When we get our people out and the Taliban moves in to loot the embassy several well placed Jdams should do the trick. We also need to render Bagram unusable without major rebuilding by the Chinese. Of course, this will never happen with this clown show administration.

And to think the murder of this one man likely led us to Kabaul falling to the Taliban, again.

Johnny Micheal Spann, Captain, United States Marines and Paramilitary Case Officer, National Clandestine Service, United States Central Intelligence Agency, was killed in action on November 25, 2001, at fortress of Qali-Jangi at Mazar-e Sharif, Afghanistan.

His was the 79th Star on the CIA Memorial. As of November, 2020, the last time I updated my record of the names behind the Stars, there were 136 Stars. The years 2008, 2009, and 2016 account for 21 stars.


Mrs. Spann, and their three children. Afghanistan cost them dearly, as it did the families of 2,448 military and fed.gov civilians, 3,846 U.S. contracted personnel, and 1,446 from coalition partners.

Estimated amount of direct Afghanistan and Iraq war costs that the United States has debt-financed as of 2020: $2 trillion, with interest by 2050 it is $6.5 trillion, both figures not including an estimate of more than $2 trillion to pay in health care, disability, burial and other costs for military veterans.

^^^

Auburn grad and Marine from Winfield, Alabama.

God bless him and all of our patriots.

FLASHBACK:

Barack Obama reportedly said: 'Don't underestimate Joe's ability to (expletive) things up'

August 16th, 3:23 PM EDT

(YAHOO) - Barack Obama reportedly spoke with a Democrat, expressing his private doubts about Joe Biden becoming the Democrat presidential nominee in 2020.

According to Politico, the former president said: "Don't underestimate Joe's ability to f... things up."

Mr. Obama was also said to have spoken about his own understanding of the 2020 Democrat electorate in Iowa.

"And you know who really doesn’t have it? Joe Biden," he reportedly said.

Apparently, there were lingering tensions between the two after Mr. Obama supported Hillary Clinton for the 2016 nomination, according to Yahoo.   

Leon Panetta, Mr. Obama’s defense secretary, told Politico: "He [Mr Biden] was loyal, I think, to Obama in every way in terms of defending and standing by him, even probably when he disagreed with what Obama was doing.

"To some extent, [he] oftentimes felt that that loyalty was not being rewarded.”

Several of Mr Obama's aides were said to have believed that Mr. Biden took discussions in the wrong direction while vice president.

In his book Ben Rhodes,  Obama’s former deputy national security adviser, penned, "in the Situation Room, Biden could be something of an unguided missile”.

Mr. Biden's aides were said to have believed his skills getting things achieved in Congress were under-appreciated.

Since Mr. Biden secured the Democrat nomination Mr Obama has enthusiastically backed him and will be a keynote speaker at the Democrat Convention next week.

https://www.cbs19news.com/stor...-expletive-things-up

I hope the Taliban is at least addressing our people by their preferred pronouns.


Biden Never Saw What Hit Him

The most tragic thing about Joe Biden’s cascade of failures is what it reveals about the man and his leadership team as a whole. He never had the capability to anticipate the problems that now overwhelm him and still less appears to possess the capacity to improvise a solution. Reality, so long kept at bay by the media narrative, is now inside his OODA loop and pulling ahead.

What began with the border crisis was joined by the covid outbreak. The trillions of dollars in stimulus turned on him to become inflation. Without a pause, Afghanistan came out of the box months ahead of his scenario. Now, with stunning speed, Kabul has almost fallen. Before he can react to one thing, yet another challenge emerges. Each time the loop goes round he is further and further behind.

Perhaps fortune will cut him a lucky break, but while there have been instances in history of a leader reversing the adverse tide, such feats require talent. Napoleon was reported to have said at Marengo, “This battle is completely lost. However, there is time to win another.” But Joe Biden is not Napoleon and his foes can apparently use time much better than he.

Events take the measure of a man. Biden may not even be, if events so far are a fair test, even the equivalent of Arthur Percival or Lord Elphinstone. Not since the fall of France in May 1940 has so mighty a paper force collapsed so swiftly before a foe. Biden has beaten the record and not in a good way.

That’s the good news. The bad news is that to this considerable tale of woe is likely to be added as much mischief as America’s enemies can contrive. They will pile it on. For no less than the Taliban, America’s near-peer adversaries, now have the estimate of the hapless man in the White House. This confirmation of incapacity is possibly a greater loss than the fall of Afghanistan itself.

They know too that there is little American institutions can do to fix this problem in the short term. The same partisan politics that sent compromise mediocrities to the White House will keep them there until 2024. The same identity politics the balkanizers counted on to keep them in power will hinder the arrival of help from those they treated with contempt. This combination of spiraling crisis and institutional paralysis means America and its allies are probably entering a period of rising danger which no one, not even America’s enemies, can control.

Things got to this pass-through hubris; the conceit that America’s design margin was so great that incompetence and corruption and stupidity didn’t matter only to learn what the Greeks knew: after hubris inevitably comes nemesis.


https://pjmedia.com/richardfer...hat-hit-him-n1469569

And from the Bee…. Which is seeming more like hard news than sarcasm.

CNN Praises Taliban For Wearing Masks During Attack



KABUL—Approximately twelve minutes after U.S. troops withdrew from Afghanistan, Taliban fighters have completely taken over the entire country.

"Woah, that's a bummer," said the Biden Administration's foreign policy team. "We didn't see that one coming."

As the Taliban began its campaign of shooting and killing, as is their time-honored tradition, CNN anchors gushed with praise after noticing all the Taliban fighters were responsibly wearing masks to protect themselves and others from COVID.

"Wow! In the midst of the battle and bloodshed, these noble desert knights of Islamic superiority are wearing masks! Bravo!" said Brian Stelter.

TV anchor and world-renown polemicist Don Lemon was also quick to weigh in. "All things considered, we ought to be praising the COVID-safe masks these majestic mujahideen warriors are wearing," he said.

"They are showing all of us the proper way to behave during a pandemic—something those horrible idiot Trump supporters don't seem to get."

Inspired by their example, the Biden Administration has invited the Taliban to the White House to record TikTok videos in hopes of convincing Trump supporters to get vaccinated

Watch: 100s Of US Citizens Scramble Aboard C-17 As Taliban Ready To Declare "Islamic Emirate Of Afghanistan"

https://www.zerohedge.com/mark...-biden-over-complete

Update (1310ET): The situation is Kabul (well all of Afghanistan) has gone from bad to worst case scenario as a Taliban official says they will soon declare the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan from the presidential palace in Kabul, the Associated Press reported, after reports of the insurgents entering the premises and taking control of it

Location: Kabul

Event: The security situation in Kabul is changing quickly and the situation at the airport is deteriorating rapidly. There are reports of the airport taking fire and we are instructing U.S. citizens to shelter in place. The U.S. Embassy in Afghanistan has suspended consular operations effective immediately. Do not come to the Embassy or airport at this time.

NBC is reporting that the US Ambassador has left the embassy. He and the flag are at the airport.

Soon after, checkpoints were abandoned as panicked residents clogged the streets. By early afternoon, the Taliban took over Kabul’s main Pul-e-Charkhi prison, freeing thousands of inmates, videos on social media showed.

In addition to seizing Kabul, Taliban forces now hold all of Afghanistan’s border crossings, the Associated Press said. The news agency added that Afghan forces had surrendered Bagram Air Base, north of Kabul, which the U.S. handed over to Afghanistan last month after nearly 20 years.

The stunning meltdown of the Afghan state "left the city in shock", the WSJ reports as the Taliban, who controlled none of Afghanistan’s 34 provincial capitals just over a week ago, have seized the bulk of the country and are now readying to assume power, either directly or by controlling a new transitional administration.

Meanwhile, in a sign of the total chaos facing the city - and nation - NBC reported Richard Engel said that according to witnesses people, not Taliban, were rushing police in two Kabul districts and stealing their weapons. "a sign of how completely the security forces have collapsed."


Much more at link and videos.

Yes, Biden's helicopter crash in the desert moment.
Let's hope that it eventually leads to a similar outcome.

The best analysis I heard was from a CIA case officer (retired) and Marine veteran. He stated that he supported leaving, but not this way. After 20 years, we owed it to everyone who served to leave correctly. To abandon Bagram air base in the middle of the night without informing anyone including the Afghans was wrong, not because we owed anything to the Afghans, but because it was stupid.

The best way to do it was to wait until the winter when the fighting season was over. Most of the Taliban go to Pakistan then. Provide some support to the anti-Taliban tribes (Northern Alliance etc) who are the real power in Afghanistan. We spent too much time trying to support and build a central government, rather than sticking with supporting anti-Taliban tribes which we did at the beginning of the war (which was successful). As we left turn things over to local anti-Taliban tribes and get out. We certainly would have to leave some military equipment there, but we could have taken more of it home with this strategy.

Would things have turned out the same way. He said, maybe. But maybe not. Waiting until the winter would have been a more orderly way to exit, rather than a quick bug out. It would have given the Afghans the best shot at success. It would have empowered the tribes. And in addition he said this strategy would have prevented the almost overnight collapse that we are seeing now. If we were up front about leaving, and we left while large numbers of Taliban were in Pakistan, any resulting collapse would have had more of an Afghan fingerprint to it.

https://twitter.com/alexsalvin.../1426882826088165377

Secretary of State Blinken (July 7th):

“We are not withdrawing, we are staying, the embassy is staying, our programs are staying … If there is a significant deterioration in security … I don’t think it’s going to be something that happens from a Friday to a Monday.”

video at link

quote:

Originally posted by 220-9er:
Yes, Biden's helicopter crash in the desert moment.
Let's hope that it eventually leads to a similar outcome.

I assuming that like Carter, you mean the 'resident' Biden leaving Washington defeated in disgrace, correct...

Not only is this a catastrophic failure it is an absolute embarrassment to our country. Biden and his handlers aren’t capable of running a one car funeral. Absolute disgrace and we have 3 more years of this clown.

Oh goodie. Dumb and Dumber.

Harris says she had key role in Biden's Afghanistan withdrawal decision

The vice president confirmed she was the last person in the room before Biden made the decision to move forward with withdrawing U.S. troops.

“This is a president who has an extraordinary amount of courage,” she said, regarding the decision. “He is someone, who I have seen over and over again, make decisions based on what he truly believes ... is the right thing to do.”

Harris said that Biden “is acutely aware that it may not be politically popular, or advantageous for him personally; it’s really something to see.”



https://www.politico.com/news/...awal-decision-484581

quote:

Originally posted by nhracecraft:

quote:

Originally posted by 220-9er:
Yes, Biden's helicopter crash in the desert moment.
Let's hope that it eventually leads to a similar outcome.

I assuming that like Carter, you mean the 'resident' Biden leaving Washington defeated in disgrace, correct...

That's exactly what I meant.
One of the few good things that could come out of this mess.

Also so sorry for the troops and their families that have made such sacrifices for something different to happen.

July 8 wasn’t that long ago.




https://www.whitehouse.gov/bri...rces-in-afghanistan/

You guys are being too harsh on Biden. We all know he has nothing to do with running things anywhere. Pretty sure blame should be placed on the folks behind the curtain - Valerie Jarrett, Ron Klain and the Crimson Kenyan. That's who's running things. Biden knows nothing more than what's piped into his earpiece.

Ok! So when the last person is out the Embassy, wait until its full of the Taliban and JDAMS it into dust. When the last US plane is off the tarmac of the Kabul airport, JDAMS the entire airport into dust. Then rinse and repeat at Bagram.
Do something.

Joe's golden on this. It's Bush's fault.