Rep. Don Bacon, who formerly served as a brigadier general, appeared on Newsmax Friday where he stated that the horrific and deadly terrorist attacks that happened in Kabul are the “worst national security debacle in my generation.”
Yikes.
“This is a strategic defeat for our country,” the Nebraska Republican went on to say during an interview on Newsmax’s “Wake Up America.” “This is one of the worst in our history, what’s happened because of this terrible plan. Ultimately what happens is at the president’s feet.”
Part of the problem, Bacon said, is trying to do a massive evacuation from an airfield that is super vulnerable like Hamid Karzai International Airport is.
“We’re at this vulnerable airport with 1,500 Americans still trying to get out, thousands of special visa immigrants, SIVs you call them, interpreters unable to get out of what has emerged as a vulnerable airfield where terrorists can use suicide bombers, car bombs, or with the Taliban, after Aug. 31, mortars and rockets,” the congressman said. “It’s really an untenable, vulnerable situation our leadership put our military on. I think the priority is to get our civilians out, but there are huge risks. It was terrible planning done at the very top here, and people need to be held accountable.”
via Newsmax:
The top concern at this point must be the 1,500 Americans who still need to be removed from Afghanistan, because if they are left behind, they are going to become hostages, said Bacon.
“It’s just the worst situation and they will continue to be vulnerable to ISIS-K and potentially the Taliban there,” Bacon explained.
However, President Joe Biden’s strategy has civilians and interpreters trying to get through checkpoints run by the Taliban to get to the airfield, and they’re not able to get through, said Bacon. And if they do get to the airfield, it is vulnerable to attack, said Bacon, so that makes it a “dumb plan.”
He also slammed Biden for saying in his speech that he accepts responsibility for the situation in Afghanistan, but then went on to blame former President Donald Trump.
“Where’s the adage of President (Harry) Truman here?” Bacon added. “The buck stops here, but he doesn’t take accountability that this is his plan and his strategy and it’s one of the worse planning efforts and executions I’ve ever seen.”
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy has come out and told his colleagues in the Republican Party that calls for Biden’s resignation are counterproductive right now, stating the main focus and priority should be on getting Americans out of Afghanistan, a sentiment that Bacon agrees with, though he did say that Biden’s leadership is making the United States look “weak” and “inept.”
“There is a time where there’s going to be accountability here,” said the congressman, going on to add that he has been told that the “military and the intelligence community advised against this plan and the president overruled them.”
“The military is executing a terrible plan,” the Nebraska Republican stated. “I don’t think we’ll have time to discuss who should resign and who should be fired, but ultimately the responsibility falls with the president of the United States.”
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