General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsNo Andrea Mitchell Biden Could Not Ignore TFG Deal And Stay In Afghanistan
TFG already unleashed the Taliban, and pulled out almost all the troops.
Biden could only manage TFG's surrender and withdrawl.
I hate right wing framing by media scum.
NoMoreRepugs
(9,257 posts)Poiuyt
(18,087 posts)I'm getting tired of her stammering while searching for the word she wants. I mean, I do that too, but I knew when it was time to retire.
pamdb
(1,331 posts)aka Mrs. Greenspan
GoCubsGo
(32,061 posts)He flat out said, "Biden could have ignored my deal." So, Mrs. Greenspan is parroting Trump. Fuck her.
Hugh_Lebowski
(33,643 posts)that Biden 'couldn't stop the process', like he was an all-powerful genius and badass.
I've literally seen the video, he goes on and on bragging about it.
Calling IQ45 a pathological liar seriously understates the situation.
2naSalit
(86,039 posts)I saw it too, and he did brag about that.
DallasNE
(7,392 posts)There are serious consequences to breaking a deal because your word is the cement that defines who you are. Losing trust is a serious matter for serious people.
Ohioboy
(3,222 posts)That Biden would have been right to ignore his deal?????
That is one twisted way to deflect blame. The sad thing is it will work for him. That kind of skewed logic is accepted by MAGAT everywhere.
GoCubsGo
(32,061 posts)Not surprisingly, Innanity just let it go.
BTW, I don't actually watch Fox. I watch Hal Sparks watching wingnut media, and tearing it apart MST3K style. Last night he did the Trump/Hannity interview. It's all probably up on his YouTube page by now.
Ohioboy
(3,222 posts)I just happened upon him while I was on youtube one day. His feeds are long, and I've never actually watched one all the way through, but what I have seen, I have enjoyed tremendously.
Hoyt
(54,770 posts)drawing troops down to such a low level that it was impossible to evacuate Americans and Afghans without additional troops, etc.
But, for some reason we ended up with this mess with 2022 elections next year.
Calista241
(5,584 posts)is well worth not having 3 months of highly negative news coverage. Hell, the fucking UK just condemned Biden's Afghanistan decision in an emergency session.
DanieRains
(4,619 posts)And we would need more troops.
It was a perfect trap.
My hat's off to Vladimir.
He is truly a mastermind.
Give him credit.
Ohioboy
(3,222 posts)Did they not use those 11 months to strengthen themselves and broker surrenders? Once they had gained so much, how much more deployment would it have taken just to put things back to where we were, let alone to get out? Maybe cutting our loses was the best route. How much of an escalation beyond what we had been doing would it have taken?
It is my opinion that Afghanistan was another one of Trump's grandiose delusions in which he was the only one who could solve the problem. It was another one of his "deals" that was going to make him a hero. He should have been spending 2020 working on COVID-19 instead of fooling around making deals with the enemy of the Afghan government.
Hoyt
(54,770 posts)the photos of people falling off the airplane showed up.
Biden should have sent in rearguard troops, blamed the necessity on trump, but he didn't. In fact, now he's sending in troops praying it rectifies the horrible optics.
DallasNE
(7,392 posts)That is the part that is being ignored. You can be sure that these surrenders were being kept under wraps too, further complicating the options available to Biden. Afghanistan was stabbing Biden in the back. Et Tu Brutus! A plane was waiting to take him to UAE.
berni_mccoy
(23,018 posts)They would have turned Afghanistan into a worse situation than Iraq was.
Hoyt
(54,770 posts)fight your own way to the airport, hoping to climb into a wheelwell." That'll show em.
berni_mccoy
(23,018 posts)You cannot simply undo these agreements.
Hoyt
(54,770 posts)berni_mccoy
(23,018 posts)Hoyt
(54,770 posts)wnylib
(21,146 posts)to increase troops again or get out. He chose to get out.
I heard an interview from a journalist who had covered Afghanistan since the beginning. He said that, on paper, the Afghan troop level was 300,000, which is the figure that Biden had from US military - a number sufficient to cover the pullout and hold off the Taliban takeover. In reality it was more like 50,000 troops at most, due to internal graft in the Afghan security force, and to early botching of security under Bush.
This journalist (sorry, don't have a name because I didn't hear the beginning of the program), said that Rumsfeld, et.al. made deals with Afghan war lords for forming and leading units to create an Afghan security force. These tribal war lords recruited people for training and their numbers went into the record as trained troops. But the warlords kept for themselves the funds dispersed to them. New soldiers did not get paid. They left. This went on during most of the past 20 years. Very few of the trained people actually remained with the security forces. Meantime, the Taliban had safety in Pakistan to continue operating. Iraqis disillusioned with the US occupation turned to the Taliban.
This journalist faulted US military leaders for not getting out into the more remote tribal regions to see the reality of what was going on. Instead, they met with tribal leaders for progress on training and continued paying them money to disperse that they kept for themselves.
He said that the military who are now verbally attacking Biden and blaming him are covering their own asses for their mistakes in assessing Afghan security force strength. The US military and contractors who worked with them were willing to give good reports on training for years without examining them closely in order to justify their own presence.
I am not a military person. I have no relatives who were in Afghanistan, only in Iraq. I have no way of assessing what this journalist said. There are vets here at DU who would have some idea of the accuracy of the interview.
Hoyt
(54,770 posts)Response to Hoyt (Reply #42)
wnylib This message was self-deleted by its author.
UpInArms
(51,252 posts)Going to STFU?
UpInArms
(51,252 posts)Pull up a chair
Stay awhile
reality1
(123 posts)sanatanadharma
(3,639 posts)Private profit access to re-opened public lands
Oil leases
Agreements with the Saudi's
All executive orders
What else, by simple fiat?
Polly Hennessey
(6,745 posts)Blame Biden for everything - then, now, and forever. Believe reporter said she was there or knew someone who was there, so, of course, she has all the answers. Funny thing is she has no solutions. On a slightly different subject: I did like Mrs. Greenspans pink suit.
pwb
(11,204 posts)I may never watch cable news again. On my fourth day now of just streaming and D.U. I discovered a very nice P.B.S. FM radio station that will please most music listeners. Life without cables continuous thoughts and opinions is good.
Mike Nelson
(9,903 posts)... should find another job. Maybe she can team-up with Joe & Mika and start a new Facebook group for Twitter fans and Hillary Email complainers.
True Blue American
(17,972 posts)That Biden was doing what most Americans want after flooding the waves for 5 days ranting.
WinstonSmith4740
(3,048 posts)She and Chuck Todd get me reaching for the remote almost every time.
Johonny
(20,678 posts)Something he didn't want to do in 2009 so why are we surprised he didn't do it in 2021. What would the be the result of such a move besides more $ burned, more troops dead, and a shit show collapse of the country sometime in the future?
sarisataka
(18,197 posts)If he wanted to.
DanieRains
(4,619 posts)We don't surge, Taliban takes over, all Joe Biden's fault.
What a beautiful trap.
Biden said we're leaving, let's leave.
Taliban by the way is not shooting at us for now, which is good.
Joe had a poker hand of a 3 and no cards coming when TFG left office.
No help with transition.
During transition I am sure the Taliban lined up more surrenders.
Putin and Trump set a beautiful trap.
No (non) pile of media scum will simply say it.
Republicans win, America and freedom/democracy supporters lose.
Same old song and dance.
sarisataka
(18,197 posts)What was the plan if Trump won the election?
He would have been caught in his own trap
TheRickles
(1,999 posts)As in: No, Andrea Mitchell. Biden could not ignore TFG deal and stay in Afghanistan.
kairos12
(12,817 posts)Unwatchable.
SunSeeker
(51,367 posts)She helped give us Trump.
Corgigal
(9,291 posts)its not like she personally would have anyone in the line of fire. However, she might have had some of her stock value slip a bit. Priorities.
tavernier
(12,322 posts)We share a birthday, both day and year, but we are polar opposites. She is a smarmy old bat who needs to eat a sandwich, and I am an attractive voluptuous woman of a certain age with a much better political compass.