“Ghost” of John McCain Returns To Condemn Afghanistan
It’s as if the ghost of John McCain has risen from the grave to point an accusing finger at current Secretary of State Tony Blinking for the Afghanistan debacle.
Blinken is facing fire from critics circulating what they say was a prophetic warning from the late Sen. John McCain that Bliken was “dangerous,” including for wanting to remove US troops from Afghanistan.
McCain said in 2014 that Blinken, who has largely been missing from public view since the Taliban retook Afghanistan, was wrong to advocate a US withdrawal.
The top foreign policy hawk, who died in 2018, argued that the US should leave “a few thousand” troops to prevent a Taliban takeover.
The Taliban’s rapid reconquest of Afghanistan triggered a chaotic rescue operation at Kabul’s airport, drawing bipartisan alarm at the perceived lack of US preparation. An unknown number of US citizens and former US military employees are stranded in the Afghan capital, unable to reach the airport.
“This individual has actually been dangerous to America and to the young men and women who are fighting [for] and serving it.” McCain said of Blinken at the time, slamming his policies as “at worst anti-strategic.”
Referring to the Islamic State terror group overrunning much of Iraq after US troops withdrew in 2011, McCain said, “Mr. Blinken said, ‘We’ve been very clear. We’ve been consistent. The war will be concluded by the end of 2014. We have a timetable, and that timetable will not change.’ This is why I’m so worried about him being in the position that he’s in. Because if they stick to that timetable, I’m telling my colleagues that we will see the replay of Iraq all over again. We must leave a stabilizing force behind of a few thousand troops.”
At the time, McCain was prophetically arguing that the Taliban would see similar success in Afghanistan.
Blinken was confirmed in 2015 over McCain’s objections as deputy secretary of state. Then-President Barack Obama didn’t stick to the 2014 timeframe, and US troops remained in Afghanistan for nearly seven more years.
Republicans Bring Up McCains Remarks Amidst Afghan Chaos
Larry Elder, the radio host and Republican gubernatorial candidate in California was among the high-profile conservatives who circulated McCain’s condemnation of Blinken.
“McCain warned in 2014 that Biden’s guy Blinken shouldn’t be anywhere near Afghanistan or in a decision-making role. McCain saw it coming,” wrote Hudson Institute senior fellow Michael Pregent,
The decision to withdraw all US troops from Afghanistan had broad bipartisan support and also bipartisan opposition. This year’s pullout was set in motion by former President Donald Trump, who has criticized Biden’s execution of the plan.
Former Trump White House aide Stephen Miller tweeted Thursday that Blinken and Biden “blithely surrendered all US leverage in your butchered, bungled, blundering withdrawal. Our airbase, our military equipment, and many thousands of Americans trapped behind Taliban lines. You have disgraced yourself and embarrassed your country.”
Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-Texas) said of Blinkin, “The secretary of the state owes the American people a lot of explanations for this. Now, of course, the buck stops with Biden. Biden made all these decisions, and it’s absolutely reprehensible. But the State Department really botched this.”
The traitor McCain is just as dangerous.
Ummm… you realize he’s been dead for three years, right? (in fact, today, Aug 25th, is the anniversary of his death) Why do you think this piece is called “the Ghost of John McCain”? “Risen from the grave” and “the late Senator” didn’t tip you off?
This is the pot calling the kettle black
AS long as the Democrats do it all is well, now if it had been Trump heads would roll. This group that is in control now can do no wrong, so what if they are killing America as we know it and how it was to be. Can we survive until 2022, no matter the traitors stay in until Jan.2023. God help us.
the old Marine
Trump was right about McCain. What did the Senator do in his career in politics besides solidify his Warhawk credentials?
Why are we even discussing what a guy, whose only claim to fame is that he was bad at his job ( flying an airplane), thinks about more war?
Luckily, trump negotiated the withdraw of American soldiers, if it was up to McCain and his ilk, we would be there forever.
Don’t forget that it was Bush/Cheney/Rumsfeld who put us in Afghanistan in the first place. They used the 9-11 attack and the threat of terrorism on US soil to justify the US going there. After watching the Russians get their asses kicked for the previous 20 years, why did he think it would go better for the US? And where was McCain and his lap-poodle Graham? As I recall, all the “liberals” cautioned against the US going into Afghanistan (although only one voted against it, and she was roundly criticized for not supporting the President – imagine that, considering that McConnell’s entire mission through Obama’s term was to block everything that our first black President tried to do, and his failed attempt to keep Republicans on the “nay” side of the votes for Biden). And remember George standing on the deck of a destroyer somewhere declaring “mission accomplished”? Why didn’t he pull out then and hand it back to the Afghanis? Or take complete control and send enough troops to completely route the Taliban? Because Cheney and Rumsfeld (who were pulling Bush’s strings) were warmongers with a stable of war-profiteering defense contractors who donated heavily to Republican campaigns and wanted to recoup their investments. They preferred it long and slow and full of battles.
Sure, 14 years after Bush started this war, McCain was still on the side of the warmongers. Is that a surprise? He and Graham went around to all the Sunday morning talk shows denouncing anything that Obama did. That’s what Republicans do, especially when they’re white and the President is black. Nothing that Blinken (BTW, spelled three different ways in the article) did had anything to do with the Taliban coming back as soon as we pulled out.
No, for that, you can thank Donald Trump. He “negotiated” with the Taliban (even invited them to Camp David!), got their assurances that they would be good boys from now on (news flash, they lied to him!), and released all their leaders and some 5000 prisoners (about 20% of the Taliban forces). One of those prisoners is now sitting in the President’s chair in Afghanistan. Trump committed the US to a pullout, and even criticized Biden when he didn’t meet Trump’s timetable. Now, Republicans have removed Trump’s crowing about the Afghan negotiations from their websites, and are blaming Biden for the crash of the Afghan army. Ironically, there is still the threat of terrorism in the US – except that threat has come from Trump and his nationalist Nazi-wannabee followers.
If there is someone to blame, it has to go back to the “original sin” – Bush/Cheney/Rumsfeld got us into this war under false pretenses. It was never going to end better than it did, and Trump guaranteed that. Biden was just playing the hand he was dealt, but you can’t win if the Joker stacked the deck before you sat down.
Don’t forget that McCain sold out his fellow prisoners
In general, I didn’t agree with McCain’s politics. But I give him the respect he deserves as a war hero. His plane was shot down over Vietnam, both of his legs and his right arm were broken. He was an admiral’s son, but chose to stay with his fellow soldiers rather than use priviledge to get out. He endured 6 years of torture, rather than take the easy way home.
He served in the House for two terms and in the Senate for 6 terms. He was a champion of the military and the rights of prisoners of war, no matter who’s side they were from, and consistently railed against torture. He voted against Martin Luther King Day, but later admitted that he’d made a mistake. When a woman at one of his campaign rallies called Obama an “Arab”,McCain defended him as a “decent family man” and said he’d be a fine President too. He personally kept McConnell from destroying “Obamacare” because he knew it was the right thing to do. He was an honorable man.
You, on the other hand, who claims to have been involved in union activities, side with the Trumpists and so-called conservatives who have tried to destroy unions for as long as they’ve been Republicans. You’re a traitor to your union brothers. You defend misogynist, racist Trump, who dodged his way out of military service, tried to blackmail a foreign country to create dirt on his political rival, acted like an third-world dictator, and who led a failed coup against the US government. You insult people, spout conspiracy theories like a raving lunatic, and openly race-bait in your posts. You have no honor, and certainly have no right to criticize John McCain.
Tell me how you really feel Joseph
My pleasure…