Actually it took courage to get out despite all the political opposition. We should criticize the failures of our political leaders, but we should also celebrate the end of this war.
Good video man. I agree for the most part, I think Biden's age is secondary to his trying to just navigate the myriad foreign policy agreements and other political attached strings. I'm not sure that any pull out of Afghanistan would have ever been completely free from issues, and the fact that the Trump administration essentially gave the country over to the Taliban (with a time table attached as well, that Biden extended btw) I think it was inevitable.
If anything, it's refreshing that Biden is kind of accepting credit for the logistical failures and imperfection of the pull out, even as he tries to convince people of the WHY it needed to happen. Had God Emperor Trump been in this situation he would have tweeted something inane, decried his Generals, fired someone on the Joint Chiefs and probably the SecDef, then claimed that had he been more involved, he would have 'made a much better deal, the greatest deal, the Taliban would be too scared to do this' blah blah blah. At least Uncle Joe is being somewhat real about it.
The loss of American troops during the pull out though, that's a big wrinkle in Joe's plans. Now it's going to be hard to save political face - hell the Taliban are already disavowing they had anything to do with it, and laying it at the feet of DAESH. If we don't show force I'll be amazed, it wouldn't even surprise me if NATO doesn't go back in.
It's a fucking mess all around, but the Right is in no position to lead us any better than the Left is. None of them ever had a end game to get out, which is why we've been there for 20 years. Our leaders are jokes, and our military, NGO/Aid Orgs, and the people of Afghanistan continue to pay for their cowardice and political avarice.
Thanks, and really great insights here, dude. It is nice to see a president that can at least kind of own his mistakes rather than, as you put it, God Emperor Trump and what would no doubt have been a litany of excuses and bullshit that his followers would have taken as gospel truth (never has such a whiny bastard been treated like such a tough guy before).
And yes, it is a disaster and then some at this point and maybe the whole thing is screwed after the bombing. I hope not, I hope there isn't more escalation, but I'm no optimist.
Biden/Harris can't resign. The Elephants don't even have a candidate fit for the job that could take their place; bunch of dimwits with no self-criticism.
GOP's lack of a candidate doesn't matter. If Biden and Harris step down, that just makes Pelosi the president- truly a worst-case scenario on all sides.
Absolutely agree that we are long past due for the withdrawal.
And agree that Biden showed tremendous (and unexpected) courage in making the withdrawal happen. We owe Biden a lot of slack for this one act of courage.
I disagree about the competence of the withdrawal.
No military experience, so I am using 20/20 hindsight.
But the art of retreat is well known. For the past 3,000 years, every time there was a battle, someone added to the store of retreating knowledge.
I know that most of our academy graduates concentrated on winning, but they must have read some books on how to structure a retreat.
Enough of that, I suspect that we will agree to disagree.
Agree with you on the opportunists bashing the Dems.
Mixed emotions. On one hand there is a certain schadenfreude in seeing the Dems getting the same medicine that they dished out so brutally to Trump.
The other reactions are that this is the time for all Americans to pull together. 12 (American) dead demand a non-political response.
And I hope that Conservatives are better than the rabid never Trumpers.
History suggests that a debacle increases the chances of a subsequent testing. We cannot afford for Biden to be so whupped that he cannot respond appropriately.
So I will support Biden.
But as Bismarck said: "I can forgive, but I cannot forget."
It's been a gut wrenching day. As a mother / daughter to a Marine I can feel the pain. But I won't criticize. Scrutinize is a far more appropriate word that we all need to do for every person in a leadership position but this was a shitshow from the day Bush sent us over there. Afghanistan is a nomadic country, they have never had a real government. No other country will ever be able to change them or control them, instead only created so many different terrorist organizations. This withdrawal should have happened years ago but it didn't. There have been failures every step of the way. And why did the Trump administration invite the Taliban to Camp David, why did he negotiate to release 5000 Taliban prisoners. Why did he leave the Afghan government out of the conversation. This whole thing was set up for disaster. There are 3 entities over there that hate each other. Taliban, Al Qaeda and ISIS. They are going to eat each other alive. My personal opinion is ISIS hit us today to make the Taliban look weak since they had promised no attacks while we got out. Biden has behaved presidential, he has stood with courage and spoken truths. I honestly can't remember a president who has inherited such adversities as this one coming into their administration. He's having to deal with a pandemic of epic proportions, Afghanistan, an attack on our Capitol by our own people, a political divide that shows no end in sight, illiterate Americans who have been completely brainwashed into thinking Democrats are evil and eat babies, global warming, greed, omg I could go on. I would hate to be in his shoes. Yet, he stands. I pray and hope for some miracles to find some way to bring this country back together but it's looking more bleak by the day. My apologies if I went on too long but my short answer to your question, no Biden should not resign for something he did not cause.
Good video man. I agree for the most part, I think Biden's age is secondary to his trying to just navigate the myriad foreign policy agreements and other political attached strings. I'm not sure that any pull out of Afghanistan would have ever been completely free from issues, and the fact that the Trump administration essentially gave the country over to the Taliban (with a time table attached as well, that Biden extended btw) I think it was inevitable.
If anything, it's refreshing that Biden is kind of accepting credit for the logistical failures and imperfection of the pull out, even as he tries to convince people of the WHY it needed to happen. Had God Emperor Trump been in this situation he would have tweeted something inane, decried his Generals, fired someone on the Joint Chiefs and probably the SecDef, then claimed that had he been more involved, he would have 'made a much better deal, the greatest deal, the Taliban would be too scared to do this' blah blah blah. At least Uncle Joe is being somewhat real about it.
The loss of American troops during the pull out though, that's a big wrinkle in Joe's plans. Now it's going to be hard to save political face - hell the Taliban are already disavowing they had anything to do with it, and laying it at the feet of DAESH. If we don't show force I'll be amazed, it wouldn't even surprise me if NATO doesn't go back in.
It's a fucking mess all around, but the Right is in no position to lead us any better than the Left is. None of them ever had a end game to get out, which is why we've been there for 20 years. Our leaders are jokes, and our military, NGO/Aid Orgs, and the people of Afghanistan continue to pay for their cowardice and political avarice.
Thanks, and really great insights here, dude. It is nice to see a president that can at least kind of own his mistakes rather than, as you put it, God Emperor Trump and what would no doubt have been a litany of excuses and bullshit that his followers would have taken as gospel truth (never has such a whiny bastard been treated like such a tough guy before).
And yes, it is a disaster and then some at this point and maybe the whole thing is screwed after the bombing. I hope not, I hope there isn't more escalation, but I'm no optimist.
Biden/Harris can't resign. The Elephants don't even have a candidate fit for the job that could take their place; bunch of dimwits with no self-criticism.
Indeed.
GOP's lack of a candidate doesn't matter. If Biden and Harris step down, that just makes Pelosi the president- truly a worst-case scenario on all sides.
Yep.
Hi Eric:
Absolutely agree that we are long past due for the withdrawal.
And agree that Biden showed tremendous (and unexpected) courage in making the withdrawal happen. We owe Biden a lot of slack for this one act of courage.
I disagree about the competence of the withdrawal.
No military experience, so I am using 20/20 hindsight.
But the art of retreat is well known. For the past 3,000 years, every time there was a battle, someone added to the store of retreating knowledge.
I know that most of our academy graduates concentrated on winning, but they must have read some books on how to structure a retreat.
Enough of that, I suspect that we will agree to disagree.
Agree with you on the opportunists bashing the Dems.
Mixed emotions. On one hand there is a certain schadenfreude in seeing the Dems getting the same medicine that they dished out so brutally to Trump.
The other reactions are that this is the time for all Americans to pull together. 12 (American) dead demand a non-political response.
And I hope that Conservatives are better than the rabid never Trumpers.
History suggests that a debacle increases the chances of a subsequent testing. We cannot afford for Biden to be so whupped that he cannot respond appropriately.
So I will support Biden.
But as Bismarck said: "I can forgive, but I cannot forget."
It's been a gut wrenching day. As a mother / daughter to a Marine I can feel the pain. But I won't criticize. Scrutinize is a far more appropriate word that we all need to do for every person in a leadership position but this was a shitshow from the day Bush sent us over there. Afghanistan is a nomadic country, they have never had a real government. No other country will ever be able to change them or control them, instead only created so many different terrorist organizations. This withdrawal should have happened years ago but it didn't. There have been failures every step of the way. And why did the Trump administration invite the Taliban to Camp David, why did he negotiate to release 5000 Taliban prisoners. Why did he leave the Afghan government out of the conversation. This whole thing was set up for disaster. There are 3 entities over there that hate each other. Taliban, Al Qaeda and ISIS. They are going to eat each other alive. My personal opinion is ISIS hit us today to make the Taliban look weak since they had promised no attacks while we got out. Biden has behaved presidential, he has stood with courage and spoken truths. I honestly can't remember a president who has inherited such adversities as this one coming into their administration. He's having to deal with a pandemic of epic proportions, Afghanistan, an attack on our Capitol by our own people, a political divide that shows no end in sight, illiterate Americans who have been completely brainwashed into thinking Democrats are evil and eat babies, global warming, greed, omg I could go on. I would hate to be in his shoes. Yet, he stands. I pray and hope for some miracles to find some way to bring this country back together but it's looking more bleak by the day. My apologies if I went on too long but my short answer to your question, no Biden should not resign for something he did not cause.
Afghanistan even got the better of Dr. Watson in the Sherlock Holmes books 😅