{"id":332149,"date":"2021-08-30T05:58:55","date_gmt":"2021-08-30T02:58:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/13-us-service-members-dead-in-kabul-due-to-bad-leaders-devine\/"},"modified":"2021-08-30T05:58:55","modified_gmt":"2021-08-30T02:58:55","slug":"13-us-service-members-dead-in-kabul-due-to-bad-leaders-devine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/13-us-service-members-dead-in-kabul-due-to-bad-leaders-devine\/","title":{"rendered":"#13 US service members dead in Kabul due to bad leaders: Devine"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_85 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-custom ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<label for=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6a4125b75a975\" class=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-label\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #dd3333;color:#dd3333\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #dd3333;color:#dd3333\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/label><input type=\"checkbox\"  id=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6a4125b75a975\" checked aria-label=\"Toggle\" \/><nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/13-us-service-members-dead-in-kabul-due-to-bad-leaders-devine\/#Sliwa_is_genuinely_an_%E2%80%98Angel\" >Sliwa is genuinely an \u2018Angel\u2019<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<p>&#8220;<strong>#13 US service members dead in Kabul due to bad leaders: Devine<\/strong>&#8221;<\/p>\n<div>\n<aside class=\"single__inline-module alignleft\">\n<div class=\"inline-module inline-module--columnist inline-module--author\">\n<div class=\"inline-module--author__img\">\n            <img decoding=\"async\" width=\"76\" height=\"69\" src=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/07\/miranda-devine222.png?w=76&amp;h=69&amp;crop=1\" class=\"attachment-nyp_columnist size-nyp_columnist\" alt=\"Miranda Devine\" loading=\"lazy\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/07\/miranda-devine222.png?w=152 152w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/07\/miranda-devine222.png?w=114 114w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/07\/miranda-devine222.png?w=76 76w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/07\/miranda-devine222.png?w=38 38w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/07\/miranda-devine222.png 706w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 76px) 100vw, 76px\"\/><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<p>Our 13 young military fallen deserved better, but they died with honor and give us faith in their noble generation, which has had to shoulder the burden of its feckless elders. A war that began when most of them were babies ended in disgrace when they were killed along with nearly 200 Afghans in last week\u2019s suicide attack at Kabul airport during a withdrawal that could not have been more botched.<\/p>\n<p>As President Biden attended Dover Air Force Base Sunday for the \u201cdignified transfer\u201d of the remains of these first US troops killed in Afghanistan in 18 months, thankfully, there were no words.<\/p>\n<p>We didn\u2019t have to hear him say \u201cthe buck stops with me\u201d and then blame everyone else for his mistakes or listen to the formulaic words of compassion that always end up being about him, as if losing a son to cancer, tragic as that was, gives him proprietorial empathy over the families of the fallen.<\/p>\n<p>The words that cut through were not from the president but from two freshly minted Gold Star parents. Their grief was so raw that they gave in, at times, to the impolite rage that many Americans feel and yet the White House refuses to acknowledge.<\/p>\n<p>The chaos in Kabul is not business as usual. It is not the inevitable result of ending a 20-year-war. It is not the price you pay for evacuating refugees. There is nothing to boast about. Heads should be rolling. <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/general\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"3\" title=\"General\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">General<\/a>s should be falling on their swords. Yet all we get is smirks and sly spin from a White House consumed by optics.<\/p>\n<p>The anger is not about politics, but about incompetence, lies and a refusal to take responsibility for bad decisions that began with the incomprehensible abandonment of Bagram Air Base in the dead of night last month, before all the civilians were evacuated.<\/p>\n<p>The mother of Marine Rylee McCollum, 20, got personal Saturday, calling Biden \u201cthat feckless, dementia-ridden piece of crap who decided he wanted a photo-op on September 11.\u201d<\/p>\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"alignright size-nypost-medium-post\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"322\" height=\"483\" src=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/08\/Rylee-J.-McCollum.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=322\" alt=\"Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Rylee J. McCollum, 20, of Jackson, Wyoming.\" class=\"wp-image-19286716\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/08\/Rylee-J.-McCollum.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=644 644w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/08\/Rylee-J.-McCollum.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=483 483w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/08\/Rylee-J.-McCollum.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=322 322w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/08\/Rylee-J.-McCollum.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=161 161w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/08\/Rylee-J.-McCollum.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 322px) 100vw, 322px\"\/><figcaption>The mother of fallen Marine Rylee McCollum has every right to question why her son died after \u201cmonths and months\u201d of planning for the Afghanistan withdrawal.<br \/>\n<\/figcaption><figcaption><span class=\"credit\">U.S. Marines via AP<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<p>\u201cThis was an unnecessary debacle,\u201d she told SiriusXM. \u201cThey had months and months to remove everyone from Afghanistan and they chose not to. And so they sent in freaking 6,000 troops and my son, through the laws of statistics, my son was one of the ones who just got blown up by a freaking terrorist bomb yesterday. So instead of grieving and crying, I\u2019m just getting mad\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>McCollum\u2019s righteous anger was echoed by Steve Nikoui, the father of Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Kareem Nikoui, also 20. \u201cFrom what I saw of the airport they were in, it looks like a turkey shoot,\u201d he told Fox <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/news\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"2\" title=\"News\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">News<\/a>. \u201cIt was basically chaotic and not really planned out. I\u2019m a carpenter and even I could spot that with my untrained military eye.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He faulted the decision to have Taliban providing security for the airport. \u201cI blame my own military leaders . . . Biden turned his back on him.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Biden turning his back is a <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/download-scripts-themes-apps\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"9\" title=\"Download Scripts &amp; Themes &amp; Apps\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">theme<\/a> of his presidency. It\u2019s the lasting impression from press conferences where he reads from a short list of journalists as \u201cinstructed,\u201d then turns on his heel and shuffles out of the room, heedless of shouted questions.<\/p>\n<p>So it was on the eve of the July Fourth weekend, when he waved away questions about Afghanistan. \u201cI want to talk about happy things, man.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>As he spoke, the electricity was being turned off at Bagram, and the last troops were slinking away in the dead of night. The looters got in before the Afghan army did.<\/p>\n<p>That was the original sin of the withdrawal, and it has not been accounted for. It demoralized the Afghan Army and set in train its rapid collapse, leaving $85 billion of weapons for the Taliban, plus biometric equipment to hunt down US collaborators.<\/p>\n<p>Everyone sees the idiocy of abandoning a strategic air base with two runways and, instead, taking over a civilian airport, surrounded by hills that provide the perfect vantage point for enemy fire, with Islamist terrorists providing security for a vast crush of people funneled into entrances that are a perfect target for suicide bombers. It\u2019s indefensible.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1024\" height=\"682\" src=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/08\/BagramAirBase.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1024\" alt=\"Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan.\" class=\"wp-image-19286740\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/08\/BagramAirBase.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1535 1536w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/08\/BagramAirBase.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all 1024w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/08\/BagramAirBase.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=512 512w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\"\/><figcaption>The Bagram Air Base would\u2019ve been a valuable asset to coordinating the mass evacuation of Americans and Afghan allies \u2014 but President Joe Biden thought otherwise.<br \/>\n<\/figcaption><figcaption><span class=\"credit\">HEDAYATULLAH AMID\/EPA-EFE\/Shutterstock <\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Bagram had a state-of-the-art hospital with three operating theatres and an intensive-treatment unit with 13 beds that could surge to 26 in an emergency. None of that was available after Thursday\u2019s massacre.<\/p>\n<p>The president blamed his generals last week for the premature Bagram pullout. \u201cThey concluded \u2014 the military \u2014 that Bagram was not much value-added, that it was much wiser to focus on Kabul,\u201d he said. \u201cSo I followed that recommendation.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>But that\u2019s not the story Gen. Mark Milley and other top brass tell. The president gave them an order: Leave the country, secure the embassy, no extra troops.<\/p>\n<p>Closing Bagram, they felt, was the only choice. \u201cOur task was to protect the embassy,\u201d Milley said. \u201cIf we were to keep both Bagram and the embassy going, that would be a significant number of military forces. So, we had to collapse one or the other, and a decision was made.\u201d<\/p>\n<aside class=\"single__inline-module alignright\">\n    <\/aside>\n<p>But there was another option. The generals could have told the president how calamitous closing Bagram would be to the mission \u2014 and ultimately to his place in history \u2014 and resigned if he did not listen. A debacle may have been averted and their honor would be intact.<\/p>\n<p>Why they didn\u2019t do that was the burning question asked by a real leader, Marine Corps battalion Commander Stuart Scheller.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDid any of you throw your rank on the table and say, \u2018Hey, it\u2019s a bad idea to evacuate Bagram Airfield, a strategic air base, before we evacuate everyone\u2019?\u201d he asked the day of the massacre in a <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/social-mediaa\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"1\" title=\"Social Media\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Facebook<\/a> video that got him fired.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI have been fighting for 17 years. I am willing to throw it all away to say to my senior leaders: I demand accountability.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s the least 13 dead American heroes deserve.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Sliwa_is_genuinely_an_%E2%80%98Angel\"><\/span>Sliwa is genuinely an \u2018Angel\u2019<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>There are cynics who say it was a publicity stunt but I prefer to see Curtis Sliwa\u2019s compassionate response to a protester last week as genuine.<\/p>\n<p>The Republican mayoral nominee posted a heartwarming video in which he consoles the homeless, shirtless man who had interrupted a campaign event .\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWould you rather be somewhere else than Penn Station?\u201d Sliwa asks him gently. The man says he has been hospitalized for mental issues \u201ca lot of times\u201d and should be on medication.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Then his face crumples and he begins to cry as the Guardian Angel puts an arm around him.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s OK. We\u2019ll take care of you,\u201d says Sliwa. \u201cI\u2019m running for mayor. I\u2019m going to make sure you and your other friends out here are taken care of\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>Sliwa is the long-shot candidate, but if he can deliver what he promises, he ought to be mayor.\n                        <\/p><\/div>\n<blockquote><p><strong><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\">If you liked the article, do not forget to share it with your friends. Follow us on\u00a0<span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><a style=\"color: #ff0000;\" href=\"https:\/\/news.google.com\/publications\/CAAqBwgKMLG0nwswvr63Aw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">Google News<\/a><\/span>\u00a0too, click on the star and choose us from your favorites.<\/span><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">For forums sites go to <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/forum.buradabiliyorum.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Forum.BuradaBiliyorum.Com<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>If you want to read more News articles, you can visit our <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/news\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">News category.<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"color: black;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2021\/08\/29\/13-us-service-members-dead-in-kabul-due-to-bad-leaders-devine\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Source<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;#13 US service members dead in Kabul due to bad leaders: Devine&#8221; Our 13 young military fallen deserved better, but they died with honor and give us faith in their noble generation, which has had to shoulder the burden of its feckless elders. A war that began when most of them were babies ended in&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":332150,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/08\/DoverAirForce.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=1024","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[70897],"tags":[115070,72315,71173,113239,51061,71576,991,77091,73613,88223,72318,72597],"class_list":["post-332149","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-8-29-21","tag-afghanistan","tag-army","tag-bagram-air-force-base","tag-curtis-sliwa","tag-isis","tag-joe-biden","tag-kabul","tag-marines","tag-penn-station","tag-taliban","tag-terrorism"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/332149","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=332149"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/332149\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/332150"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=332149"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=332149"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=332149"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}