistan, with multiple warnings and offers to help them leave.”

Biden also insisted that the decision to bug out of Kabul was “based on the unanimous recommendation of … the Secretary of State, the Secretary of Defense, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and all the service chiefs, and the commanders in the field.”

I find that really hard to believe. Hopefully, we will learn the truth in the coming days as various officials are hauled before Congress and put under oath. But if it is true, the disastrous results speak volumes about the gross incompetence of the entire administration.

The American people are outraged by what we witnessed in Kabul. Surely, this wasn’t the best we could do. But if they all agreed to this plan, then all of them should resign. And a majority of Americans say Biden should resign too!

Our Taliban partners?

Every Biden Administration spokesman and the woke generals at the Pentagon are promoting the insane idea that Afghanistan is now under the control of a kinder, gentler Taliban.

That’s going to be a hard sell to young Afghan girls forced into marriages with Taliban fighters. Tell that to the Afghan translators for the U.S. military, to the Afghan musicians and Christians who are being tortured and killed.

By the way, one of the Afghan translators Biden left behind actually helped to rescue Joe Biden in 2008!

Unbelievably, administration officials are talking about giving foreign aid to the Taliban — the very people who killed and maimed thousands of our sons and daughters.

Maybe these officials should take a second look at the imaginary woke Taliban that marched through Kabul carrying four caskets — one with the American flag, one with the British flag, one with the French flag and one with the NATO flag — in a mock funeral for the West.

Sure, that sounds like people I want my tax money going to. How about you?

Biden Lied

For several weeks leading up to the August withdrawal, Biden was telling us that everything was just fine in Afghanistan, that there was “zero chance” Kabul would fall like Saigon. But behind the scenes, he was on the phone with the president of Afghanistan, who was very worried about the deteriorating situation on the ground.

On July 23rd, Biden called then-President Ashraf Ghani, who warned Biden that he was facing a “full-scale invasion” of Taliban and international terrorists with Pakistani support. Biden brushed aside Ghani’s concerns, saying:

“The perception around the world and in parts of Afghanistan … is that things are not going well in terms of the fight against the Taliban. And there is a need, whether it is true or not … to project a different picture.”

But when Afghanistan collapsed, Biden said, “Who knew?!” Well, evidently, he was well aware of the fact that the fight wasn’t going well. Not only was the CIA was warning him, but so was the president of Afghanistan.

So, once again, Biden lied to the American people.

He lied about the conditions on the ground in Afghanistan. Just like he lied when he said we would get every American out of Afghanistan. Just like he lied about having a plan to “crush COVID.” Just like he lied about illegal immigration being a “seasonal problem.”

Biden vs. Gold Star Families

The Biden Administration has a huge problem. They have regularly demonized conservatives. If you’re pro-life and against abortion, you hate women. If you believe marriage is between a man and a woman, you’re a homophobe. If you love Jesus and America, you’re a Christian nationalist. If you believe all lives matter, you’re a white supremacist.

But Biden is facing an adversary now that’s not so easy to demonize. I’m talking about the Gold Star parents of the 13 U.S. military personnel killed last week in Kabul, and the thousands of other parents who lost sons and daughters in our 20-year effort in Afghanistan.

As you know, Biden went to Dover Air Force Base to receive our 13 heroes back to the United States and to comfort their grieving families. It did not go well. Several family members have publicly expressed how disappointed they were by Biden’s behavior.

  • He was caught on video repeatedly looking at his watch, as if he had something more important to do.

  • Multiple parents said he was more interested in talking about his son, who died of brain cancer, than he was in talking about their sons and daughters who died trying to clean up the mess he made.

  • One mother who confronted Biden says he rolled his eyes at her and walked away, throwing up his arms up in disgust.

Donald Trump had his own Gold Star family controversy. When Trump announced that he wanted to suspend immigration from countries that were known hotbeds of terrorism and radical Islamic activity, he was attacked by Khizr Khan, the Muslim father of a U.S. soldier who died in Iraq.

Trump publicly debated Khan in the media for a number of days, and the Washington press corps had a field day setting up the confrontation as “the clueless Trump” fighting a Gold Star father.

Of course, Trump was just pointing out was that he was serious about protecting our country from terrorists — like those who killed Khan’s son. (By the way, Biden just appointed Khan to the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom.)

But Biden’s problem is so much bigger because it isn’t just one father, but dozens of angry Gold Star families. And the left knows this controversy has the potential to destroy Biden’s Administration.

Here’s an easy action item: Share this report and the emotional statements of these grieving parents with friends, family members and co-workers. You don’t need to argue politics. Just ask if they have seen how Biden treated these Gold Star families.

A Hopeful Sign

The U.S. Supreme Court allowed Texas’s pro-life heartbeat bill to take effect. The law prohibits abortion after a fetal heartbeat is detected, generally around the sixth week of pregnancy. One pro-life activist estimated that the new law could save as many as 55,000 lives each year.

The heartbeat law is still facing a challenge in the lower courts, but it is a hopeful sign that a majority of justices did not issue an injunction at this point, a common step when judges believe a law is unconstitutional and likely to be struck down.

By the way, after pushing policies that cost 13 lives in Afghanistan, Biden went ballistic over this pro-life law taking effect, which he denounced as “extreme.” Saving innocent life is never “extreme.” What is extreme is forcing taxpayers to subsidize abortion and the Taliban!