….they have been taking heat for Biden’s screw up when others just disappear. They also have admitted it was a massive screw up at this point where other Biden backers remain silent or foolishly double down.
Please keep that in mind. We are all Americans, and I personally am most frustrated with those posters hiding or worse, continuing to lie about Afghanistan. The ones who can never, even now, openly admit a problem. For them, free thought is not even a concept.
that was very thoughtful...
Now, as to the crux of your post...I never, for one moment, envisioned this exit from Afghanistan to be without hiccups or serious problems. With the Taliban being what it is and certainly not known for playing by 'Marquess of Queensberry Rules', it was always going to be a high-stress, high-risk endeavor and under such circumstances, things won't always go according to plan...Oh, and let's not forget about the emergence of ISIS-K in the final weeks...btw, there was some very accurate U.S. Intel that foretold the fatal events (bombings) that cost U.S. and Afghan lives...that Intel on ISIS-K could have also been the impetus for speeding up the exit from Sept. 11th to Aug. 31st.
I also saw that there were only two goals to be achieved...#1) Get USA personnel out safely, and #2) Get as many Afghani Allies out as possible...Goal #1 was never a concern for me...the Taliban wanted us out, and agreed to not shoot at us...which they didn't....I've already posted regarding the remaining Americans, so you can search that post yourself...#2 was the real challenge, and made much more difficult by Donald Trump and his team (e.g. Steven Miller) when they took the following steps...
>Starting just two months into DT's term, he authorized a cessation in processing, or authorizing Special Visas for Afghani and Iraqi citizens who helped save American military lives...this continued throughout his four years in office, thus creating a backlog of well over 18,000 petitioners...with each one typically requiring ~13 months of vetting...had he cared at all about those people...which he clearly did not, things would be a lot different...in a good way...today.
>Donald Trump negotiated an exit deal that was not only extremely short (May 1st), but totally without Afghan government involvement, thus demoralizing them politically and militarily...contractors who were essential to the maintenance of the military equipment immediately started shutting down operations...along with sharp reductions in our troop levels...to the point where only 2,500 were there when Biden took over...DT essentially 'paved the road to Kabul' for the Taliban with that deal.
So, given that Donald Trump was only focused on goal #1, and had no desire...much less a plan...for the extraction of friendly Afghanis...I consider every Afghani rescued from that country to be a "Victory" and not a screwup. Could the process have been 'better'?...of course...even Dunkirk could have gone 'better'...but IMO, in the context of goals and objectives, Joe Biden deserves immense credit, whilst Donald Trump deserves intense distain...guess I'm not a "Glass Half Empty" kind of guy...sorry about that.
Finally, I couldn't help but notice how you gave glancing credit to Chris and Conor for being open minded, yet for the life of me, I can't recall a single post from you praising Joe Biden for getting over 120,000 Afghan allies out of there...you know...the #2 key objective and subject of all that's been in the news and this board for the last month or so...does that seem 'open minded' on your part?...of course it doesn't...but then you have no shame, so why do I even bother to bring it up.
This board is a fun diversion, or should be. A 'no harm, no foul' way to vent and opine. Sure, they are blind partisans, but at least they are in the arena. They probably see me as a blind partisan as well.
We all love ND. That's all that matters. I'd enjoy having a beer w/ them some day.
We definitely have our share of no-value-add posters on both sides who just fill the board w/ knee-jerk, ideological spam.
But in all seriousness - USC sucks.
GO IRISH
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I’m always nervous for game 1. FSU has transfers everywhere expected to start, so they are essentially a complete unknown. The most worrisome is a DE from Georgia who had 5 sacks last year - and their other DE is from South Carolina who didn’t transfer because he wasn’t going to start but because that program is sinking. They have a WR who was the best player on Kansas (and a freshman WR who is the guy that everyone in FSU circles is talking about - he is apparently looking great). And we all know about the OL from ND and QB who was a superstar at UCF (and his DB teammate who came with him, who will start).
So yeah, I’m nervous.
chance encounters with great ND athletes (Pinkett and Duranko)...btw, let me know your preference on beer...mine is Blue Moon.
GO IRISH!
disagree with him is worthy of a shout out? Really?
….no acknowledgement of a problem with Biden, no admission of the screw up that is in our face
Just finger pointing, excuses, denial, and lies.
Conor and Chris did this stuff for a while because they were told otherwise by their sources. Eventually though, they have at least admitted what this is. I do agree that a “shout out” is not necessarily deserved, but part of my goal was also to highlight those on the Left who are still hiding/being silent/denying, and also to make it apparent to them that other true Lefties have started admitting what they will not.
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