Special to WorldTribune.comBy John McNabb
The Afghanistan nightmare has just begun. Americans I know, love and respect have one question: How could this be happening in late August 2021?
I have some insights based on personal experiences after my combat flying tours during the Vietnam War.
But first we must look to the desk in the Oval Office where President Harry Truman had the sign: “The buck stops here.” After all, we are assured that Joe Biden was elected by the American people to serve as our Commander in Chief.
I’m not alone in wondering if he knows where Afghanistan is located. It's not near Delaware Sleepy Joe. And I wonder where our President is today? Delaware in his basement or vacationing at Camp David? Either place it appears to make no difference. And I wonder if he thinks he is still a senator with his buddies there or in reality. Today, our president. He seems weary and with his multitude of cognitive issues I can certainly understand. But Joe Biden is still our president and Afghanistan is devolving into an American catastrophe that will impact the rest of the world.
I have always been respectful of the Office of the American President. I was brought up that way. While serving in the United States Air Force from 1967-1972 the president of the United States was my Commander in Chief.
But back to Sleepy Joe. I and the world saw him dozing while theoretically discussing important matters with Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett as the cameras rolled. America, the Israeli Prime Minister deserves better than a televised interview with a sleeping American President. And so do we as American citizens.
Biden's first nine months have been an unmitigated disaster at all levels. From the inauguration, which no one was allowed to attend, to a stagnating economy, runaway inflation, a rapidly devaluing dollar due to the Democrat dollar printing machine creating trillions of new dollars of Democrat giveaways which will further devalue our U.S. dollar, defunded police, rampant and growing crime in our streets, tax increases and now this international nightmare.
As I’m told Barack Obama famously stated, "Don't underestimate Joe's ability to f* *k things up." True or not? My guess is the quote is true given what I have observed since Sleepy Joe was installed on Jan. 20.
America is scheduled to depart Afghanistan on Aug. 31. I am certain that our State Department does not really know how many Americans are still in country despite their official statements. And the way the United States military left the country was criminal, if I am still entitled to my First Amendment Right to Free Speech.
A great friend of mine who flew in Vietnam during the time I was flying there told me: "Just how stupid can our military leaders be to leave all this equipment for a bunch of terrorists. He is talking about the billions of dollars’ worth of prime United States military equipment that was left in Afghanistan. Not to mention the untold price tag on the technology, research and development our military has just given free to the Iranians, Russians and Chinese.
American taxpayers paid for that.
Thirteen young Americans gave their lives serving in our military at the gates of the Kabul international Airport. One mother of a young United States Marine who was murdered in that terrorist attack had this to say about President Biden via a talk show: "That feckless, dementia-ridden piece of crap just sent my son to die." The father of another said that his son's death was due to poor leadership.
This saga didn't start with Sleepy Joe. Some have called the American serviceman Bo Bergdahl a coward and a deserter for his unauthorized walkabout in Afghanistan. I don't have an opinion, but President Barack Obama gave the Taliban $5 billion and the return of five Taliban leaders who were locked up in Guantanamo in exchange for Bergdahl. I suspect that Biden-Harris will reward the Taliban similar to Obama-Biden with a huge U.S. Dollar payoff plus the aforementioned billions in American military equipment and technology left on the ground.
I served two combat flying tours during the Vietnam conflict. Or whatever we now call it. When I was there it was a war with brave Americans being killed. I had put my papers to leave the service honorably. I was serving as an instructor in a Tactical Air Command electronic reconnaissance training squadron of the 363rd Tac Reconnaissance Wing located at Shaw Air Force Base, South Carolina when I received a summons to meet the Air Force General who commanded the Ninth Air Force. That was a very big deal but also a mystery as to why. And it was a drill due to my having to change out of my work wear, a flight suit, and dress up in Air Force "blues".
I met the General and he inquired as to why I was leaving the Air Force. And I told him point blank but politely. He then offered me just about anything I wanted. Included was a Regular Commission and training in any aircraft I wanted, period. Great offer but I wanted a level playing field and the American officer corps was anything but that. Politics abounded, especially in the more senior one aspired. And today the results are for all to see. Politics and Wokeness abound.
How could we have given up our safe haven of Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan? There is simply no logical, strategic, tactical or reasonable reason for that unnamed American general to make that decision.
Related: Who is Kash Patel? Key Trump intel advisor slams ‘unconditional surrender’ of Bagram Air Base, August 26, 2021
Neither is there a sane reason that the United States Military Academy should be teaching Critical Race Theory. Just maybe I made the correct decision to not act on my appointment to West Point way back in the day.
The United States since World War II has maintained a competitive edge in nuclear technology and in military spending as a major international sovereign deterrent for which our allies have always depended.
Under Biden, Harris, Antony Blinken and Jake Sullivan our allies can no longer trust the United States to "be there for them". This puts our great friends and allies Israel, Australia, Japan, Taiwan, South Korea and India in uncharted territory. And this gives Russia and China an unforeseen, and unforgivable from my perspective, geopolitical opening due to the incompetence of the Biden Harris administration.
World order will take a huge nosedive. The cry of "where is the USA?" will ring far and wide.
And is anyone ready for a Harris-Pelosi administration? Think about that! I suspect that Sleepy Joe will either resign or be forced to resign and then we will have a historically unpopular Vice President become, God help us, our American president and the bumbling, braying Nancy Pelosi as the new vice president. Talk about a brain trust or lack thereof. Kamala Harris laughing and cackling and Nancy Pelosi simply opening her voluminous mouth.
And the real tragedies of the Biden-Harris administration are dead American soldiers in Kabul ambushed just doing their jobs, kidnapped American citizens being held for ransom, untold American citizens captured, tortured and God knows what else. This as Joe Biden is vacationing, staging a makeshift ceremony for our dead young men murdered in Kabul while checking his watch, and Secretary of State Blinken having to be called back to work from holidaying on Long Island in the Hamptons. Who are these people?
As Joe Biden famously said concerning the recent presidential election that his campaign had done everything possible to win (except actually campaign):
"We have put together I think the most extensive and inclusive voter fraud organization in the history of American politics."
And my fellow Americans look what has transpired.
Pray for our families. Pray for America, our Bill of Rights and our great Republic.
John T. McNabb is co-founder of the Trump Leadership Council and former chairman and CEO of Willbros Group. He also serves as chairman of the Free Press Foundation Advisory Board and co-chair of Council for a Secure America. He is the author of the new book, A Nice Ride: Stories of America.
