Blumenthal 'furious' at Biden administration over failing to secure evacuee planes

[bluedevil4]

Most of you know I was upset over the way we withdrew from Afghanistan

Apparently so is my Senator and I'm so proud of him
It's not a popular stance but it was wrong the way we handled it, in my opinion

I don't understand why American citizens didn't leave in march but that doesn't mean we leave them there

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/blumenthal-furious-biden-administration-failing-secure-evacuee-planes



Sen. Richard Blumenthal took aim at the White House and State Department on Monday, saying he is “furious” over struggles to secure planes to evacuate a group of Americans and Afghan allies from Afghanistan.

“I have been deeply frustrated, even furious, at our government’s delay and inaction,” Blumenthal, a Democrat who sits on the Senate Armed Services Committee, said. “I expect the White House and State Department to do

[BannonsLiver]

1. LOL

[Scrivener7]

2. Nope, sorry. They were told weekly since March that it was imperative that they leave immediately.

Last edited Wed Sep 8, 2021, 11:02 AM - Edit history (1)

They were given the means to leave.

I have no patience or concern any more for people who ignore all warnings and expect to be catered to anyway, putting others in mortal danger.

Enough.

[lame54]

55. 2 Presidents announced our departure - with deadlines

[kcr]

3. Washington Examiner

[bluedevil4]

6. I can't hold back

on this. I know it's not popular here but we need to get everyone out

[kcr]

9. Oh please n/t

[obamanut2012]

10. lol

[Scrivener7]

27. We have gotten everyone out that wants to get out. The rest is just press nonsense.

[karynnj]

64. Even if by all signs, they did not want to leave when we still had forces there?

The SoS already spoke - at the end of the evacuation - that the State Department would still use all levers they have to get the remaining people out - assuming they want to leave. It has been said that many of these people are dual nationals. It may be that having lived in the US and returned to Afghanistan, that they PREFER being in their home country and culture. Possibly wanting long term to create a more moderate - but Afghani culture. l

For those who suddenly - having ignored 6 moths of warnings to get out, want out, realistically, I would think we actually have only a few levers left. International recognition is likely not something we or some allies are willing to give yet and might be too vague for the Taliban.

What I expect next is that the Taliban, leading an economy that is not the least sustainable, will ask for ransom. Yes, I expect the very same Republicans now whining that there were some Americans left behind to bring back the same accusations used against the Obama administration when we returned Iran's own money to Iran. If it is an option, I think we should do it - in spite of the obvious political hit.

What is your solution? The US send in special forces to get them? (very risky - the Taliban likely knows at this point where any Americans are. Sending forces of any kind will likely just get them killed.)

[bluedevil4]

5. I know where I am

I've been outspoken about this before. I can't help but care for our citizens

[kcr]

7. And you care enough to only use the best sources

when you speak out about them.

[obamanut2012]

11. The Examiner

hahahhahahhaha

[bluedevil4]

12. did I miss something about

the examiner? It's where I read it online

[Ligyron]

18. It's a notorious RW Republican leaning rag

That’s all.

[bluedevil4]

21. oh

that I did not know. I read it becaues it had my senator in highlights

[kcr]

25. He's my senator, too

I love him, but he's wrong on this. It's possible to have empathy for those still there because they didn't leave in time despite advanced warning, but also recognize that getting out of Afghanistan was the right thing to do.

[bluedevil4]

31. he is a great

senator

[Demsrule86]

38. I always thought he was a great Senator...but I find his words disturbing.

[Scrivener7]

32. Uh huh.

[brush]

45. You don't know the "Examiner" is a right wing rag?

How did you miss that fact?

[machoneman]

49. Examiner: far worse than even FOX and OAN! Hey, get with the program and stop spreading RW lies.

[Scrivener7]

28. Because of what you read in the Moonie News. Kay.

[Orrex]

8. I heard the same blather nearly verbatim on Fux Noise an hour ago

Paired with blustering outrage that Biden didn’t pay huge sums to have private airlines fly people out.

Im sure Ol’ Syd has it all figured out.

[BannonsLiver]

15. That's because it's their talking points.

The “we left people behind” thing is a fable. Sorry to see a Dem Senator buy into it.

[Orrex]

22. Exactly.

And I hear the swill-guzzling zealots likewise parroting that lie as gospel truth.

[bluedevil4]

16. I hope he has

I'm sure his colleages are not happy with him. It's not a popular stance to take but it's morally the right thing to do

[Scrivener7]

30. And what is your morality about the lives that would be put at risk to retrieve the people

who had months of chances and warnings and chose to ignore them?

[Demsrule86]

37. Nothing that helps Republicans is moral.

He could speak to Joe Biden...instead he runs to the media... I have little respect for this sort of action.

[Celerity]

34. who is Ol' Syd?

Im sure Ol’ Syd has it all figured out.

[brush]

46. Isn't DeVos, the war profiteer, organizing flights for people at...

$6500 a pop?

[Orrex]

51. And no doubt expecting free military air cover to go along with it

[marble falls]

13. Joe Biden led the first successful evacuation of Afghanistan without being sniped on ...

... the entire time, ever. Alexander the Great got kicked out. GB got kicked out, Russia got kicked out. Genghis Khan couldn't hold Afghanistan.

I expect crap from the GOP but not from Democrats.

Joe Biden deserves credit for how well the operation went.

What did Blumenthal do to get us out? Except whinge on something he had no hand in.

[former9thward]

58. Let's not completely re-write history.

Alexander the Great did not get kicked out. He moved through what is now Afghanistan on the way to India. Once in India his troops rebelled because they wanted to finally go home. So he left the area and went back to what is now Iraq. No one defeated him. Genghis Khan completely controlled what is now Afghanistan. It was part of the Mongol Empire.

[marble falls]

62. You need to reread your history. Alexander's armies got tired of getting their asses kicked ...

by guerillas and threatened a mutiny. If that counts as a victory for Alexander, that might be the slimmist one in history.

Genghis Khan reduced most of Afghan cities, but he never held the country. The fighting continued for about 40 years and include several Mongol defeats and by the 1660s the Mongols left.

[Voltaire2]

63. "and by the 1660s the Mongols left"

So approximately 400 years later they left?

Actually the mongol rulers were kicked out by Timur in 1383, although Timur himself was a mongol ruler.

The empire of the Khans was breaking up and the various rulers of the regions were making their own empires, the boundaries of which survive to this day as the 'stans', including of course Afghanistan.

[snowybirdie]

14. The esteemed Senator

has been a position of power for many years. Has he ever proposed a plan to evacuate US citizens from there?

[bluedevil4]

19. good point but

there's not but. We are a country that has compassion unlike the other side who could careless about anyone

[BannonsLiver]

20. Based on what?

[treestar]

17. People created a problem by not leaving

And then it's the rescuer's fault?

They created extra problems for other people and then complain about the other people not being able to make it perfect? Who does that?

[bluedevil4]

24. I don't disagree with you

This is the way I look at it. If a smoker gets lung cancer we still treat them and try to help them, right?

If a group of people didn't leave when they should have do we still leave them there to get killed? I say no

[BannonsLiver]

26. Do doctors who treat lung cancer commonly get shot at with RPGs and rifles?

The analogy would seem to have a few holes.

[treestar]

33. We didn't

We did try to get them out. But it's a bit much for complaint about it not be easy/perfect.

[brush]

47. DeVos, the war profiteer, is scheduling flights at $6500...

a pop. Do you agree with that? And why didn't these people, who had months of warnings, get themselves to the airport?

[Bettie]

48. This isn't the smoker and lung cancer

This is the guy watching the water rise and refusing the four boats and helicopter that come to rescue him, who then drowns.

Is it the guy on the roof who is at fault or the people on the four boats and the helicopter for not sending a giant eagle or something?

[peggysue2]

54. More to the point this is more like . . .

people unwilling to evacuate before a dangerous weather event. Hurricanes and fire and flood warnings, for instance. There will always be some who think they can ride it out. But once the life threatening 'event' occurs, those same individuals will call 911 and plead to be rescued. Doesn't mean we shouldn't try to get them out but not necessarily in the middle of a shitstorm which is what the final days in Afghanistan were for a variety of reasons.

I think the Administration and State Dept. will do whatever they can to evacuate the remaining people who want to come out. But some accountability needs to be assigned to those who failed to heed the original, repeated warnings.

Do I feel empathy for those left behind? Yes, I do. But the Administration and our military evacuated 120,000+ people out of a ever-worsening societal breakdown, no small thing. I feel confident they'll do what can be done. That being said, they're not miracle workers.

[Caliman73]

57. That isn't a good analogy.

Here is a better one.

A man's house is on fire. Neighbors and authorities come in every minute and tell him to get out. He refuses. They provide every opportunity for him to leave, even risking their lives to try and pull him out, but he says, "No".

He burns up with his house and then some people decry how horrible it is that the people around him and firefighters didn't pull him out.

Are you proposing that the US government should have removed the people there by force? Against their will?

Sure, then all of the "concerned" people would be decrying how the "horrible, tyrannical US government" went in and kidnapped people who were there of their own free will.


You either respect people's choices or you don't

[JI7]

23. There are risks to US Soldiers who would carry out these missions

[haele]

29. And more than half of those left behind may not want to leave...

When we are down to 150 or so Americans, [FITB]-Americans, and people with US visas out of 10's of thousands, a good number of those are probably Taliban aligned and may not want to leave.

Now, Afghan citizens and those who worked with Americans who want to leave in fear of lives or livelihood are a different story.

But Americans themselves? Had sufficient warning to prepare to get out and/or alert people that they would need to start the paperwork to get out.
Of course, Trump's State Department holdovers there screwed things up badly enough that the onsite visa process couldn't get fixed in time for the withdrawal, but there were arrangements made to mitigate that during the evacuation. Preparations we're the key, and too many organizations allowed themselves the luxury of thinking the Afghan government could hold out long enough for them to take their time.

Haele

[LenaBaby61]

41. Biden reached out 19 times, telling them what the deal was.

After all of these warnings, what's Biden supposed to do? Send soldiers over there AGAIN to whip those people's asses and drag them home?

Blumenthal is out of order in this. He needs to shut his pie hole up and talk about this with Pres. Biden.

Link to tweet

[madville]

35. Maybe he should draw on his experience in Vietnam

And lead a mission to rescue them himself. He needs to keep his mouth shut and quit adding fuel to the right wing talking points that are currently being used to undermine the Biden administration.

[Demsrule86]

36. Shame on you Senator.

I really like Senator Blumenthal. But why would he attack President Biden with right-wing talking points?

[Scrivener7]

39. Yep. This.

[Bettie]

40. So, what do you want?

Extraction teams to go in the dead of night and drag them out of their homes and back to the US whether they want to go or not?

Because they received multiple requests to leave and chose not to.

The pull out wasn't a surprise to them.

So, what should happen? Are you advocating a return to Afghanistan to...what? What do we do? Get sucked back into the quagmire for eternity?

[LenaBaby61]

42. The pull out wasn't a surprise to them.

Nope ...

Link to tweet

[harumph]

43. So personal responsibility doesn't apply to these special people?

[Marius25]

44. Washington Examiner is right-wing propaganda

[DavidDvorkin]

50. Honeymoon's over; time to attack Biden

But it's depressing to see the attacks coming from our side.

[11 Bravo]

52. Most of us know how you feel? Sure. After all, you've been here a little over a month.

And now you have a talking point to share that's straight from the pages of a right-wing disinformation rag?

Cool. Tell me more.

[Scurrilous]

53. HAHAHAHAHAHA

[JanMichael]

56. Over 120000 people have been evacuated out. Sorry if they can't evacuate everybody.

What the f*** are you supposed to take every person living there out that's not the Taliban? that's not possible and never was possible and won't be possible.

120,000 people. 120,000 people. That's like evacuating the half of city of Greensboro North Carolina. The third largest city in North Carolina. These people have real unrealistic expectations. Fake expectations.

[Caliman73]

59. It isn't that they "can't"

The OP and the Senator are upset that there are "Americans left behind". Americans who were told repeatedly, with increasing alarm, that they had to leave, but who chose NOT to leave.

[JanMichael]

60. Oh hell yeah if I got a notice this was going to happen and I lived in a country like that I'd be ou

ASAP.

Toddle around thinking somehow a special flight would be made in my honor because I was too stupid to leave.

[GoodRaisin]

61. I am so tired of reading and hearing criticism about the withdrawal

by people who don't say what they would have done differently.