There was once a policy – official or unofficial – that the United States does not leave American citizens imperiled in foreign nations – whether as hostages of adversary governments or endangered by warfare.
That policy has been weakening over recent years by a lack of enforcement. It has never been disregarded more than by the Biden administration.
Both Russia and Iran are unlawfully holding American citizens. Biden made a highly publicized effort to secure the return of sports star Brittney Griner but left behind Paul Whelan – who has been held hostage for a lot longer. To get Griner back, Biden agreed to release Putin’s personal hit man and arms dealer, Viktor Bout.
With these kinds of exchanges, Biden is not solving the hostage issue. He is actually encouraging the taking of hostages in the future. Griner had been back home for less than a year before Putin grabbed Wall Street Journal Reporter Evan Gershkovich. Another bargaining chip?
Arguably the most egregious example of leaving Americans behind was Biden’s disastrous surrender in Afghanistan. After repeatedly assuring the nation and Americans in Afghanistan that no American would be left behind, Biden implemented a tuck-tail-and-run retreat that left hundreds of Americans stranded.
In addition, he left behind thousands of Afghans who worked with American forces – including those with special visas to come to the United States. They are currently being hunted down and murdered by the Taliban.
Now we have the situation in Sudan, where a civil war is endangering approximately 16,000 American citizens. The situation in Sudan is so bad and so dangerous that Biden closed the U.S. embassy and ordered the evacuation of all military and embassy personnel.
In an amazing and unprecedented refutation of the United States’ longstanding policy to secure the safety of Americans overseas, the Biden administration actually announced that the American government would do nothing to aid the evacuation of American citizens.
White House spokesman John Kirby – in an apparent attempt to justify inaction – claimed that most of the Americans in Sudan held duo citizenships. That is a racist and xenophobic comment – suggesting that the public should be less concerned as if they are not real citizens. Duo citizenship does make a person a half a citizen. Kirby should be reminded that those folks are as many American citizens as the rest of us.
Oh … he was.
In a recent CNN interview, Muna Daoud referenced Kirby’s comment and pointed out the error in his statement. In fact, she called it heartbreaking.
Daoud is a Sudanese American. She was able to get her parents out of the war zone – but not with any help from the United States. Even when her parents got to Saudi Arabia, they got no help from American authorities there. She said assistance came from the British and Dutch – that were also busy getting their citizens out of Sudan. Daoud said the American citizens were literally dying because of the absence of American help.
Biden made a bigger show of helping Ukrainian refugees from Putin’s dirty little war during his visit to Poland. And even then, the actual aid did not live up to Biden’s rhetoric.
The protection of American citizens – here AND abroad – is one of the primary constitutional duties of the President. Why Biden does not recognize and respond to that responsibility is open to conjecture. It can be said that it fits into what appears to be Biden’s overall weakness and inordinate fear of repercussions when it comes to exerting America’s strength. Or maybe he is just not paying attention.
It seems to fit with Biden’s open border policies that fail to protect American citizens from increased crime and a deadly drug crisis. President Theodore Roosevelt’s talk of “speaking softly and carrying a big stick.” Biden speaks boldly and brandishes a twig.
So. There ‘tis.