A long fictional story about the botched and shameful retreat underway in Afghanistan is that the Hamid Karzai International Airport (HKIA) used as our evacuation center is a better choice than the US military hub from any point of view. Bagram Airport.
This is the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark “give me some white anger” Milly testified in Congress on August 18.
This is “White Fury” Millie tells the United States that it is no big deal to abandon Bagram Airport…pic.twitter.com/abzFVDBbVk
-Steve Cortes (@CortesSteve) August 27, 2021
General. MILLEY: Regarding your question about Bagram, protecting Bagram, you know how old Bagram is. You have been there many times. Protecting Bagram is an important military effort for the army, and it also requires external support from the Afghan security forces.
At that time, we entrusted us with the task, our task is to protect the embassy so that the embassy staff can continue to perform their consular services and other tasks. If we want Bagram and the embassy to continue to operate, it will be a large number of troops, which will exceed the number we have, or remain the same or exceed the number we have.
So we had to collapse one of them and made a decision. The proposal was made by Scott Miller, the commander of the Central Command and the ground commander, to continue destroying Bagram. Everything has been briefed and approved. We estimate that the risk of leaving Hong Kong International Airport or the risk of leaving Bagram is roughly the same, so leaving Hong Kong International Airport-according to the mission setting, it is estimated that it is a better tactical solution. We get it and let the troops follow Reduced to about 600, 700.
Some cracks in this story appeared almost immediately. Milli claimed that the local commander made a recommendation. However, so far, he has not admitted to playing a role in the decision. These are the words of Richard Grenell, former ambassador to Germany and director of national intelligence:
General Scotty Miller believes that the closure of Bagram Air Force Base is not the correct strategy.
The Senate should question him at the hearing.
— Richard Grenell (@RichardGrenell) August 26, 2021
This is not the idle quarterback on Monday morning.The evacuation fiasco is a The direct result of choosing Hong Kong International Airport.
Kirby’s description of the Bagram size of the U.S. military that expanded substantially after 2001 underscores why it is so useful in supporting evacuation flights. The facility is familiar to the US military after it has been used as a major combat hub for nearly two decades. It has two large runways and many other supporting infrastructure. Bagram is located about 30 miles north of Kabul, and its advantage lies in its larger surrounding area and easier defense, and it is not within the city limits.
If Bagram can be opened and operated in a safe manner, even in a disputed environment, it may be possible to transport evacuated persons from Hamid Karzai International Airport, thereby providing a direct way to ease the current evacuation by a single flight The logistical pressure caused. airport. In addition, if the security situation in Kabul continues to deteriorate, the base may be a valuable backup location to continue evacuation operations, and this situation can be maintained after August 31.
In short, Bagram has more facilities than HKIA, safer and easier to stay safe. In Bagram, the mob scene at the entrance of Hong Kong International Airport can be avoided. Compared to being close to major cities, the 30-mile distance between Kabul and Bagram can better manage refugees and provide more personal safety. The second runway can allow more aircraft to enter and exit, and will provide a staging area for aviation assets to defend the airport.
None of this is rocket science. However, here we are. Yesterday Laura Ingraham’s show may have provided some answers. The guests were three Republican congressmen, Mark Green of Tennessee and Mike Waltz and Brian Master of Florida.
Ingraham: Congressman Green, we have 13 American families. The larger American family is clearly grieving. But we think of the 13 American families who are sad tonight, all their friends, and all their service personnel. However, what Joe Biden is actually talking about is Bagram-when they look back, we really don’t need Bagram Air Force Base watches.
(Start video editing)
Biden: I ask them to make the best military judgment. What is the most effective way to complete the task? They ended the army. Bagram doesn’t have much added value. It is wiser to focus on Kabul. So I followed this advice.
(End video clip)
Ingraham: Is it me or Joe Biden who speaks too slowly for three steps? Today is too slow, very strange. It just looks weird. It’s as if he was completely out of what he said. But Senator Green, given all your experience, what a serious mistake was we abandoning Bagram Air Force Base?
Representative Mark Green (R-TN): Okay, thank you for letting us participate, Laura. This is a huge mistake and one of the biggest mistakes in our country’s military history. But it was Joe Biden who made this decision. I do know that the military advised him not to leave Bagram.
He said we want to reduce to 600 Marines. The leadership told him that we cannot use 600 Marines to control Bagram. He said, I don’t care to go to 600. He picked a number from the sky at will. They could not defend that base with 600 men. So they collapsed to Kabul.
This is Joe Biden, whose incompetence made this decision. And this decision is the price paid by these lives today. The perimeter around the base is a street. That’s it. But outside of Bagram, you have a range of several kilometers to see the enemy’s arrival. But this is not the case when it is just a street in the middle of the city.
This is a terrible decision. This is 100% by Joe Biden. This is not the first lie that this person told, or I should say that he is completely out of touch with the truth, there are many, many other lies, but he needs to step down. He needs to resign or the cabinet needs to do something.
WALTZ: Laura, can I just say this directly–
Ingraham: Congressman Waltz.
Waltz: Yes.
Ingraham: Yes, continue.
WALTZ:-About Bagram’s point, because yesterday we just listened to the military’s briefing on the military committee. When we went back to evacuate the embassy, they again proposed to Joe Biden the option of taking Bagram away. And once again he did not choose to do so.
So, on the one hand, he doesn’t listen to turn it off too quickly. By the way, 5,000 stubborn prisoners of ISIS, Al-Qaida and Taliban are now at large, and after the fall of Kabul, when they had to go back and evacuate our embassy, he did not listen.
And now he is binding the hands of our special forces, who are eagerly entering and leaving the city to rescue our trapped Americans. He wouldn’t let them do that either. Their hands are tied. So this is just incompetence. This is ridiculous.
They said that the Ministry of Defense told them in a briefing that the military wanted to use Bagram. This will require the deployment of more troops from the United States to Afghanistan to ensure a larger border. Biden rejected the proposal and artificially restricted 600 soldiers. 600 people may sound like a lot, but 600 people can hardly defend themselves, let alone handle refugees at security checkpoints and deep into enemy territory.
Congress really needs to thoroughly investigate this matter. If Biden does make a decision that caused the Americans to be killed and left behind, he needs to take responsibility.
Nonetheless, nothing that Joe Biden did to get the army out of trouble. Because the senior military leadership is as sober as the gender studies department of a typical liberal arts college, they went with Biden.Yesterday, a Marine Corps battalion commander burned his career in protest against the lack of integrity, loyalty, and frankness of the Marine Corps and senior U.S. military leadership (see The Marine Corps battalion commander may have given up his career in order to claim responsibility for the failure of the command system in Afghanistan). LTC Stu Scheller said:
I’m not saying that we must stay in Afghanistan forever, but I’m saying: Does anyone of you put your rank on the table and say, “Hey, it’s a bad idea to evacuate the Bagram Airport, the Strategic Air Force Base, before we evacuate everyone Before.” Has anyone done this before? When you don’t want to do this, does anyone raise their hand and say, “We totally messed up?”
Many senior officials know this is a crazy decision. I bet that if you can monitor secure calls between them now, they will all say, “I tell him this will happen.” However, when it’s imminent, when it comes down to cutting nuts, when it comes to occupational and military safety When making a choice between, they all chose a career. That is shameful. As a country, we deserve better.
