One Embarrassed American

I try my very hardest to live by several key philosophies, and two that I hold near to my heart are; I don’t in any way attack or ridicule other people and secondly, I don’t apologize for anyone other than myself. Even though I had virtually nothing to do with the events that unfolded in Kabul and more largely in Afghanistan, as a very proud American, I feel quite uneasy and thus compelled to violate these two philosophies.

It’s very hard not to ridicule our countries leadership. It’s one thing to say we no longer believe in a war and the occupation of another country, but it’s far more irresponsible to not sufficiently plan and prepare for the both essential and necessary steps needed to safely and effectively withdraw our troops and our continued support of the Afghan people. But over the past few months, we have done exactly this. We have boldly proclaimed we were going to leave, and did little to effectively prepare for the obvious reactions and outcome of such a declaration – SHAMEFUL!!!

From the moment it was ballyhooed by our leaders, the Taliban began massing their forces and preparing to take advantage of the obvious repercussions created by these shock waves. Knowing that the Afghan people would no longer be protected and respected, and that the American’s had apparently made no meaningful plan to guard against the obvious issues such an announcement would cause, the Taliban began to take control.

At the same time, the IS (Islamic State) affiliate in Afghanistan, a far more radical (if that’s even possible) group than the Taliban, began to gain steam as its ranks have been boosted by the Taliban’s freeing of prisoners during their advance through Afghanistan.

What resulted, as we all know, was and still is chaos, with American Soldiers, as well as Afghan citizens-especially US supporters, needlessly and violently killed, and a country decimated by this decision to leave and let terrorism take over.

According to the Associated Press; On the night of August 25th, warnings emerged from Western capitals about a threat from IS. Shortly before the attack, the acting U.S. ambassador to Kabul, Ross Wilson, said the security threat at the Kabul airport overnight was “clearly regarded as credible, as imminent, as compelling.” Also, on the 25th, the U.S. Embassy warned citizens at three airport gates to leave immediately due to an unspecified security threat. Australia, Britain and New Zealand also advised their citizens Thursday not to go to the airport.

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid denied that any attack was imminent at the airport, where the group’s fighters have deployed and occasionally used heavy-handed tactics to control the crowds. After the attack, he appeared to shirk blame, noting the airport is controlled by U.S. troops.

Nadia Sadat, a 27-year-old Afghan, carried her 2-year-old daughter with her outside the airport. She and her husband, who had worked with coalition forces, missed a call from a number they believed was the State Department and were trying to get into the airport without any luck. “We have to find a way to evacuate because our lives are in danger,” Sadat said. “My husband received several threatening messages from unknown sources. We have no chance except escaping.”

Aman Karimi, 50, escorted his daughter and her family to the airport, fearful the Taliban would target her because of her husband’s work with NATO. “The Taliban have already begun seeking those who have worked with NATO,” he said. “They are looking for them house-by-house at night.”

Amid the warnings and the pending American withdrawal, Canada ended its evacuations, and European nations halted or prepared to stop their own operations.

Quite frankly, if you asked any everyday citizen, what they would expect to happen, if without proper planning and supporting preparation, you suddenly decided to retreat from a terrorist ridden country and were no longer going to secure the country and its citizens? I can’t think of any sound thinking person who would not expect the terrorists to start their efforts to take over the city and/or country.

I can’t say I am a huge fan of playing the role of world peace keeper, when so much needs to be addressed here at home. But the TRUE American way is that when you make a commitment, you do it 100%, you finish what you committed to do, and you leave it better than you found it…OR…you don’t make such a commitment if you can’t do it safely and successfully.

For this, I have to apologize to our soldiers, citizens, and the Afghan people on behalf of my country. Yes, I had nothing to do with this …BUT… I still love this country and thus feel compelled to apologize as one Embarrassed American!!!

According to the New York Times, the last of the American presence in Afghanistan departed the Kabul airport on Monday, August 30th, halting an occupation that cost more than 170,000 lives and ended with a complete takeover of the country by the adversary the U.S. military spent two decades fighting.

American military leaders had said the United States would continue evacuation efforts and fully withdraw no later than Aug. 31, the deadline set by President Biden earlier this summer. But those efforts were wrapped up a full day early — just days after the attack by Islamic State Khorasan that killed 13 U.S. service members and as many as 170 civilians in one of the war’s deadliest days.

Evacuation flights ended on Monday, and the military finished packing everything it “intended” to fly out of the airport onto transport planes before loading the remaining service members. The last Air Force C-17, with the call sign MOOSE 85, departed at midnight local time carrying the final remaining American forces, a U.S. military official said.

More than 2,400 U.S. military personnel and nearly 50,000 Afghan civilians died in the 20-year war, in addition to tens of thousands of casualties among U.S. contractors, the Afghan military and national police, insurgents and others.

Our President addressed the nation on Tuesday 8/31, so proud that “He” put an end to the war. He stated: “I want to thank our commanders and the men and women serving under them for their execution of the dangerous retrograde from Afghanistan as scheduled — in the early morning hours of Aug. 31, Kabul time — with no further loss of American lives.” He even paid tribute to the fallen soldier when their caskets returned to the US. However, the President must have somewhere else to be, or something more important, in his mind, to do, because he was seen checking his watch constantly as the caskets were offloaded from the plane. In a FOX interview, Darin Hoover, the father of Marine Staff Sgt. Taylor Hoover who was killed stated: “They would release the salute and he looked down at his watch on every last one,” Hoover said. “All 13, he looked down at his watch.”

Mark Schmitz — whose 20-year-old son, Marine Lance Cpl. Jared Schmitz, died in the attack — corroborated Hoover’s story. “I actually leaned into my son’s mother’s ear and I said, ‘I swear to God, if he checks his watch one more time …’,” Schmitz recalled, “and that was only probably four times in. I couldn’t look at him anymore after that, just considering, especially, the time and why we were there. I found it to be the most disrespectful thing I’ve ever seen.” Personally, this proud yet Embarrassed America TOTALLY AGREES-SO DISRESPECTFUL!!!

Mr. President, you may have stopped the immediate loss of American life in Afghanistan, but now that you have given these terrorists a significant boost in their numbers, finances, and armament, are you really naive enough to think this won’t lead to more future lives lost. One week from tomorrow will be the 20th anniversary of one of our country’s darkest days, do we really think terrorists, who hate our freedom and lifestyle, won’t orchestrate another 9/11 type of event…seems unlikely to me!!!

I, like many of you, am quite angry by what has occurred. I am angry for the needless loss of life, I’m angry we betrayed our soldiers and the innocent people of Afghanistan, and I’m furious that we left so much American Taxpayer paid for property and cash behind for these terrorists to use. Yes, we claim we made everything inoperable but that’s a bit of a foolish statement, as even in a scrap situation that’s still materials and technology that can be used and reused.

As I reflect, “America” seems to have taken a hit. A hit caused by our own leaders’ arrogance and short sidedness. We the people did not elect you to grandstand on short-sided and hollow accomplishments, and then take a blind eye to such actions nor to wash your hands of this. America’s leaders all have a hand in this, and unfortunately, we citizens, to a far lesser extent, do as well. You apathetic Americans who never turn out at the polls to vote, need to change your tune and help the rest of us hold our leaders accountable.

It’s time we remind every US citizen, including these leaders, that this is our country. We can still be “America the Beautiful,” but if we don’t vote and hold our elected officials accountable, then our only hope is “God Bless America,” because it will be only God himself that can save our land!!!

Epilogue:

This (the above) …WAS… the conclusion to my message…UNTIL…I read a post on Face Book. Chuck and Mary Pressburg were flying from Philadelphia to Salt Lake City, when God put them in just the right place, at just the right time, as he always does. The events of that evening were so important to the Pressburg’s, that just after midnight, on August 30th, they shared them, on Facebook, for all to read. Their post, in just 3 days, has received over a quarter of a million “likes” and has been shared over 358,000 times.

You know my feelings about social media but this post stood out to me…it grabbed my thoughts, and more importantly it grabbed my heart. If you truly want to understand the message I am trying to convey, you truly love the freedoms this wonderful country provides you, and finally and most importantly, you truly want to honor those brave men and women who would do whatever it takes, including laying down their lives, to protect us all and this way of life, then you simply must read this post. I will leave you with the moving words and thoughts of Chuck and Mary Pressburg: https://www.facebook.com/100015685773919/posts/1115206809012168/?d=n