Trump Admin Deliberately Sabotaged Refugee Process, Stranding War Allies: Former Insiders - TRMS

[Rhiannon12866]

Last edited Sat Aug 21, 2021, 02:32 AM - Edit history (1)

Rachel Maddow corroborates claims by former Trump administration insiders, including Olivia Troye, who served as counterterrorism and homeland security advisor to Mike Pence in the Trump White House, that the Trump administration under the guidance of Stephen Miller and those loyal to him, deliberately sabotaged the refugee visa process, including the system by which U.S. allies in Iraq and Afghanistan would be evacuated to safety. Aired on 08/20/2021.




U.S. Using Helicopters Beyond Kabul Airport To Aid Evacuations: AP - Rachel Maddow - MSNBC

Rachel Maddow shares reporting by the Associated Press that helicopters are being used by the Pentagon and other U.S. agencies to help extract Americans and others to the airport in Kabul for evacuation. Aired on 08/20/2021.

[elleng]

1. 'Trump administration under the guidance of Stephen Miller

and those loyal to him, deliberately sabotaged the refugee visa process.'

[Rhiannon12866]

2. With all of the chaos that we've seen this week, this is the takeaway that explains everything

[elleng]

3. Yes, it does. ;-(

More that shows chaos, and we've been messed up for years:

The U.S. ignored corruption within the Afghan government. Did that lead to its fall? PBS NewsHour

https://www.democraticunderground.com/1017675779

[Rhiannon12866]

4. Great find! PBS NewsHour has also been doing a thorough job covering Afghanistan this week

And it wasn't just corruption within the Afghan government, which can't come as a surprise, but also the intentional difficulties orchestrated by TFG and his henchman, which can't come as a surprise, either.

[wnylib]

5. The MIC benefited, too, from the corruption.

It kept a level of unrest that enabled them to justify their presence indefinitely. Whether that was intentionally planned, I don't know. But they had no incentive to clean up the corruption and promote a more efficent, unified, and stable government and security force. To do that would make the MIC presence and lucrative contracts unnecessary.

[Rhiannon12866]

6. I hadn't thought of that - that certain corporations would benefit from an unending war

Meanwhile, more Americans died or were exposed to toxins. What I do remember was when the Soviets invaded, it was labeled as an unwinnable war back then. President Carter boycotted te 1980 Moscow Olympics to protest that invasion. I wasn't following politics at that early date, but I did like President Carter and wondered why the Bush* administration decided to attempt an invasion that was considered unwinnable and previously unacceptable.

[wnylib]

7. There was gas and oil in the region

that required access through Afghanistan for a pipeline. A consortium that included Saudi and US businesses wanted to build it. The Bushes entertained the Taliban leaders in Texas to get a contract. The legality was dubious because none of the nations involved in the consortium (including the US) recognized the Taliban as a legitmate government in Afghanistan. There was a House committee hearing that questioned the wisdom, safety, and legality of the pipeline project.

This took place at the end of the second Clinton term and into the start of Bush Jr's first term. The Taliban appeared ready to approve, but then gave the contract to another energy group instead. Don't recall the group's name or nation(s) involved. Bush/Cheney were furious and thteatened to carpet bomb Afghanistan. The 9/11 attacks occurred months later. There was a lot of speculation at the time that those attacks were a message response to the bomb threat.

9/11 gave Bush a reason to invade Aghanistan. It also allowed them to prevent anyone else from proceeding with the pipeline. At the same time, there were profits for Halliburton and independent military contractors from government contracts.

Trump struck a blow at the "establishment" in setting up the fall of the Afghan government and withdrawal of US troops with his agreements with the Taliban. Biden opposed continued presence there but would have arranged it differently.

[2naSalit]

9. +1

[Rhiannon12866]

10. Thanks so much for the history lesson!

And I knew that Cheney - as an oil guy - wanted to invade Iraq (though they had nothing to do with 9/11, that was the Saudis) because he wanted the oil. I didn't know that was the reason for invading Afghanistan, too. After the failure of the Soviets and the declaration that it was "an unwinnable war," it made no sense to me.

And I did hear that VP Biden wanted to get out of Afghanistan, so what he's doing now makes sense. It's just infuriating that TFG (typically) made everything much more difficult. And it's a tragedy for all who served there and those Americans who made homes there that we stayed so long. I really hope that we're able to get everyone - and that includes every single one of our Afghan allies - out to safety. Afghanistan veterans in Congress have also been working on this for awhile.

[wnylib]

11. I just heard a news update on

the evacuations that is not good. NPR says The US embassy has told Americans NOT to go to the Kabul airport unless explicitly told to by an American official.

I don't know what embassy they meant. I thought we had closed our embassy in Aghanistan. It looks like something has heated up at the airport.

Regarding Biden and Afghanistan, he always objected to the mission drift from getting OBL to staying in Afghanistan indefinitely. Biden is taking on the MIC establishment by refusing to stay in Afghanistan. He wanted out years ago, after we got OBL. But if trouble is developing at the airport, he might need to send in more troops now to protect the people being evacuated.

[llashram]

12. WAS miller

defacto potus those past 4 years? Seems so with the viciousness he wielded power? Evil, evil human being and without WH cover probably a stinking coward to boot...the harm he has done to children is unconscionable. But they weren't white, so to that prior administration, didn't matter.

[2naSalit]

8. K&R

[GoodRaisin]

13. Kicked

and bookmarked for future reference to Rachel’s segment last night with Olivia Troye. This is hard evidence of the degree of sabotage that was going on by Trump and Miller leading up to his withdrawal of the troops and release of their prisoners.

This was a big time sabotage effort in the event Trump lost the presidency to hurt Biden. It has Trump’s and Miller’s stink all over it.

[Cha]

14. TY! KR!