No excuse for Biden's Afghan incompetence

But he shares the blame with those who voted him into office

Ask a 3-year old who should stand guard when she’s afraid of a monster in the closet – her or her father – and she’ll tell you that daddy needs to protect her until she’s safely under the covers. How, then, is it that a 3-year-old understands that which utterly eludes the intellect of Pres. Joe Biden?

Of course, the monster the 3-year old fears is, most likely, a figment of her imagination. In Biden’s case, the threat was very real. It was real, apparent and imminent. Even if he grossly underestimated the danger, prudence demands that defensive protocols be followed while conducting a withdrawal in the face of an enemy. And those protocols start with establishing a ‘rear guard.’

Wikipedia defines a ‘rear guard’ as “… part of a military force that protects it from attack from the rear, either during an advance or withdrawal.” But what did Biden do?

Our president took the rear guard out first. In the process, he withdrew from our key defensive installation – Bagram Air Base. Not only did Bagram offer a strong defensive perimeter, it also offered the logistics for evacuating the tens of thousands of Americans and Afghans, who had supported America in the 20-year-long war.

The mousetrap known as Hamid Karzai International Airport wasn’t set by the Taliban, Al Qaida, or ISIS-K; Biden set the trap. And he provided the cheese that gave the trap its appeal, an appeal to those wishing to escape Sharia Law, subjugation of women, death and torture at the hands of Islamic fundamentalists who live by a centuries old code of violence and submission.

Should anyone be surprised that ISIS-K would see the airport, and the hordes of thousands seeking to escape Afghanistan through that portal, as a target-rich environment?

Even media commentators on the Right were complimenting Biden for going to Dover Air Force Base in Delaware to “receive the bodies of 11 of the 13 service members killed in Kabul airport attack” (Fox New headline – Aug. 29, 2021). Was he honoring our fallen warriors or was his presence more of a dishonor to those who gave their lives?

There is no sugarcoating the truth – Biden created the situation that led to those 13 deaths, as well as the deaths of hundreds of others, so far.

In the meantime, Biden has tried to defray the political damage caused by his incompetence by making the absurd claim that what is happening was inevitable. While mouthing Harry Truman’s famous words about where the buck stops, with the next sentence Biden set about passing the buck and blaming anyone and everyone but himself.

There is some truth to the idea that Biden doesn’t bear all the blame; all those who voted for him do, as well. No, Donald Trump would not have demonstrated this kind of incompetence.