This by the way is why the clamor over a later targeted attack on a suspected suicide bomber in Kabul later by some on the right was idiotic and put the lives of our soldiers at risk. In that case the target may not have turned out to be a suicide bomber, but when our people are in enemy territory and under attack, it’s better to err on the side of taking out a suspected terrorist than to err on the side of doing nothing.
This is what happens when our people are prevented from defending themselves.
Sgt. Tyler Vargas-Andrews recounted to the House Foreign Affairs Committee how his team deployed to Hamid Karzai International Airport on Aug. 26, 2021, and were tracking a man who intelligence officers believed was a suicide bomber “throughout the entirety” of the day leading up to the explosion.
“Intel guys confirmed the suicide bomber … described as clean-shaven, brown-dressed, black vest and traveling with an older companion,” he said.
Vargas-Andrews told the committee that his team continually updated intelligence teams that day on the suspect’s actions, noting the men were an “anomaly in the crowd” and “both had obvious mannerisms that go along with who we believed him to be.”
“They handed out small cards to the crowd periodically, and the older man sat calmly and seemingly coached the bomber,” Vargas-Andrews said. “Over the communication network, we passed that there was a potential threat and an idea attack imminent.”
“This was as serious as it could get,” he added.
Vargas-Andrews said he requested permission to kill the suspected terrorist and his team leader got a sniper gun ready. But the Marines were told not to shoot because “leadership did not have the engagement authority for us.”
Vargas-Andrews, who lost an arm and a leg in the blast, was one of the roughly 45 troops who were injured but survived.
“We were ignored. Our expertise was disregarded,” he said of the lead-up to the blast. “No one was held accountable for our safety.”
Under Obama, troop numbers in Afghanistan shot up but the authority to engage the terrorists disappeared. Catastrophic casualties followed. And the response was to increasingly pull back to avoid the casualties while letting the Taliban have the country. Everything that followed was just the final act. It is not at all surprising that what happened at Kabul Airport ultimately came down to Obama’s original sin against our men in uniform.
Got blood on my hands
Got blood on my hands
And I don’t understand what’s happening
There’s blood on these hands
And still Americans left to the Taliban
Now how’s that happening?
Winkin’, blinkin’, can’t you look me in the eyes?
Willy Milley, tell me when did you decide?
This we’ll defend
Your sacred motto now means: never mind
Hands
Got blood on my hands
Got blood on my hands
Flag of the Taliban
Over Afghanistan
General Austin, is there no honor in shame?
Can you spell Bagram without the letters in blame?
Did uncle Joe stick a drip in your veins?
Hands
I can’t hear her scream if she’s not, she’s not
She’s not on TV
I can’t hear him scream if he’s not, he’s not
He’s not on TV
To every Afghan ally that we left behind
Every child who won’t know freedom
Faces covered and blind
As for this American promise
Now shit in the fire
Hands
Got blood on our hands
Hey Joe, just one American (who, who, who)
Asking
What’s happening?
Five For Fighting
As usual a bunch of pencil pushers overriding the expertise of others much more qualified to make those decisions. Another day at the office for Leftist’s.
In the obama administration those decisions were made by lawyers, with predictably disastrous results.
0bamanus jihad lawyers left overs for USURPER joes demonicratjihad terrorist regime
Reminds me of LBJ and McNamara….they tried to fight the Vietnam War from the White House…that didn’t work out well at all.
Thanks Jumpmaster. The “Best and the Brightest” turned out to be clueless morons.
Still are. La plus ca change….
WE live in Obama 3.0 era.
My hatred for Obama was solidified when he changed the Rules of Engagement (ROE) for our troops in Afghanistan.
The level of micro managing something as precise and personal as the ROE, overruling seasoned commanders and ORDERING our troops to refrain from engaging the enemy even when fired upon, even when intelligence identified personal and situation threat, is nothing short of TREASONOUS BETRAYAL.
Yeah, that’s one of the interesting things that recur through military history, namely when is it best to disregard orders. Actually it is worse than one might think, sometimes the orders are crazy, confused and disconnected with the actual situation.
Frederick the Great’s cavalry commander once told Frederick “After the battle you can have my head, but during the battle you have to let me use it.” That was related to a great cavalry charge he made that led to one of Frederick’s greatest classic victories. If I recall correctly 🙂
I can’t remember who, where, and when, but Napoleon gave one of his Generals a medal for disobeying orders and winning a battle, then had him executed for disobeying orders.
One of the things that has traditionally made the US military so effective is our leadership culture encourages initiative when opportunity arises on the battlefield. One of the biggest drawbacks of the Warsaw Pact armies was their rigidity and vulnerability to decapitation strikes. The Germans suffered from that in WW2, as well. It hurt them bad in the Normandy Invasion when their reserves sat waiting for orders, when they knew they should be moving forward or redeploying. It also hurt them bad at Kursk.
Instead of allowing our soldiers to do what They Do Best,”The LibTurd/DemonRats”Tie Their Hands Behind Their Backs making them TARGETS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
People like biden and obama have only used American lives to enrich themselves, that’s all they really care about.
This is the kind of news we don’t get from the M.S. Media bottom Feeders his is the stuff they keep from us about Obam and Biden and Clinton before that
PRESIDENT TRUMP would have given the order himself AND taken the blame if wrong! But then if it was PRESIDENT TRUMP this would NOT have been an issue!
No telling how many lives have been lost due to the Jug Eared ONE and Biden’s treasons!