Patterico's Pontifications

8/26/2021

Attacks Near Kabul Airport (UPDATES ADDED)

Filed under: General — JVW @ 8:53 am



[guest post by JVW]

It’s starting to get worse:

This is a developing story. It is not yet known whether the “civilian casualties” are Afghan or U.S., nor whether they are injuries or deaths, though apparently three U.S. Marines have been injured. I will try to update this as new information is released.

– JVW

UPDATE ADDED (by Dana): The Wall Street Journal is reporting that four U.S. Marines were among those killed in the Kabul airport explosion. The report also states that another three were wounded.d

UPDATE II (by JVW, 11:28 am): This is really bad.

UDPATE III (by JVW, 12:31 pm): The New York Times ups the U.S. death toll to twelve, and reports they are among “scores” who have been killed.

UDPATE IV (by JVW 2:03 pm): Secretary of State Anthony Blinkin said today that only 500 U.S. citizens remain in Afghanistan who desire evacuation. According to him, there were 6,000 of them who had informed the embassy that they desired to leave as of August 14, and to date 4,500 of them have departed. Of the other 1,000 left over after the math is done, Blinkin reports that they have not yet “made reservations” (my phrase, not the tortured explanation Blinken provides), and might be dual citizens who do not intend to leave. But I can’t help but get the feeling that the State Department is not telling us the full truth here.

288 Responses to “Attacks Near Kabul Airport (UPDATES ADDED)”

  1. Reports are that a group of two dozen San Diego area students are trapped in Afghanistan, along with some parents. These are U.S. residents, many of whom are originally from Afghanistan and neighboring countries, are considered to be allies of the U.S., and are in Afghanistan on military visas. Here’s hoping they can be rescued.

    JVW (ee64e4)

  2. CNN wants us to know that President Biden saw this coming. Well, gee, that’s great. But what did he do to help prevent it?

    JVW (ee64e4)

  3. The Taliban aren’t really recognizing dual citizenship. I don’t think they want many people outside the country who know the country, the people, and speak the language.

    The only way to recover is to blame and take action against Pakistan. Maybe the U.S. could start a panic. Pakistan should be told that Taliban control of Afghanistan is unacceptable to the United States, especially with many people the U.S. wants to protect still there.

    The model for this war must be, not France in 1940, or France in 1914 (a continuing war) but France in 1870.

    Not much chance anyone will be firm.

    Sammy Finkelman (51cd0c)

  4. @1 don’t worry, psaki is on it

    “I am happy to take their information if there is something more detailed to have.”

    JF (e1156d)

  5. JVW (ee64e4) — 8/26/2021 @ 8:59 am

    But what did he do to help prevent it?

    Act like Chicken Little. Argue that we dare not stay beyond August 31.

    Sammy Finkelman (51cd0c)

  6. To limit a possible U.S. reaction, I think Pakistani intelligence made sure the U.S. knew in advance

    How did whoever warned the US know about it? They sponsored it! Now if they just waned the U.S. to be grateful, they would have enabled the USA to prevent it..

    This is all to chase the United States out faster.

    Sammy Finkelman (51cd0c)

  7. CNN wants us to know that President Biden saw this coming.

    and they think that helps him…

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  8. he saw this coming
    and yet caught with his pants down
    hold your pud Biden

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  9. I don’t believe one word about this being done by an independent ISIS-K.

    Sammy Finkelman (51cd0c)

  10. take the podium

    mg (8cbc69)

  11. Sammy Finkelman (51cd0c) — 8/26/2021 @ 9:13 am

    Without more details on the “warning” I’m not sure we can get to that conclusion.

    What I’ve heard is more “he’s expecting”, i.e. it’s pretty obvious some group in the area will do something like this. Sort of like looking out the window, seeing the clouds and the rain, and concluding you should expect to get wet if you go outside.

    Of course, if you think you can move between the raindrops you might conclude something else.

    frosty (f27e97)

  12. Joe “expected” this… https://twitter.com/Hamidhaideri/status/1430909358280302601?s=20

    Keep your norms, Joe!

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  13. They apparently don’t even know if there was a suicide bomber, or if the bombs were set off by a cellphone or a clock/

    https://www.technologyreview.com/2021/08/23/1032459/afghanistan-taliban-war-technological-progress

    One key example: roadside bombs, or IEDs. These simple weapons caused more allied casualties than any other. Originally activated by pressure plates, like mines, they had evolved by the midpoint of the war so that the Taliban could set them off with mobile phones from anywhere with a cell signal. Because the Taliban’s technological baseline was lower, the innovations they have made are all the more significant.

    None of the things mentioned in this article could have been invented by a technologically backward organization – and they weren’t.

    Sammy Finkelman (51cd0c)

  14. Of course they expected it. It was in this morning’s newspapers before it happened.

    They were probably getting multiple sources and all of thrm were double agents.

    Sammy Finkelman (51cd0c)

  15. I am pretty sure the United States got very specific warnings – with key facts altered and maybe an extra target thrown in. The thing happening more or less as predicted adds credibility to the double agents. If the United States government had not gotten specific information, it would not have sent out specific warnings. The Taliban should have been told that this better not happen.

    Sammy Finkelman (51cd0c)

  16. Of course they expected it.

    Their assessment was that these attacks were more likely to occur than not.

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  17. Gee, Sammy, sounds like you could be helpful to our intelligence services, such as they are.

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  18. Entirely predictable. It’s Beirut 1983 all over again. Sitting ducks.

    Rip Murdock (d2a2a8)

  19. Philip Melanchthon Wegmann
    @PhilipWegmann

    Biden was slated to meet with governors about Afghanistan refugees at 3:00pm. That is now cancelled.

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  20. Mr Finkelman wrote:

    I don’t believe one word about this being done by an independent ISIS-K.

    One thing is certain: the Taliban ‘government,’ which was giving the United States until August 31st to turn tail and run finish the evacuation, is either lying through their scummy teeth or has not consolidated its control. It is quite possible that both are true.

    Could it have been an “independent ISIS-K”? That would actually be the best outcome for the rest of the world, a civil war in Afghanistan that keeps the bad guys — and every side in an Afghan civil war would be a bad guy — too busy to make trouble outside the borders.

    Let’s face facts: Afghanistan isn’t really a country, but British Foreign Office borders, and calling them Afghanis is actually shorthand so we don’t have to type out Pashtun, Tajik, Hazara, Uzbek, Aimaq, Turkmen, Baloch, Pashai, Nuristani, and other tribal names. We call it a country because the notion of actual nation-states is part of our paradigm, part of how we think, while “Afghanistan” and several other nations, especially in Africa, just don’t easily fit the definition.

    Perhaps we should consider that our foreign policy is so f(ornicated) up because, despite all of the Hahvahd and Yale boys infesting our State Department and CIA, they simply can’t expand their consciousness far enough, simply aren’t bright enough, to understand that these places are not like us.

    The libertarian, but not Libertarian, Dana (3867c9)

  21. One point to realize: we were already slinking out with our tails between our legs evacuating as quickly as possible, yet at least one someone, and apparently more, were willing to commit suicide to disrupt it.

    The Taliban had already won, yet some people were willing to give their lives, with 100% certainty, to make things worse.

    The libertarian, but not Libertarian, Dana (3867c9)

  22. Dana says: Afghanis is actually shorthand so we don’t have to type out Pashtun, Tajik, Hazara, Uzbek, Aimaq, Turkmen, Baloch, Pashai, Nuristani, and other tribal names.

    That’s an interesting insight. Makes me think of how 19th century Americans used the shorthand “Indians” for Nez Pierce, Comanche, Iroquois, Navaho, Cheroke … If the parallel is useful then what lessons from that century still apply to this one? “Every little language needs a nation of its own” ? or what?

    pouncer (6c33cf)

  23. Fox News just reported that 4 Marines were killed and 3 injured…but hey, Orange Man is gone and no more mean tweets

    Horatio (b647cb)

  24. William Tecumseh Sherman made an observation that seems apropos to the situation.

    John B Boddie (9f8361)

  25. The Bluegrass State Dana:

    The Taliban ‘government,’….is either lying through their scummy teeth or has not consolidated its control. It is quite possible that both are true.

    They are lying about a number of things. It is possible they were on board with this, but didn’t make the decision – because they are not making any decisions really. It’s a puppet government.

    Could it have been an “independent ISIS-K”? That would actually be the best outcome for the rest of the world, a civil war in Afghanistan

    There’s no sign of a civil war between the bad guys – although any evil conscienceless organization always has purges. Russian Communism, the Mafia, Nazi Germany. You name it.

    A independent ISIS-K would mean this organization was small – I just don’t believe any such thing exists/ ISIS-K exists, but it’s just oart of the same thing.

    Afghanistan isn’t really a country, but British Foreign Office borders,

    Afghanistan is what was not British India, and was not Russian and was not Persia. Not all people within its boundaries speak the same language a;though the two most common languages are more grammatically complicated relatives of Persian. The area to the north was part of the former Soviet Union. The area to the northeast is controlled by China, although there;s only a tiny corridor leading to a small stretch of border that isn’t crossed much.

    at least one someone, and apparently more, were willing to commit suicide to disrupt it.

    The Taliban had already won, yet some people were willing to give their lives, with 100% certainty, to make things worse.

    There was more than one bomb, but it’s not clear that any were suicide bombs. It could have been concealed in luggage and triggered from a distance with a cellphone.

    And by the way the person or persons who placed the bomb may have been lied to about not being killed themselves. For instance: Calls up and discusses placing the bomb and they agree it is a good place Triggerman on the phone doesn’t wait for him to go away. It’s just kaboom. Maybe to make him stay, so they should all go off near simultaneously, he tells him to stay awhile and wait for approval of location or to see if he gets further instructions.

    Sammy Finkelman (51cd0c)

  26. RE: 4 Marines killed (I heard about the 3 injured first)

    This is exactly what Joe Biden did not want to see happen.

    As Winston Churchill said bout the Munich agreement:

    You chose dishonor, and you will have war.

    Sammy Finkelman (51cd0c)

  27. We need a speed record on this Dragrace to Dementia.
    Where is the paddy wagon?

    mg (8cbc69)

  28. TEN United States Marines DEAD. Number expected to rise. Dozens wounded.

    Mourn their loss.

    DCSCA (f4c5e5)

  29. 18. This ain’t Beruit.

    DCSCA (f4c5e5)

  30. @18. This is INCOMPETENCE.

    DCSCA (f4c5e5)

  31. 10 Marines dead according to Fox News…

    Horatio (b647cb)

  32. Reports are that there was a third explosion at Kabul’s airport. “US deaths from first two is up to 10 troops.” What a disaster.

    Dana (174549)

  33. U.S. warns of more bombing coming.

    No way this is accurate without being able to stop it unless the information is coming from the people responsible for the bombings themselves.

    Sammy Finkelman (51cd0c)

  34. @ Rip Murdock

    Not like Beirut, Smaller, less destructive, bombs.

    Sammy Finkelman (51cd0c)

  35. 27.We need a speed record on this Dragrace to Dementia.
    Where is the paddy wagon?

    If this was 1946, the French would tie a cowbell around his neck and have him wander through the Normandy farmland– to clear mines.

    DCSCA (f4c5e5)

  36. UPDATE II (by JVW, 11:28 am): This is really bad.

    At least 10 US Service members killed, dozens of Americans wounded in suicide bomb attack at Abbey Gate in Kabul this morning. Death toll of US service members likely to rise: US officials.— Jennifer Griffin (@JenGriffinFNC) August 26, 2021

    JVW (ee64e4)

  37. Someone pounced on my comment:

    Dana says: Afghanis is actually shorthand so we don’t have to type out Pashtun, Tajik, Hazara, Uzbek, Aimaq, Turkmen, Baloch, Pashai, Nuristani, and other tribal names.

    That’s an interesting insight. Makes me think of how 19th century Americans used the shorthand “Indians” for Nez Pierce, Comanche, Iroquois, Navaho, Cheroke … If the parallel is useful then what lessons from that century still apply to this one? “Every little language needs a nation of its own” ? or what?

    That’s kind of what we did in the 19th century, as those Indians indigenous Americans were first forced onto their separate reservations. Of course, the various Indian indigenous American tribes were famous for fighting with and killing each other.

    Even today we sometimes speak of the “Cherokee nation,” as though it was anything resembling the Western concept of a nation. Even with our experience, we are still stuck in our own concepts.

    The libertarian, but not Libertarian, Dana (3867c9)

  38. Reminder that President Biden stated that there would be “a swift and forceful response” to any attacks on U.S. troops or citizens. I hope it’s not another strongly worded letter from our UN Ambassador.

    JVW (ee64e4)

  39. My guts ache for all the families.

    mg (8cbc69)

  40. BBC reporting that “at least 60 people killed and 140 injured in explosions at Kabul airport, senior health official tells BBC”

    Dana (174549)

  41. It’s now up to 12 US deaths. 11 Marines and a Navy corpsman.

    Edoc118 (9fddab)

  42. There is no way that this was a Taliban attack. A group that held to a ceasefire against American troops for 15 months, and continued to avoid engagement during the ensuing withdrawal, suddenly goes off the chain when the US is right on the verge of leaving? No way.

    Factory Working Orphan (a0227a)

  43. “Don’t underestimate Joe’s ability to f**k things up.” —Barack Obama

    Who cares…all that matters is the Orange Man is gone

    Horatio (b647cb)

  44. 38.Reminder that President Biden stated that there would be “a swift and forceful response” to any attacks on U.S. troops or citizens.

    So the country should pay for his own incompetence??? Dozens have already paid the ultimate price.

    A ‘swift and forceful response’ would be the pistol in the drawer.

    Go to Beau, Joe.

    DCSCA (f4c5e5)

  45. “Ding dong the Trump is gone
    Which old Trump
    The Orange Trump
    Ding dong the Orange Trump is gone.”

    Apologies to the Munchkins

    Horatio (b647cb)

  46. Swamp Creature Swamped.

    Film at 11.

    DCSCA (f4c5e5)

  47. Sure could use some happyfeet today.

    mg (8cbc69)

  48. Public Service Announcement: Avoid Twitter. The usual idiots are spewing the usual stupid and offensive positions on this matter. There is absolutely nothing to be learned there, and I will no longer embed Tweets into this post.

    JVW (ee64e4)

  49. Can we put joe cellar on a plane and send him to where the president of Afghanistan went?

    mg (8cbc69)

  50. there are no words

    JF (e1156d)

  51. The Peter Principle in spades.

    DCSCA (f4c5e5)

  52. This mick has to be removed from office immediately.

    “I trust his judgement.” – Nancy Pelosi

    DCSCA (f4c5e5)

  53. 48… wise advice, JVW… while I enjoy reading some of what’s on Twitter when it’s brought to my attention, I do recognize it’s a graveyard for narcissists. They are welcome to it.

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  54. Get Joe out and put Kamala in…she’ll do a better job, don’t ya think?

    Horatio (b647cb)

  55. @ Rip Murdock

    Not like Beirut, Smaller, less destructive, bombs

    Cold comfort. But the US troops are just as much as sitting ducks at the airport as the Marines were in their barracks.

    Rip Murdock (d2a2a8)

  56. At this point, #54, why not? But some relative in a sari needs to arrange a Harris-Modi meetup and quick just for Pakistan to take notice (hat tip to Sammy).

    urbanleftbehind (1dcc96)

  57. @55.But the US troops are just as much as sitting ducks at the airport as the Marines were in their barracks.

    Oh for God’s sake Rip: they were asleep in Beirut. But if you wanna blame Reagan for his fvck up, fine!

    So watch Irish Joe follow suit and invade… Ireland next week.

    Helluva distraction.

    DCSCA (f4c5e5)

  58. 12 service members killed in the attack. Damn…

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  59. Harrying a fleeing enemy is as old as war. What do you think the Charge of the Light Brigade was? But they had bad information, so instead of sticking their lances in the backs of defenseless cannoneers, they got cannonballs down their throats from a still emplaced battery.

    nk (1d9030)

  60. UDPATE III (by JVW, 12:31 pm): The New York Times ups the U.S. death toll to twelve, and reports they are among “scores” who have been killed.

    JVW (ee64e4)

  61. What do you think the Charge of the Light Brigade was?

    A fvck up.

    Bad example but right in sync w/our Peter-Principled-politician-mick.

    DCSCA (f4c5e5)

  62. 58.12 service members killed in the attack. Damn…

    24 hours ago:

    “I trust his judgement.” -Nancy Pelosi 8/25/21

    DCSCA (f4c5e5)

  63. https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/national-security/new-taliban-head-security-kabul-wanted-u-s-terrorist-n1277700

    The Taliban’s new self-proclaimed chief of security in Kabul is someone who was designated a terrorist by the U.S. government 10 years ago and is subject to a $5 million reward for information leading to his capture.

    Khalil Ur-Rahman Haqqani told al Jazeera in an interview published Sunday that the Taliban was working to restore order in Afghanistan.

    “If we can defeat superpowers, surely we can provide safety to the Afghan people,” he said…

    …The Taliban itself was never designated by the U.S. government as a terrorist organization, but the Haqqani network, which has <b? close ties to al Qaeda and Pakistani intelligence, has long held that distinction.

    …Khalil Haqqani has served as the group’s chief of operations, said Doug London, who ran CIA counterterrorism ops in Afghanistan before he retired in 2018. In that role, Haqqani approved suicide bombings against U.S. forces and Afghan civilians, London told NBC News. He also was a CIA partner when the agency was arming and training the precursor to the Taliban against the Soviet invasion, London said.

    White House officials confirm Americans injured in explosions outside Kabul airport
    AUG. 26, 202101:41
    He was designated a terrorist by the U.S. government in 2011. The State Department rewards narrative for Haqqani says he “has also acted on behalf of al-Qaida and has been linked to al-Qaida terrorist operations.”

    “He was the senior emissary to al Qaeda leadership and the senior go-between with Pakistani intelligence,” said London, author of a new book, “The Recruiter,” about his CIA career. “He makes a lot of the day-to-day decisions for the Haqqani network.”

    Haqqani was a CIA partner when the agency was providing weapons to the Afghan rebels in the 1980s to fight Soviet troops, London said. He is the uncle of Sirajuddin Haqqani, who is also a wanted terrorist subject to a $5 million reward….

    ….In 2011, Adm. Mike Mullen, then the top U.S. military officer, told Congress that the Haqqani network was a “veritable arm” of the ISI, Pakistan’s main intelligence service.

    Sammy Finkelman (51cd0c)

  64. Susan Rice’s fingerprints are all over this mess. Stays in the shadows and whispers in the old man’s ear.

    DCSCA (f4c5e5)

  65. Susan Rice was a follower, not a leader.

    Sammy Finkelman (51cd0c)

  66. Per the Pentagon briefing – and as mentioned by Bret Baier – our military is working with the Taliban, sharing some intelligence with them about possible attacks, suicide bombers, vehicle bombs, so that the Taliban can help them screen them on the outer ring before they get to the airport.

    Just a few weeks ago, we were bombing the Taliban.

    Here’s another fine mess..

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  67. The brain-damaged mick to speak to the nation at 5 PM EDT.

    Which means 7 PM, Global Biden Time. He keeps to schedule… like Amtrak.

    DCSCA (f4c5e5)

  68. The whole situaation even before this was a nightmare, and papers, or arbitrary qualifications for rescue might be the difference between life and death. Even if once in the airport, people might be ejected,

    https://nypost.com/2021/08/25/rescuer-describes-what-kabul-airport-is-like-now

    https://taskandpurpose.com/news/video-marines-and-taliban-kabul-airport

    Sammy Finkelman (51cd0c)

  69. This could put a damper on the week-long attempt by the White House to pat itself on the back for a trouble-free pullout and complain that the media (which they are now insisting leans heavily conservative) were ignoring the giant success story.

    Obudman (aa9cdc)

  70. #64

    Why Susan Rice? (This is a question — not a preparation of battle space)

    Appalled (1a17de)

  71. @70. She’s pulling the levers ‘behind the curtain’ projecting the Wizard’s smoke a mirrors.

    DCSCA (f4c5e5)

  72. 25. The people in the northwest corner of Pakistan and the southeast portion of Afghanistan are really the same people: Pashtun. And for along time – and this is going past the 1980s, that border didn’t really exist. And Pakistan sort of faded away as a person went further. Nut now there’s a hard border I believe.

    Sammy Finkelman (51cd0c)

  73. NEVER FORGET:

    “I trust his judgement.” – Nancy Pelosi 8/25/21

    DCSCA (f4c5e5)

  74. 70/ Why Susan Rice? Because she’s a villain. And maybe because Biden wanted to make her his vice president.

    Sammy Finkelman (51cd0c)

  75. 67, Amtrak you say? Perhaps this better than R Budd what’s his name.

    urbanleftbehind (1dcc96)

  76. Which means 7 PM, Global Biden Time. He keeps to schedule… like Amtrak.

    Of all days, this would be a really bad one for the President to be ridiculously tardy to his address. Even CNN might find it to be a sign of disorganization and incompetence. OK, CNN would probably run a piece on how the relative punctuality of Trump and Bush is a sign that neither was engaged in policy whereas Biden’s habitual tardiness is Clintonian in nature and the sign of a deeply-committed Commander-in-Chief. And they would also publish the requisite “Republicans pounce on Biden conference delay” piece.

    JVW (ee64e4)

  77. “I trust his judgement.” – Nancy Pelosi 8/25/21 Party loyalty. Every Democrat is good, and superb at the job, and the more importaat the Democrat is, the more she will stick up for him.

    And that says something about Nancy Pelosi. I don’t think she cares about what kind of judgment he has.

    Sammy Finkelman (51cd0c)

  78. Quite the kettle of fish for Americans. There’s nothing he can say today to malarkey, blarney and Beaush!t his way outta this… except maybe:

    “Come on, Flounder. You can’t worry forever about your mistakes. You fvcked up. You trusted us. Make the best of it.” – Eric ‘Otter’ Stratton [Tim Matheson] ‘Animal House’ 1978

    DCSCA (f4c5e5)

  79. @77. No, stupidity.

    DCSCA (f4c5e5)

  80. Words cannot express what I’m thinking.

    Our soldiers and our citizens did not deserve this betrayal.

    NJRob (fbe422)

  81. Why do all those generals have medals on the uniforms? Did someone do something?

    mg (8cbc69)

  82. But if you wanna blame Reagan for his fvck up, fine!

    I’m not blaming Reagan for anything, merely comparing two terrorist attacks on US forces that were in static positions with inadequate security.

    Rip Murdock (d2a2a8)

  83. 75. Amtrak you say? Perhaps this better than R Budd what’s his name.

    R. Budd Dwyer? A ‘go to Beau’ moment for sure.

    “Go ahead. Make my day.” – Harry Callahan [Clint Eastwood] ‘Sudden Impact’1983

    DCSCA (f4c5e5)

  84. @82. Uh-huh. Find that pony.

    They’re not comparable.

    DCSCA (f4c5e5)

  85. @76. OK, CNN would probably run a piece on how the relative punctuality of Trump and Bush is a sign that neither was engaged in policy whereas Biden’s habitual tardiness is Clintonian in nature and the sign of a deeply-committed Commander-in-Chief.

    JVW, CNN is so ‘Zucked’ up now, they’d run the first installment of ‘The History Of The Soap Opera.’ 😉

    DCSCA (f4c5e5)

  86. There is no way that this was a Taliban attack. A group that held to a ceasefire against American troops for 15 months, and continued to avoid engagement during the ensuing withdrawal, suddenly goes off the chain when the US is right on the verge of leaving? No way.

    The Taliban control access to the airport, and you can bet they waived the bomber through.

    When asked if the Taliban let the attack happen, [Marine Gen. Kenneth F. McKenzie Jr., the commander of U.S. Central Command], said: “I don’t know.”

    “As long as we’ve kept that common purpose alive, they’ve been useful to work with,” he said of the militant group that controls much of Afghanistan.

    Rip Murdock (d2a2a8)

  87. The question is: Will Biden open up with some other subject?

    One day it was a hurricane and flooding in Tennessee.

    On Tuesday, it was the “infrastructure” bill(s) – part of an effort to deal with “the most significant recession we’ve had since the Depression, or at least since Johnson.”

    See:

    https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/speeches-remarks/2021/08/24/remarks-by-president-biden-on-the-ongoing-evacuation-efforts-in-afghanistan-and-the-house-vote-on-the-build-back-better-agenda

    Sammy Finkelman (51cd0c)

  88. So we even gave the Taliban a list of American names and the names of Afghans who were going to be evacuated.

    What level of insanity is this!?!?

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  89. 86–They could have done it at any time in the last week and a half. There’s less than a week before the official deadline, and they suddenly decide, “Okay, bored now” and decide to let guys clack off suicide vests? If I’m going to believe that, I’ll have to ignore the last 18 months, much less the last few days.

    Factory Working Orphan (a0227a)

  90. The Taliban control access to the airport, and you can bet they waived the bomber through.

    The Pentagon now says that the attack was conducted by ISIS. But it wouldn’t surprise me at all if the Taliban was happy to let it pass through. Watch for the ugliest elements of the radical left claim that it’s a false flag operation done under the auspicies of the U.S. government in order to justify bringing troops back into the country.

    JVW (ee64e4)

  91. joe cellar will never resign, you need dignity to resign.

    mg (8cbc69)

  92. Trump was impeached for what amounted to an improper request via a phone call.

    How do we not impeach Biden for his abject failure that actually led to massive loss of lives? Furthermore, how do the military brass still have job? They should’ve massed resigned in protest to this plan as any military leadership should of seen this coming.

    Also, wtf was the Biden administration GIVING the bloody TALIBAN a list of all americans and afghan allies? We’re essentially HELPING the Taliban create a ‘kill list’ for them!

    Jesus truly wept!

    whembly (7c17c7)

  93. 86. Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 8/26/2021 @ 1:30 pm

    The Taliban control access to the airport, and you can bet they waived the bomber through.

    I;s actually not the Taliban who is charge of security in Kabul, but the Haqqani network, specifically Khalil Ur-Rahman Haqqani

    The Haqqani network, has close ties to al Qaeda and Pakistani intelligence according to NBC:

    https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/national-security/new-taliban-head-security-kabul-wanted-u-s-terrorist-n1277700

    and

    …Khalil Haqqani has served as the group’s chief of operations, said Doug London, who ran CIA counterterrorism ops in Afghanistan before he retired in 2018. In that role, Haqqani approved suicide bombings against U.S. forces and Afghan civilians, London told NBC News. He also was a CIA partner when the agency was arming and training the precursor to the Taliban against the Soviet invasion, London said.

    The Taliban who captured Kabul are kind of inexperienced, and not cruel and ruthless enough and Pakistan’s rogue military intelligence agency, the ISI, no doubt told them to put …Khalil Haqqani in charge. For that matter, they probably appointed the head of the Taliban (the Taliban interior Minister during their previous rule) Just like Stalin picked the heads of the Communist Parties of Eastern Europe in the late 1940s.

    Sammy Finkelman (51cd0c)

  94. Who knows if it was a suicide bomber? I’d bet money it was planted.

    mg (8cbc69)

  95. Pentagon says shooting at our aircraft has been “mostly peaceful”…

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  96. Barbara Lee only member of congress who voted NO! to nation building in afganistan.

    asset (76c07f)

  97. If the SOB is late for his CiC speech, give him a wake-up call: 1-202-456-1414

    DCSCA (f4c5e5)

  98. How do we go on saying: “the Taliban, the Taliban, the Taliban” and nobody is even speculating as to the internal organization of the Taliban, or how anybody got to be the leader?

    They were 100% dependent on Pakistan for their very lives, not to mention food.

    I think it’s a cabal within the Pakistani military.

    Sammy Finkelman (51cd0c)

  99. Thoughts and prayers are with Americans, our allies and – most of all – our troops. They don’t deserve this.

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  100. 94 WE may very well get some information.

    Sammy Finkelman (51cd0c)

  101. Who knows if it was a suicide bomber? I’d bet money it was planted.

    There was speculation earlier that it was an IED which could be triggered by a cellphone signal. Those are apparently getting to be quite popular among terrorists (the immediate access to the 80 virgins apparently no longer holds as much sway as it once did). But that would also presume that whoever planted the bombs was given inside access, almost certainly by the Taliban.

    JVW (ee64e4)

  102. Thoroughly Discredited Milley: We remain focused on the mission.

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  103. the immediate access to the 80 virgins apparently no longer holds as much sway as it once did

    WTF… when was it bumped up from 72? I didn’t get teh memo…

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  104. 92.Trump was impeached for what amounted to an improper request via a phone call.

    And Kennedy was killed because Marina didn’t roll over.

    Let’s see if President Plagiarist lifts lines, content or intent from this:

    “There is always inequity in life. Some men are killed in a war and some men are wounded, and some men never leave the country, and some men are stationed in the Antarctic and some are stationed in San Francisco. It’s very hard in military or in personal life to assure complete equality. Life is unfair.” – President John F.Kennedy, March 21, 1962

    DCSCA (f4c5e5)

  105. whembly (7c17c7) — 8/26/2021 @ 1:45 pm

    Trump was impeached for what amounted to an improper request via a phone call.

    Not exactly beecause he never asked personally. He cut of aid to Ukraine without giving anybody a reason, and, in an attempt to restore it, in early September, 2019, US Amb to the EU Gordon Sondland tried to strikea deal – but Trump didn’t like the idea. And when it became public, he released his hold on the aid.

    And the irony is, the chief piece of evidence against Biden was a misrepresentation of a lie Biden told about being instrumental in firing a Ukrainian prosecutor. He didn’t get him fired, certainly not alone, and he wasn’t fired when Biden implied he was and there was almost certainly no cancelled press conference. But on the other hand Biden never said he got him fired to stop an investigation, like Trump said. And the whole case against the prosecutor was that he was NOT investigating Burisma.

    How do we not impeach Biden for his abject failure that actually led to massive loss of lives?

    Blunders are nor grounds for impeachment, although maybe you mght race the blunder to an improper motive: to be able to boast of ending America’s longest war.

    Also, wtf was the Biden administration GIVING the bloody TALIBAN a list of all americans and afghan allies? We’re essentially HELPING the Taliban create a ‘kill list’ for them!

    Did they give them a list of people they wanted to take out?
    !

    Sammy Finkelman (51cd0c)

  106. UDPATE IV (by JVW 2:03 pm): Secretary of State Anthony Blinkin said today that only 500 U.S. citizens remain in Afghanistan who desire evacuation. According to him, there were 6,000 of them who had informed the embassy that they desired to leave as of August 14, and to date 4,500 of them have departed. Of the other 1,000 left over after the math is done, Blinkin reports that they have not yet “made reservations” (my phrase, not the tortured explanation Blinken provides), and might be dual citizens who do not intend to leave. But I can’t help but get the feeling that the State Department is not telling us the full truth here.

    JVW (ee64e4)

  107. I fear that there are 1,000 American citizens (perhaps including some of the students from San Diego whom I mentioned in the first comment above) who can’t figure out how to make their way to the Kabul Airport.

    JVW (ee64e4)

  108. 86–They could have done it at any time in the last week and a half. There’s less than a week before the official deadline, and they suddenly decide, “Okay, bored now” and decide to let guys clack off suicide vests? If I’m going to believe that, I’ll have to ignore the last 18 months, much less the last few days.

    The Taliban revolutionaries have spent 20+ years indoctrinating their supporters (including children) through their madrassas, that the Americans are the The Great Satan (or whatever), and to become suicide bombers. With their culture of martyrdom, this is the logical extension. It also means that the Taliban “leadership” lacks control over individual members, given the fractured nature of the Taliban collective.

    You can ignore the past year and half, but not the last 27 years.

    Rip Murdock (d2a2a8)

  109. Today would be a good day to announce the white house has a cat.

    mg (8cbc69)

  110. @105 Sammy, as we learned from the previous administration, impeachment is whatever Congress says it will be.

    The founders rationale for impeachment was essentially ‘malfeasance’ (rather than misfeasance or maladministration).

    Biden wanted, WANTED to leave before 9/11 so that he could have a ‘photo op’ to spike the football that “HE” got us out of Afghanistan. It was a naked political ploy without ANY considerations on a practical, safe withdrawal.

    He far surpassed the threshold for warranting impeachment.

    whembly (1a398e)

  111. Another you tube crisis?
    worked for obama

    mg (8cbc69)

  112. political cartoon circa 1980 jimmy carter:

    nato allies are seen standing on a beach in swim trunks looking out to sea

    next to them is a lifeguard stand with an american flag

    german guy sez “hey look there’s someone drowning — quick, get the lifeguard!!”

    john bull sez “bloody hell, that is the lifeguard”

    JF (e1156d)

  113. Secretary of State Anthony Blinkin said today that only 500 U.S. citizens remain in Afghanistan who desire evacuation.

    ‘Desire evacuation?’ Who expressed an opposing POV to remain? Certainly not the 12 dead U.S. military personnel who remain eternally mute.

    Do they plan to ‘evacuate’ the piece of the World Trade Center buried at the base of the abandoned billion dollar U.S. embassy???

    ______

    You’re late for your speech, Joe. Way to honor the dead.

    IDIOT.

    DCSCA (f4c5e5)

  114. Mr Orphan wrote:

    There is no way that this was a Taliban attack. A group that held to a ceasefire against American troops for 15 months, and continued to avoid engagement during the ensuing withdrawal, suddenly goes off the chain when the US is right on the verge of leaving? No way.

    While I assume that Mr Orphan wrote that sarcastically, I’m going to respond as though her didn’t.

    There are just a few possibilities:

    1 – The Taliban are not in as firm a control as we think, and there are other extremist groups fighting;
    2 – The Taliban say one thing and do another;
    3 – The Taliban ‘leaders’ are not in as firm a control over their fighters in the streets as we might think.

    Thing is, all three could be true, at the same time.

    If President Biden had any balls, there would be 100,000 American troops on the way, right now, to go in and kill them all, destroy every f(ornicating) thing we can find, to kill, and kill, and kill some more. If he doesn’t do that, it will simply reaffirm just how weak the United States is under his leadership.

    I’m pretty sure we won’t do that. Instead, we’ll try to demand that the Taliban investigate for us and turn over the responsible parties, so that we can put them on trial.

    The libertarian, but not Libertarian, Dana (3867c9)

  115. 109.Today would be a good day to announce the white house has a cat.

    Yes, a pussy in the Oval.

    Film at 11.

    DCSCA (f4c5e5)

  116. 107.I fear that there are 1,000 American citizens (perhaps including some of the students from San Diego whom I mentioned in the first comment above) who can’t figure out how to make their way to the Kabul Airport.

    They know what to do; Mexican 101: cross the border at night. 😉

    DCSCA (f4c5e5)

  117. Still waiting for the speech. I think this time he;ll start it closer to the first announced time.

    You know what his talking on other subjects reminds me of?

    HAri Seldon speaking about something other than what’s going on in Isaac Asimov’s “The Foundation”

    Of course this idea of calculating and predicting history is all wrong.

    Sammy Finkelman (51cd0c)

  118. The general giving the Pentagon update was saddened by the loss of our folks. But fell short of saying “we will hunt these killers down and send them on their way to Hell.

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  119. It takes a while for Biden to shake his nap off and for the drug regimen to kick in.

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  120. Love to hear what Steve57 thinks.

    mg (8cbc69)

  121. “I trust his judgement.” – Nancy Pelosi 8/25/21

    “Raymond Shaw is the kindest, bravest, warmest, most wonderful human being I’ve ever known in my life.” – Bennett Marco [Frank Sinatra] ‘The Manchurian Candidate’ 1962

    DCSCA (f4c5e5)

  122. Biden starting

    Sammy Finkelman (51cd0c)

  123. “Been a tough day.”

    =head-smack=

    DCSCA (f4c5e5)

  124. OMG. This is incoherent rambling.

    DCSCA (f4c5e5)

  125. Blarney, bluster, Beaush!t.

    WTF. BEAU??????????????????

    Paging Budd Dwyer: go to Beau, Joe.

    Just go to Beau.

    DCSCA (f4c5e5)

  126. Compare this rambling to a strong assertive FDR on 12/8/41.

    DCSCA (f4c5e5)

  127. Please, somebody stick a potato in this imbecile mick’s gob and kick him in the ass.

    DCSCA (f4c5e5)

  128. This man emotional damaged and clearly incompetent.

    RESIGN.

    DCSCA (f4c5e5)

  129. Instructed to call on????????????????????????????

    WHO is running him?

    DCSCA (f4c5e5)

  130. “The first person I was instructed to call” -Biden.

    felipe (484255)

  131. He is just a puppet, DCSCA

    felipe (484255)

  132. what a dunce you people voted for

    mg (8cbc69)

  133. This mick makes Trump look like Lincoln.

    DCSCA (f4c5e5)

  134. “special k”
    you fricking drunk

    mg (8cbc69)

  135. “You bought him. You own him.”

    DCSCA (f4c5e5)

  136. Stop softballing his dunce.

    PISS ON BEAU.

    DCSCA (f4c5e5)

  137. I listened to one minute of Slow Joe explain what was going on. Here’s what I learned:

    1. We’re going to make those terrorists pay for what they did. I suppose death drone manufacturers, so beloved by Biden’s former boss, are going to find themselves with big invoices again.

    2. We’re going to get everyone out — Afghan allies included — even if it takes us past August 31. Well then, Mr. President, why are other members of your administration giving us the “hey, if they haven’t told us they want out by now, we’re assuming they want to stay” line?

    3. The President asks the commanders of “our brave troops” several times each day what else they need to accomplish the mission, and he has approved every single request they have made. I guess none of them have said “25,000 more troops on the ground please, sir.” And according to the Commander-in-Chief, his Defense Secretary and the Defense Department staff have done a marvelous job. I guess that’s the Administration’s way of claiming that this is a total fuck-up* by the commanders on the ground.

    *Sorry, but I am invoking my guest blogger privilege to cuss, so please none of you follow my bad example.

    JVW (ee64e4)

  138. This is utterly terrifying.

    The whole planet is watching this.

    DCSCA (f4c5e5)

  139. *Sorry, but I am invoking my guest blogger privilege to cuss, so please none of you follow my bad example.

    ROFLMAO

    This is so frightening it’s almost comical.

    DCSCA (f4c5e5)

  140. I have tried, for the first time, to watch President Biden on television, and the man looks wholly defeated, looks like a funeral director trying to comfort the bereaved. After a while, he tried to act angry, but it just wasn’t in him. He said we would never forget or forgive, but all he ‘promised’ to do was find out who was responsible and bring them to justice.

    The libertarian, but not Libertarian, Dana (3867c9)

  141. What in the Hell?

    He’s got a black hole, alright.

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  142. the lying POS press being oh so delegate with their lying POS president

    someone actually brought up beau

    holy crap

    JF (e1156d)

  143. Go to Beau, Joe.

    DCSCA (f4c5e5)

  144. He’s even laughing.

    DCSCA (f4c5e5)

  145. How many people are having real buyer’s remorse on their votes last November?

    The libertarian, but not Libertarian, Dana (3867c9)

  146. *delicate

    JF (e1156d)

  147. “Limited the duration”, with no plan?

    I don’t think it works that way.

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  148. Empty threats from an old, befuddled man.

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  149. What a fricking disgrace

    mg (8cbc69)

  150. CNN is leading with Biden’s butch “We will hunt you down and make you pay” declaration. Remember how when Donald Trump would flex his muscles and try to sound like George Patton it was fashionable to point out that he received a deferment from Vietnam-era service due to bone spurs in his feet? Are the same people now going to remind everyone that Biden received his Vietnam deferment because of a bad case of asthma (which, thankfully, didn’t prevent him from deriving decades of pleasure from sniffing women and girls’ hair at point-blank range)?

    JVW (ee64e4)

  151. the buck stops with whatabout trump

    JF (e1156d)

  152. Out of ooof?

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  153. You can’t blame Trump.

    DCSCA (f4c5e5)

  154. “How many people are having real buyer’s remorse on their votes last November?”

    A lot more than are willing to admit it.

    And last year when they were told how insane it was to even consider Biden/Harris, they doubled down, hurled insults and expounded on their superior thinking.

    Obudman (4d2a8d)

  155. he needs to get off the podium

    mg (8cbc69)

  156. Only on alternative??

    This guy is totally, complete, wholly out of it.

    DCSCA (f4c5e5)

  157. 156. he needs to get off the podium

    He’s on podium.

    He needs to get off the frigging plant.

    Go. To. Beau.

    DCSCA (f4c5e5)

  158. 155- sophisticated expert expertise

    mg (8cbc69)

  159. ^planet

    DCSCA (f4c5e5)

  160. Call the White House: 1-202-456-1414

    Demand resignation.

    DCSCA (f4c5e5)

  161. Biden just set a modern record for taking responsibilty and pivoting to Trump; less that 5 seconds

    steveg (ebe7c1)

  162. This chump works for YOU.

    DCSCA (f4c5e5)

  163. Counting on the “self-interest” of people who wouldn’t think twice of blowing themselves up for an objective.

    Sounds logical, no?

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  164. Anyone who supported this obviously diminished man in any way, shape or form will have bloodstains on their hands.

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  165. what type of man would bring up his dead son in this debacle?

    mg (8cbc69)

  166. Watch the republicans use this as a so called Wellstone memorial fundraising moment.
    send coal.

    mg (8cbc69)

  167. The Gong Show was never this bad.

    mg (8cbc69)

  168. If President Trump had been re-elected, and this had happened on his watch, you could bet your last euro that every Democrat, every liberal, every never Trumper, would be calling for his head.

    The libertarian, but not Libertarian, Dana (3867c9)

  169. 169
    And any head that voted for Trump

    mg (8cbc69)

  170. 169-nk would light it up with zingers.

    mg (8cbc69)

  171. The Flying Monkeys of teh Media are sure docile, polite little monkeys with the press sec. Their softly voiced questions won’t ruffle any Democrat feathers.

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  172. 166.what type of man would bring up his dead son in this debacle?

    A brain-injured, emotionally damaged, full of malarkey, blarney and Beaush!t-piss-and-vinegared-mick, ready to fight for his honor as he holds your coat, lets you do the punching, and never leaves the saloon. That’s who.

    See the light, Joe.

    Go. To Beau.

    Now it is 13 DEAD. 12 United States Marines, 1 Navy Corpman.

    You can’t join ’em soon enough, Joe.

    DCSCA (f4c5e5)

  173. Worst CiC speech since the ‘malaise’ whinning.

    DCSCA (f4c5e5)

  174. The cellar dweller will stay put, Kamalalala is lower in ratings than he is.
    Note to future presidents – pick a vp that really is horrible.

    mg (8cbc69)

  175. @172. Give Doocy credit for going ‘Dan Rather on the Big Dick’ w/the imbecile.

    Never forget: “I trust his judgement.” – Nancy Pelosi

    DCSCA (f4c5e5)

  176. 137, JVW (ee64e4) — 8/26/2021 @ 2:41 pm

    2. We’re going to get everyone out — Afghan allies included — even if it takes us past August 31.

    He didn’t say that.

    He said we were going to “complete the mission”

    In an answer to a question, he stated clearly, that the mission was to get out as many as we can, in the “time allotted”

    Which means it cannot fail.

    He misled people, including you, but he didn’t lie, at least there.

    Sammy Finkelman (51cd0c)

  177. CIA, U.S. Troops Conduct Missions Outside Kabul Airport to Extract Americans, Afghan Allies
    ……..
    The CIA has launched clandestine operations to rescue Americans in and outside Kabul in recent days, according to U.S. and other officials. The missions are using American military helicopters but under the control of the CIA, a typical arrangement in such operations.

    A congressional source knowledgeable about the evacuation effort said U.S. troops had gone into Kabul on joint missions with other foreign allies, including Britain and France, to designated locations where they had picked up citizens from all those nations, U.S. green-card holders, and Afghans who hold special visas for helping the U.S. military.
    ……..
    Pentagon officials acknowledged Wednesday an operation in which they said the military airlifted “less than 20” Americans overnight into Karzai International Airport, Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said at a briefing Wednesday.
    ……….
    Within the past week, the military has conducted at least two other operations using helicopters to rescue a total of 185 Americans, officials said. That included one recently from inside Kabul that rescued 16 Americans, officials said. Some extractions have been done on the ground, in which Americans are led by foot into the airport.

    Pentagon officials also said on Friday that it had conducted an airlift operation with helicopters in Kabul on Thursday in which 169 Americans were rescued and brought into the airport.
    ……..

    Rip Murdock (d2a2a8)

  178. The happiest man in America…

    https://qph.fs.quoracdn.net/main-qimg-fc01411200d26acc65cfad513ef0d657-c

    Congrats! Your crown has found a new dolt to wear it.

    DCSCA (f4c5e5)

  179. The bombing at the gate was a suicide bomber on foot. I haven;t heard anything about the hotel. There were only two bombs. The U.S. miiitary is very worried that there later could be a car bomb, perhaps a small vehicle. They are asking the Taliban to close more roads.

    The number of dead U.S. military personnel is now up to 13. I understand that means one gets subtracted from the number of wounded. The number of Afghans killed is about 90; wounded estimated at 150 – many on Kabul hospital. I would e concerned that somebody will come along later to finish the job. After all they wanted to leave.

    ISIS claimed responsibility. I think all claims of responsibility by terrorist groups, since they stated, are, in reality, efforts by the true or most important persons responsible to have somebody else take the rap.

    The Taliban condemned it.

    Sammy Finkelman (51cd0c)

  180. Did anyone else notice that Joe Biden was claiming that his son Beau got cancer because of his service in Iraq. Like others, he said.

    Sammy Finkelman (51cd0c)

  181. #59

    In the batle at Beersheba, the Australian light horsemen volunteered to attack by riding fast and getting under the Turk-German artillery before they could adjust their height.
    I believe the Australians attacked with handheld bayonets, jumping their horses over trenches.

    steveg (ebe7c1)

  182. Biden started off on Afghanistan and definitely blamed this phantom organization called ISIS-K. Not that there might not be real terror bombers in it. The Taliban freed them from prison.

    Biden was sober.

    He claimed that if he had not continued the withdrawal he would have had to send thousands of troops to Afghanistan, and that the only reason the Taliban were not attacking U.S. troops since early 2020 was the promise made by Donald Trump (and him) to withdraw and repeated the argument that if Osama bin Laden had been in Yemen we never would have attacked Afghanistan, so now that he’s gone, we should leave and there are other places closer to America where terrorists have bases and we don;t send in troops.

    He wanted to give the argument that we couldn’t possibly take out the million or so Afghans who want freedom, so it doesn’t matter how many we leave behind desperate for freedom but abandoned it in midstream. He didn’t scknowledge there, that there were many who also feared for their lives.

    Sammy Finkelman (51cd0c)

  183. 181.Did anyone else notice that Joe Biden was claiming that his son Beau got cancer because of his service in Iraq. Like others, he said.

    Yep. He’s trying to morph the messaging for lesser informed voters that Dead Beau was a combat death. It’s classic Joe; like driving an 18-wheeler and going to jail w/Mandela… and so on and so on…

    DCSCA (f4c5e5)

  184. If President Trump had been re-elected, and this had happened on his watch, you could bet your last euro that every Democrat, every liberal, every never Trumper, would be calling for his head.

    But no Trumper, so what about that?

    nk (1d9030)

  185. And I was calling for Trump’s head when the corrupt criminal orange traitor sold out the Syrian Kurds, so what about that?

    nk (1d9030)

  186. We’re expecting “more attacks”, but the Islamic terrorists aren’t expecting even one.

    Perhaps that should change.

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  187. Worst CiC speech since the ‘malaise’ whinning.

    Did you mean whinnying (Carter did have horse teeth), whinging or whining DCSCA?

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  188. @188. See #179 and judge for yourself. 😉

    DCSCA (f4c5e5)

  189. DCSCA, please dial back the morbid wishes for President Biden stuff. That’s taking it a bit too far.

    JVW (773988)

  190. “Feeling overwhelming gratitude for the adults in the room…”
    Sam Harris – 1/20/2021

    “Publicly eating these words… syllable by syllable.”
    Sam Harris – Today

    https://twitter.com/samharrisorg/status/1430995280703328256?s=21

    Obudman (4d2a8d)

  191. OT- Ashli Babbitt murderer outs himself w/Lester Holt.

    Michael Byrd was identified as the black Capitol police officer who shot and killed [it’s called murder] white woman Ashli Babbitt, an Air Force veteran from San Diego who tried to climb through a door with broken glass inside the U.S. Capitol building on January 6, 2021.

    DCSCA (f4c5e5)

  192. Never mind how many Americans and “our Afghan allies” do we have scattered around Afghanistan looking to be evacuated. How many human shields have we concentrated at Kabul airport for the Taliban? Brilliant strategery, eh?

    nk (1d9030)

  193. @190. Fine. He’ll be there soon enough.

    DCSCA (f4c5e5)

  194. Root cellar joe is at home with the rest of the vegetables.

    mg (8cbc69)

  195. I blame Trump for going about it in the western way.
    The western way is signed contracts, agreements so if you have to resort to force, you did it right.
    One thing Trump knows is both sides of breaching a contract, enforcement and consequences.
    I doubt he would have expected the Taliban to fufill their terms of contract while knowing that the western world would expect Trump to hold up his end of the agreement

    steveg (ebe7c1)

  196. After what has happened over in Afghanistan the last several days (especially today), one might think the Biden administration flaks would show a little less arrogance, more humility and some genuine emotion (e.g., sadness).

    Judging by today’s performances, one would be disappointed.

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  197. @190. Just remember, JVW, a lot of ‘folks’ wanted Trump to follow suit.

    DCSCA (f4c5e5)

  198. #190 JVW – I think what we are seeing with DCSCA is a one-sided love affair. Unable to accept that Biden does not return its love, it is obsessed with everything Biden, even watches every speech Biden makes. I wouldn’t be surprised to learn that it replays old favorites, wondering why Biden doesn’t return its love. And, as you note, its obsession has now gotten worse.

    Could treatment help DCSCA? Possibly. Or maybe just it getting out and getting a little fresh air and exercise.

    Jim Miller (edcec1)

  199. Now the sophisticated voters of worse than Trump are mental experts.

    mg (8cbc69)

  200. @190. Also, postscript,it would be “nice” if “President Biden” would ‘dial back’ the morbid references to his dead son, Beau– who died of natural causes over six years ago. It’s a burden the nation doesn’t need dumped on it.

    ____________

    If you were in the Taliban’s position you’d keep letting ‘proxy’ attacks through right up until the last plane leave Kabul. Still, the Biden team can’t explain what or why any American would ‘choose to stay’ in Afghanistan facing these conditons.

    DCSCA (f4c5e5)

  201. Biden will hunt those responsible down. Maybe not with the military that he is removing from the country. But the drones. Man, the drones. ISIS-K will not know what hit them.

    Who knows? Maybe Biden will use his foreign policy chops, strike an alliance with the Tally-ban, and get our new friends to bring ISIS-K to justice.

    I think we are only beginning to see how Biden is turning Afghanistan into one big win.

    Hoi Polloi (998b37)

  202. @199.Could treatment help DCSCA? Possibly. Or maybe just it getting out and getting a little fresh air and exercise.

    Did so, Jimbo– consoled my neighbor’s wife this morning; she’s ex-Marine medical– and sullen over the events of today foe omrades in arms. Her husband was deployed several times to Afghanistan and I toild her it was not in vain. But thank God, his current deployment has him in the South Pacific for 6 months on Palau – where she said they’re planning war games with… China. Now go play with your trains.

    DCSCA (f4c5e5)

  203. @199. Jimbo, known about the goose egg that’s Biden for 50 years since the early 70s. Clearly you don’t.

    DCSCA (f4c5e5)

  204. You can ignore the past year and half, but not the last 27 years.

    Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 8/26/2021 @ 2:10 pm

    So you’re saying the Taliban held off on attacking Americans for the last 18 months, just to lure the US in to a false sense of security, so when they finally had them surrounded at the airport they then held off for several more days to make the US even more complacent, and then sprung their big attack when the US was less than a week from actually departing?

    That’s an even worse look for the military and intel agencies than it just being a random attack.

    Factory Working Orphan (2775f0)

  205. Biden is an idiot and, as we have previously discussed, has no compunction about milking family tragedy for sympathy. Let’s vow to be better than that.

    And this is another reminder to all of us, me included, to avoid disparaging fellow commenters.

    JVW (773988)

  206. 203-
    Friends on the Big Island say Military maneuvers have picked up the last 6 months.
    China.

    mg (8cbc69)

  207. Factory Working Orphan (2775f0) — 8/26/2021 @ 5:47 pm

    It wouldn’t surprise me. But as I said, it could be lower level Taliban soldiers took their indoctrination to heart and are continuing their war against the infidels right up to the minute they leave. I’ll bet this won’t be the last suicide bombing.

    Rip Murdock (d2a2a8)

  208. 202.Biden will hunt those responsible down…

    From a guy who literally has to be “instructed to call on” members of the press. He likely lost his car keys between the sofa cushions in 2011 and still hasn’t found them.

    And if you think that’s an exaggeration for an old fart his age, my own late father though this TV remote was broken for six months when the batteries fell out of it until he told me about it and I reminded him all he had to do was put the code number in when he put the batteries back in- which was written on the back of the remote. He did. It worked.

    DCSCA (f4c5e5)

  209. Whats been said here about the cellar dweller and his voters is nothing compared to what has been said about Trump and his voters.
    Payback is a biotch.

    mg (8cbc69)

  210. @207. Yeah. That’s the ‘word’ we’re getting, too. Lots of ‘gaming out’ scenarios.

    DCSCA (f4c5e5)

  211. 197–After what has happened over in Afghanistan the last several days (especially today), one might think the Biden administration flaks would show a little less arrogance, more humility and some genuine emotion (e.g., sadness).

    Why would they? These are people who get away with anything and everything because they have a literal cabal (Time Magazine’s description, not mine) propping them up and boosting their signal, despite the fact that about half the country doesn’t like their politics. You can’t even call them out on their hypocrisy because their thought leaders have been telling them that the ends justify the means for over 50 years. As long as it advances their agenda and no one actually holds them and their side accountable, why should they care? This is them shoving that lack of accountability right in our faces and laughing about it.

    Factory Working Orphan (2775f0)

  212. It wouldn’t surprise me. But as I said, it could be lower level Taliban soldiers took their indoctrination to heart and are continuing their war against the infidels right up to the minute they leave. I’ll bet this won’t be the last suicide bombing.

    Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 8/26/2021 @ 5:53 pm

    I guess the lesson here is that if you consider your country to be the GOAT, you better watch out for goatf**kers.

    Factory Working Orphan (2775f0)

  213. @197. Remember your Churchill- ‘when you’re going through hell- keep going.’ Malarkey, blarney, Beaush!t and the ‘luck of the Irish’ got him through the Senate, the VP slot and into the Oval.

    DCSCA (f4c5e5)

  214. @20. {{{{JVW}}}}

    It’s a hard day for all sides from all points of the compass.

    DCSCA (f4c5e5)

  215. ^206.

    DCSCA (f4c5e5)

  216. Some will be reminded of this old, old lightbulb joke: “How many psychiatrists does it take to change a light bulb? One, but the light bulb has to want to change.”

    Jim Miller (edcec1)

  217. 217.Some will be reminded of this old, old lightbulb joke:

    ‘Brighden.’

    DCSCA (f4c5e5)

  218. Bring on Sigmund
    woof, woof, woof

    mg (8cbc69)

  219. Just got around to watching the speech. Anyone else notice the POTUS = GOD reference?

    After watching the speeches over the last few days any guess who’s actually in charge? His chief of staff? It doesn’t look like JB.

    frosty (f27e97)

  220. “I have another meeting for real.”
    Closing statement by president joe biden.

    mg (8cbc69)

  221. 221.“I have another meeting for real.”

    Which is such a ‘tell’ itself. How many times has he used it to ‘shuffle off to Buffalo?’

    “Exit, stage left!” – Snagglepuss [Daws Butler] – Hanna-Barbera Cartoons 1959

    DCSCA (f4c5e5)

  222. I watched a hearing back in June and congressman Lamborn of Colorado told Miley bloodshed was coming. Lamborn was way ahead of these generals.

    mg (8cbc69)

  223. Cant wait for these conservative writers to start making a case why the taliban is here to stay and we just need to get along.

    mg (8cbc69)

  224. @223/224. There’s a way to ‘collapse the bag’ – these guys train for it. They weren’t allowed to do it. It was absurd to have Marines deployed ‘patting down’ throngs of panicked Afghans storming the airport gates.

    DCSCA (f4c5e5)

  225. “Instructed to call on…”

    When was the last time you heard a POTUS use this as a crutch to lean on? It’s terrifying…
    _______

    When was the last time this many Americans were in peril of having to ‘surrender’ to an ‘enemy??’

    Appomattox? Bataan? The Bulge? Surely our self-appointed ‘student of history’ president knows…

    DCSCA (f4c5e5)

  226. 1.Reports are that a group of two dozen San Diego area students are trapped in Afghanistan, along with some parents. These are U.S. residents, many of whom are originally from Afghanistan and neighboring countries, are considered to be allies of the U.S., and are in Afghanistan on military visas. Here’s hoping they can be rescued.

    They’re getting out…

    Two San Diego-Area Families Evacuated From Afghanistan

    EL CAJON, CA — Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Bonsall, Thursday announced two local San Diego-area families that were trapped in the Kabul region of Afghanistan have successfully been evacuated from that country.

    https://patch.com/california/san-diego/2-san-diego-area-families-evacuated-afghanistan

    DCSCA (f4c5e5)

  227. the lefties on this site must’ve got on a c-130 and bugged out

    JF (e1156d)

  228. BTW, this evening MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell lied/misled/fibbed about Vietnam, 1975- and President Ford. Again.

    Despicable.

    DCSCA (f4c5e5)

  229. “we will make you pay”

    yes, i actually believe biden here

    more people need to die to save his sorry a$$

    pathetic

    JF (e1156d)

  230. @228 Maybe they all found gainful employment at the same time. Or went on vacation.

    I’m sure they’ll be back.

    frosty (f27e97)

  231. 202.Biden will hunt those responsible down. Maybe not with the military that he is removing from the country. But the drones. Man, the drones. ISIS-K will not know what hit them.

    The very people he needs to do that are cowering in basements fearing beheading, tumbling out of C-17 wheel wells or already left the region. Trump was right about the Afghan Army- the bulk were well paid illiterates and showed up on pay days– but not when it came time to earn it.

    DCSCA (f4c5e5)

  232. @232 60,000 afghan military died while cashing their pay checks?

    asset (324f24)

  233. @233. Why Is the Afghan National Army Performing So Miserably?

    https://news.yahoo.com/why-afghan-national-army-performing-090450935.html?fr=sycsrp_catchall

    Cash and carry.

    DCSCA (f4c5e5)

  234. 60,000 afghan military died while cashing their pay checks?

    “No bastard ever won a war by dying for his country. He won it by making the other poor dumb bastard die for his country.” – George S. Patton, May 31, 1944, addressing the U.S. 6th Armored Division =mike-drop=

    DCSCA (f4c5e5)

  235. When JB says he’ll hunt down those responsible for the attack today it might be worth remembering that he didn’t want to hunt down OBL

    frosty (f27e97)

  236. Jen Psaki actually said ‘we'[the U.S.] have “economic leverage” over the Taliban.

    Is she high on podium too? $2.26 trillion blown… $85 billion in weapons abandoned… even Pelosi shrugged over that loss… seems every woman in America and all of Wall Street is indifferent when spending other people’s money.

    DCSCA (f4c5e5)

  237. OMG. Fox airing video of Taliban already capable of flying Blackhawk helicopters across the dessert sands. Was this part of your ‘plan’ Mr. President? Well, waste not, want not, eh, Generous Joe?!

    At least they’ll be ‘put to use’ — and not shoved overboard into the sea by the Navy like so many Hueys back in ’75.

    DCSCA (f4c5e5)

  238. Sophisticated people like to dish it out, and then freak out when they are DEAD wrong.

    mg (8cbc69)

  239. I wonder if they bugged out to the David French site.
    He would be the jackazz that would be friends with the taliban.

    mg (8cbc69)

  240. The sad part is The U.S.A. was beaten by cave men with small arms and Toyotas.

    mg (8cbc69)

  241. Secretary of State Anthony Blinkin said today that only 500 U.S. citizens remain in Afghanistan who desire evacuation.

    What they said before was that there were about another 1,000 U.S. citizens who they haven’t been able to make contact with – and they tried by phone, by email and by text message. I think they said some may not want to go.

    Sammy Finkelman (51cd0c)

  242. Our Windy City barrister wrote:

    And I was calling for Trump’s head when the corrupt criminal orange traitor sold out the Syrian Kurds, so what about that?

    Weren’t you were calling for President Trump’s head starting around January 20, 2017?

    The libertarian, but not Libertarian, Dana (3867c9)

  243. Mr Orphan wrote:

    So you’re saying the Taliban held off on attacking Americans for the last 18 months, just to lure the US in to a false sense of security, so when they finally had them surrounded at the airport they then held off for several more days to make the US even more complacent, and then sprung their big attack when the US was less than a week from actually departing?

    Why not? It worked for North Vietnam in 1973!

    The Vietnamese commies mostly held off from 1973 to 1975, giving the US its “Peace With Honor™” and taking the rime to regroup and retool before the real assault to conquer the South. Someone in the Taliban figured it out: if we play patty cake with the US for just a little while, they’ll go the Peace With Honor™ route again.

    The libertarian, but not Libertarian, Dana (3867c9)

  244. Weren’t you were calling for President Trump’s head starting around January 20, 2017?

    No, I was fair to him when he management to find the occasional acorn and I always took his side against the Democrats. The Kurds were a clear defining moment.

    nk (1d9030)

  245. The folks at The Dispatch said it well.
    This disaster is all on Biden, the worst foreign policy disaster since the 2003 invasion of Iraq. It’s incredulous that our American officials gave the Taliban a hostage list of Americans and a kill list of the Afghans who helped us.

    Paul Montagu (5de684)

  246. Wrong link Paul

    AJ_Liberty (ec7f74)

  247. So many actions that could’ve been taken over the last months, weeks, days that would’ve prevented so much of this.

    When the president reads stage instructions as a part of his speech and can’t differentiate between the two, we see the joke is on us.

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  248. 244–Sorry, but that defies all logic. The Taliban simply want us gone, and conducting a suicide attack with less than a week before the deadline, after a year and a half of holding to their agreements (something the US certainly can’t boast about) not to attack us, and taking the country with barely a fight, is so self-defeating as to be insane.

    You know who *doesn’t* want us gone? A lot of people in Washington DC that are seeing the GWOT gravy train pull out of the station.

    Factory Working Orphan (7cab8b)

  249. The dept. of indefensible defense couldn’t beat a army of plastic soldiers.

    mg (8cbc69)

  250. Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 8/27/2021 @ 7:21 am

    When the president reads stage instructions as a part of his speech and can’t differentiate between the two, we see the joke is on us.

    He didn;t do that. He referred to the fact that he had instructions – his press secretary had prepared for him a list in advance of whom to call on. That was possibly to avoid certain reporters, and to acknowledge certain reporters or news organizations, which was probably about 75% based on their importance or audience size, and might have also been the product of some deals

    But it unusual for a president, or a governor maybe to refer to the fact he has a list. Biden was probably buying himself some time to think and make sure he had it right, or get himself into the mood of answering questions.

    This is what he said:

    Ladies and gentlemen, they gave me a list here. The first person I was instructed to call on was Kelly O’Donnell of NBC.

    Sammy Finkelman (51cd0c)

  251. Those are what are called “stage instructions”, not meant to be read out loud, Sammy.

    He did do that.

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  252. He read his prepared answers, Sammy. Answers prepared for the scripted questions.

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  253. About the United States giving alist: Possibly the Taliban Haquanni network have compiled a list and possibly they got information out of the embassy – or from some other source, but what they seeemed to be talking in the question and answer peiod was not an all-inclusive list, but partial lists. These were people travelling to Kabul whom they wnted the Taliban to let through, and they gave them names because they wanted at least those allowed to pass and they were even maybe interested is stopping the others.

    Here it is:

    https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/speeches-remarks/2021/08/26/remarks-by-president-biden-on-the-terror-attack-at-hamid-karzai-international-airport

    Q Thank you, Mr. President. There are reports that U.S. officials provided the Taliban with names of Americans and Afghan officials to evacuate. Were you aware of that? Did that happen?…

    ….With regard to — there are certain circumstances where we’ve gotten information — and quite frankly, sometimes from some of you — saying, “You know of such and such a group of people who are trying to get out and they’re on a bus, they’re moving…” — from other people — “and this is their location.”

    And there have been occasions when our military has contacted their military counterparts in the Taliban and said, “This…” — for example, “This bus is coming through with X number of people on it, made up of the following group of people. We want you to let that bus or that group through.”

    So, yes, there have been occasions like that.

    And to the best of my knowledge, in those cases, the bulk of that has occurred — they’ve been let through. But I can’t tell you with any certitude that there’s actually been a list of names. I don’t — there may have been, but I know of no circumstance. It doesn’t mean it’s not — it didn’t exist, that, “Here’s the names of 12 people; they’re coming. Let them through.” It could very well have happened.

    The bulk??

    You mean maybe they arrested a few people sometimes? Or they stopped a few buses or convoys?

    Sammy Finkelman (51cd0c)

  254. Biden bowing his head as reporter Doocy reminded him that he is the president showcased the tired, defeated old man who should’ve remained in his dungeon basement…

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  255. Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 8/27/2021 @ 10:05 am

    Those are what are called “stage instructions”, not meant to be read out loud, Sammy.

    They weren’t “stage instructions” like in Shakespeare.

    He referred to the fact that he had a list of people to call on, but those specific words themselves weren’t written down and wouldn;t have been written that way.

    Whether he had list of questions is another story. He no doubt had semi-prepared answers to expected questions. Maybe they wanted to select reporters who wouldn’t hit him with a curve ball question. That’s probably all they could get.

    He had to memorize how he would answer obvious questions, but wan’t reading from a teleprompter.

    Sammy Finkelman (51cd0c)

  256. Not reading from the teleprompter? Yes, that explains the constant squinting…

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  257. Here is where he says his son was a war a casualty of war:

    Being the father of an Army major who served for a year in Iraq and, before that, was in Kosovo as a U.S. attorney for the better part of six months in the middle of a war — when he came home after a year in Iraq, he was diagnosed, like many, many coming home, with an aggressive and lethal cancer of the brain — who we lost.

    Did you know of that epidemic of brain cancer among Iraqi war veterans?

    I think Joe Biden may be confusing that with PTSD – that’s been said to be common. Also traumatic brain injury fro, being near big explosions.

    I think it;s the fact hat Joe Biden is not used to confining himself to the truth that led him to say his cancer was related – because he didn’t ask himself whether that was true, which would have stopped him, but whether that idea was around, and he confused it with PTSD.

    Sammy Finkelman (51cd0c)

  258. 241.The sad part is The U.S.A. was beaten by cave men with small arms and Toyotas

    The Martians were beaten by bacteria, too. See HG Wells for details.

    DCSCA (f4c5e5)

  259. If trying to read a teleprompter explains squinting, then every time he speaks, he should squint. Now it stated out with prepared remarks.

    Sammy Finkelman (51cd0c)

  260. Here is where Joe Biden starts to make an argument that many more Afghans could be considered to deserve asylum than can be acccomodated, but abandons it midstream.

    …Look, I know of no conflict, as a student of history — no conflict where, when a war was ending, one side was able to guarantee that everyone that wanted to be extracted from that country would get out.

    And think about it, folks. I think it’s important for — I know the American people get this in their gut. There are, I would argue, millions of Afghani citizens who are not Taliban; who did not actively cooperate with us as SIVs; who, if given a chance, they’d be onboard a plane tomorrow. It sounds ridiculous, but the vast majority of people in communities like that want to come to America, given a choice.

    So, getting every single person out is — can’t be guaranteed to anybody because there’s a determination, all who wants to get out as well.

    At any rate, it’s a process.

    I was really pointing to you, but — you, sir.

    Sammy Finkelman (51cd0c)

  261. Ack. Here’s the right link.

    Paul Montagu (5de684)

  262. this tired, sad old man
    ship sunk shortage of lifeboats
    women children last

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  263. Neocon Rove still squealing about ‘they’re fighting for “democracy and liberty” in Afghanistan.

    Pork chop.

    DCSCA (f4c5e5)

  264. Paul, that Dispatch article should be required reading. It’s particularly bothering that many just don’t appreciate what our quick exodus exactly did to the Afghani army. Not only did we subtract the vital air support operations and experienced artillery support, but the logistic elements of moving supplies and fixing equipment was also dropped….which is felt immediately. Add in the loss of battlefield intelligence, leadership, and special forces support, it becomes hard to listen to people simply calling the Afghanis cowards. We screwed them….and the article is correct…we gave Islamic jihadists a huge victory that they will use for recruitment. We need to understand what generals planned this…and how they could have had so little gamed out….and no contingencies planned. People need to be fired….sooner rather than later

    AJ_Liberty (ec7f74)

  265. Biden thinks his son was a casualty of the wars because there is a chapter devoted to his son inJoseph Hickman’s book “The Burn Pits: The Poisoning of America’s Soldiers” and he believes it. If you go to the Amazon page for the book you will see a quote from President Biden.

    kaf (9e2b5f)

  266. https://twitter.com/brithume/status/1431266644366667780/photo/1

    Biden was the one who wanted to close Bagram, making sure Kabul was human shields.
    He gave his Generals the choice or Bagram or Kabul. They answered they need both. Biden said keep the Embassy open and then went on the blame the generals for his not taking their advice.
    To be fair, Biden is just a puppet, so no telling in his inner circle decided for him.
    The thought did cross my mind that Joe was using a Magic 8 ball and asking Beau what to do.

    steveg (ebe7c1)

  267. https://www.factcheck.org/2019/12/biden-exaggerates-science-on-burn-pits-and-brain-cancer/

    Who wants to guess that if they did the same fact check today, it’d look different

    steveg (ebe7c1)

  268. @265 oh yes, people will be fired

    heads will roll

    just not the heads that should be rolling

    JF (e1156d)

  269. nk Article dated August 20 predicting attacks

    https://www.michaelyon-online.com/want-to-know-something-about-afghan-fighting-i-will-tell-you.htm

    This quote describes how the Taliban fights a retreating army

    “As you know, Pashtun — who comprise most of Taliban — have many cultural fighting habits. One is to pursue fleeing enemies. Like Border Collies. Have you ever had a Border Collie? They chase what flees. Including you.

    Pashtun will not stop fighting us so long as we are there. These guys giving briefings talking about negotiating with Taliban are either dumber than oysters or lying like starfish. Pashtun-Taliban see us fleeing. They are chase-o-holics. It’s probably hardly within their realm of Will to resist chasing us.

    There is another cultural habit of swarming. Many cultures do this. We see it during flatscreen riots in America, only the people doing flatscreen riots are less civilized than Taliban. Some cultures swarm more than others.

    When I was in Mindanao, Philippines, Green Berets and SEALs told me about local swarming habits. Called pentacaso or something like that. Cockfight. And so, if you get into a firefight, every farmer and villager within earshot drops what they are doing and runs to the fight. Showing up with whatever they have, often planning to find weapons on arrival.

    This is very dangerous for defenders on islands. The swarm will surround you and keep adding to the swarm and either push you to the sea or cause you to use all your ammo and then cut off your head. So either you must break contact quickly, before the swarm forms, or reinforce.

    You can bet your last dollar that right now many men from Pashtun villages around Afghanistan have been emptying out to join the fight. They know if they win they can fetch some young virgins. Get some treasure. Get some glory. Have some fun. Chop some enemies to pieces. The most exciting moment of their life.

    The longer this takes, the more likely we will see suicide attacks and all sorts of other increasingly heavy fighting as the swarm builds.”

    steveg (ebe7c1)

  270. 263. Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 8/27/2021 @ 10:45 am

    women children last

    That is true, if they are not American citizens.

    Some Afghans who qualify for being taken out are not being allowed to take woth them their even their wives.

    It may depend on who else is there.

    https://nypost.com/2021/08/25/rescuer-describes-what-kabul-airport-is-like-now

    So, the guidance is — well, I haven’t seen any guidance from anywhere, except by word of mouth, and dudes are just getting things done anyway. But the guidance is that, if you have a US passport or green card, you can get in. But the Special Immigrant Visas — or SIVs — the State Department has been processing are almost worthless.

    If I cruise up with myself and an SIV, they’re probably going to let me in. But if I pull up with an SIV and I have a wife, cousin, and mom, I’m not getting in. They say, “You can’t bring all these people with you, sorry.” People with passports and green cards get all their family members, but even then, it’s immediate family only.

    I’ve deployed 15 times, and this is the worst living and working conditions I’ve seen for US troops. I’m a little used to this kind of work, unlike the many young Marines and other service members who are having to sentence these Afghans. They tell someone, “Hey, you can’t come in,” and it’s like telling the person he’s probably going to die….

    ….Then, late Tuesday, I learned the two men I walked through processing [ranking members of the Afghan military who had not beeen embedded with Americans] had been rejected from a flight and sent back outside the airport. By 4 p.m. Eastern Standard Time — early morning in Kabul — access at the airport gates had been restricted to US citizens and Afghans with immigration visas.

    Sammy Finkelman (51cd0c)

  271. So this claim that his son Beau got his disease fro, the war has a history – the only thing is it’s very doubtful and not based on anything – would it cause brain cancer? – and was his soon even exposed to a burn pit?

    Sammy Finkelman (51cd0c)

  272. According to what I rad before, flights of civilians will have to be drastically cut back starting Friday because fthey need to take out the soldiers.

    (that was the one benefit of Bagram Air base – more than one runway.

    Sammy Finkelman (51cd0c)

  273. (that was the one benefit of Bagram Air base – more than one runway.)

    Yes, more runways and more benefits.

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  274. he runways are the chief benefit in this situation.

    Sammy Finkelman (51cd0c)

  275. https://www.nydailynews.com/opinion/ny-oped-on-afghanistan-america-must-look-within-20210827-y7p5253ayfeszezawrtaalfkwq-story.html

    For most of the 20th century, many major nations in the Muslim world pursued strongly modernizing agendas focused on economic and social development, and did so largely as American allies. Agreeing with T.E. Lawrence’s concept of a “return pilgrimage” towards liberty and away from an intolerant interpretation of religion, countries like Turkey, Egypt, Jordan, Iran under the Shah and, yes, Afghanistan before the Soviet invasion, made great strides that refute the current dodge used to explain our failure there that it is impossible to transform tradition-bound societies.

    et during the Cold, War America also heavily backed two states, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, which are unalterably opposed to progress and freedom. Under the cry of “Islam in danger,” they have long aggressively exported fundamentalism in hate-filled words and bloody deeds, culminating in their controlling, distorting influence over the Afghan resistance to the Soviets in the 1980s and decisive support for the Taliban’s initial rise to power in the 1990s. Al Qaeda was just one of many terror groups that were welcomed to a safe haven created by two purported American allies.

    …“The day that changed everything” changed nothing when it came to our relations with these twin sources of radical Islam. This was pushed to the point of designating Pakistan a major non-NATO ally and giving it tens of billions of dollars in military aid, which was used to eventually reverse our victory against the Taliban, a terror group it created and has continually backed for almost 30 years.

    The wars in Afghanistan over the last 40 years have always been ones of foreign aggression, and only secondarily civil wars. Though a backward country devastated by strife, its historic culture of tolerant Islam and strongly held belief in honor made it an excellent candidate as a place to foster Western values — but only if we shielded it from the enemies of those values which it was always colossal folly for us to have taken on as “allies.”

    Sammy Finkelman (51cd0c)

  276. Contining:

    Pakistan’s re-conquest of Afghanistan through its Taliban proxies constitutes a major blow to American prestige and integrity, and will powerfully embolden radical Islamists everywhere. As that brand of terrorism is an expression of that ideology, it will be impossible to focus like a “laser” on a threat that will now be expanding exponentially on a global scale.

    Yet the fight is not over.

    …Former Afghan Vice President Amrullah Saleh, who worked tirelessly to enlighten us about the true nature of Pakistan, and Ahmad Massoud, the leader of the National Resistance Front who is the son of legendary mujahideen commander Ahmad Shah Massoud, who warned us about Al Qaeda’s intentions before 9/11 and was assassinated as a result, have refused to bow before the Taliban tyranny, and are continuing the struggle. They should receive all the moral and material support that it is in our power to give, but this time within a realistic, clear-eyed strategy.

    Sanctions against the Taliban alone would be useless. It is Pakistan, as well as Saudi Arabia, that should be the targets of a full, multidimensional, political, economic and diplomatic containment regime. And we should be forthright that it will be ultimately a war of ideas, which can only be won when our actions are finally in accord with our values.

    But for that, for one thing. you’ve got to believe that U.S. intelligence s wrong.

    Sammy Finkelman (51cd0c)

  277. The fomrmer head of iSIS0K, interviewed in a Kabul prison by the Wall Street Journal, expressed hope tht he would be released.

    Instead, two days later, the Taliban, or whoever decided this, executed him and 8 other leading ISIS-K members.

    He was really purged. Maybe helped into prison in the first place.

    Sammy Finkelman (51cd0c)

  278. Different numbers of Afghans have been reported killed, first 90, then 77, then “over 100” Now I think it’s 170 something I don;t remember

    Sammy Finkelman (51cd0c)

  279. They now say there was actually only one suicide bomber (and no separate attack at the hotel 200 yards away?)

    Sammy Finkelman (51cd0c)

  280. @266. Beau Biden died a civilian and of natural causes, six years ago.

    The fact that Joe keeps bringing him into conversations, explanations and national policy discussions for the United States is disturbing; a clear indication of some serious emotional damage at play bordering on incapacitation.

    25th amendment time.

    “I have confidence in his judgement.” – Nancy Pelosi

    DCSCA (f4c5e5)

  281. 99% of Doctors say brain cancer symptoms would not be expected to precede lung isssues.
    In other words to verify claims that something inhaled caused brain cancer, they would expect evidence in the lungs.
    My own amateur research says burn pits are better than these via the WHO:
    “Human excreta and the lack of adequate personal and domestic hygiene have
    been implicated in the transmission of many infectious diseases including
    cholera, typhoid, hepatitis, polio, cryptosporidiosis, ascariasis, and
    schistosomiasis. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that 2.2
    million people die annually from diarrhoeal diseases and that 10% of the
    population of the developing world are severely infected with intestinal worms
    related to improper waste and excreta management”

    steveg (ebe7c1)

  282. This “my son was a veteran and I feel the loss you have” sort of stuff is classic Biden malarkey, blarney and Beaush!t trying to imply to less informed voters and citizens that Beau ‘died a soldier’s death.’ In fact, he was a civilian and died from natural causes over six years ago. But it’s crap like this that continues even now which is deeply disturbing:

    ‘On March 2, 2020, Joe Biden mentioned Beau in a speech, comparing him to former South Bend Mayor, Pete Buttigieg, after Buttigieg endorsed Biden for the 2020 presidential election:

    “I don’t think I’ve ever done this before, but [Buttigieg] reminds me of my son, Beau, and I know that may not mean much to most people, but to me, it’s the highest compliment I can give any man or woman.” – source, Beaubio

    He’s emotionally damaged.

    His repeatedly wistful associations to ‘Beau’ in conversations, discussions or directives involving national policy for the U.S. is not only inappropriate, it’s alarming– and a red flag to the stability and mental competence of the CiC.

    He has to be removed from office before he gets more Americans maimed or killed.

    DCSCA (f4c5e5)

  283. [T]he runways are the chief benefit in this situation.

    Don’t discount the securable perimeter, Sammy. A key benefit of Bagram…

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  284. They’ll do it every time.

    The same stupid procedure. I’m sure somebody’s figured out a way around this problem, but it didn’t get to the people in charge of making decisions…

    When you search people for weapons, or a bomb, particularly a suicide bomb…. what if you;re right? </B/

    That is, there is a bomb – exactly what you're looking for.

    If there is a bomb, he can explode it right at that spot – with all those people standing there, and with police/security/soldiers standing around, it makes a pretty good target. They used to do that in Afghanistan at lines of people waiting to apply for the police etc..

    They are not planning for the contingency of there being there exactly what you are trying to find.

    And if you're wrong and there is no bomb, why have the search at all??

    Sammy Finkelman (51cd0c)

  285. [T]he runways are the chief benefit in this situation.

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 8/28/2021 @ 6:07 am

    Don’t discount the securable perimeter, Sammy. A key benefit of Bagram…

    I am not sure of the value of that because that depended on how much the US would have been willing to secure. They asked for a larger perimeter at Kabuul but the Taliban government wouldn’t agree to that.

    But Bagram had prisoners. Some were released in a deal forced on the Afghan government in October, 2020 – the rest when Bagram was captured by the Taliban. It could be out bomber was among them.

    Sammy Finkelman (51cd0c)

  286. The way they went after that car bomb threat in Afghanistan they were virtually certain to kill innocent people.

    What Happened:

    When a drone (flying from the Persian Gulf) dropped a bomb on a car in the middle of Kabul, not only was the car demolished, but there were secondary explosions (proving that the car indeed had explosives) which damaged another car and other things and killed innocent civilians, including small children.

    Now either their information was good about the car, or it it was bad.

    If it was bad, destroying it with people in it, they had a possibility of killing totally uninvolved people, depending on how wrong the information was.

    And if their information was right, the explosives would likely explode and kill innocent bystanders.

    What they should have done:

    Flown two or three drones to Hamid Karzai International airport, and kept a watch upon that car, and destroyed it only when it was isolated, or the last opportunity before it came near plausible targets. A small bomb could have been used to stop the car or block the roadway at first.

    This is kind of thing that happens when you limit yourself to over the horizon attacks. But the time for that had not yet come.

    A drone could also have been flown directly in case the car began moving.

    Sammy Finkelman (51cd0c)

  287. I don;t follow this explanation, except maybe it makes sense because they weren’t thinking if suicide bombers.

    https://www.cbsnews.com/news/full-transcript-face-the-nation-08-29-2021

    ED O’KEEFE: Okay. You– you have learned more about what happened on Thursday at the airport, and– and then a lot of questions about why so many service members might have been in one area that would have caused them to die. What have you learned?

    DAVID MARTIN: Well, it kind of makes you grind your teeth, because that gate where the explosion occurred was due to be closed. And they kept it open because British troops, who were based in a hotel several hundred yards away, had decided they were going to go back to the airport as part of their pullout. So the gate was kept open longer than planned. The suicide bomber got there first.

    ED O’KEEFE: Wow.

    DAVID MARTIN: And he was wearing twenty-five pounds of explosives.

    ED O’KEEFE: Which you’ve pointed out is more than a suicide bomber in these situations would normally wear, which is what caused so many to die.

    DAVID MARTIN: Yeah.

    Sammy Finkelman (51cd0c)


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