Finally those responsible for the botched Afghanistan withdrawal faced the music. General Mark Milly and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin had to answer their mistakes before Congress. Now we would get to the bottom of it. But, no that didn’t happen. Basically the answers were tantamount to “it wasn’t me”. There was a whole lot of finger pointing. When asked directly, how many Americans were left behind, they said “we don’t have the exact number” and they would have to ask the State Department. However, a congressman said “we did and they told us to ask you.” It used to be when wrong doing was exposed and the people in charge that were culpable we’re interrogated, they would do the right thing and resign, or they would be removed from their position. This is nothing short of a travesty of Justice. Basically the answers were tantamount to “it wasn’t me”. There was a whole lot of finger pointing. When asked directly, how many Americans were left behind, they said “we don’t have the exact number” and They would have to ask the State Department. However, a congressman said “we did and they told us to ask you.” When asked if they advised the President to leave 2,500 troops in Afghanistan so to keep the area secure, they said they did. Earlier when the President was ask in an interview with George Stephanopoulos if his military advisors recommended that he keep a significant military personnel in place he said that they didn’t…not that he could recall. Further, when Milly and Austin were asked of they should resign, they said no. They didn’t think so.
At the same time as Milly and Austin were giving their testimony, Marine Lt. Col. Stuart Scheller was sitting in the brig awaiting court-martial. His crime; calling for his leadership to take full responsibility for their actions that led to 13 of his fellow service members being killed by a suicide boomer while screening those who would be airlifted out of Afghanistan. Scheller, mind you, was a 15 year highly decorated veteran who did 5 tours for his country.
So, while the President and those military leaders were getting off Scot free, Scheller was being punished for simply speaking the truth.
It’s a sad day in America when the culpable pay no price for their actions and a exemplary Marine is behind bars.
We the people need to hold our leadership accountable for their actions. “It wasn’t me”, isn’t going to cut it. We must demand that justice be served.