Photo by US Central Command
US Army Major Chris Donahue, Commander of the 82nd Airborne, stepping onto a plane becomes the image of the last man leaving Afghanistan, ending a 20 year war.
By the time this photo was taken the US had evacuated more than 122 thousand, only 5,500 of them being American citizens.
116 thousand were flown out in just two weeks, the largest air lift evacuation and a stunning piece of history.
Politicians and media have been in handwringing overdrive, criticizing President Biden but have ignored the extraordinary humanitarian achievement.
Consider perspective.
The media view came from crews who were for the most part inside the area of Karzai airport where the frantic were funneled into choke points, desperate to leave. It was scene after scene of a scrum, thousands trying to flee their own nation.
American personnel extended courtesy, process and did the best under bad conditions. What reporters did not have access to was the mostly smooth operation of other US troops getting thousands on planes and on the way to safety. It skewed coverage, and fed the criticism that lacked perspective.
During the fall of Saigon April 29-30, 1975 Operation Frequent Wind evacuated 7 thousand, leaving 450 Vietnamese at the US Embassy.
The DAO, Defense Attachment Office had been evacuating US personnel when some refused to leave without their Vietnamese friends, common law wives, children and dependents. Push came to shove and the DAO gave in and flew illegally documented Vietnamese to Clark AFB.
Operation Babylift evacuated some 2000 orphaned children. In all some 110 thousand people were evacuated at the time of the US retreat from this ill conceived and poorly prosecuted war, also fraught with fraud and corruption.
President Ford's exit plan was produced as a middle ground between the Pentagon's desire for a full and rapid pullout while the US Department of State wanted an orderly evacuation.
In the end it came down to chaos. If they could, Vietnamese bought their way out buying passports, exit visas and inflated passage on boats. The price of boats tripled as the US left. Later came the wave of the "boat people" thousands more fleeing for new lives.
The politicians criticizing Biden for political points seem to miss the successful evacuation of more than 120 thousand people.
The media coverage, like the protests or demonstrations or riots following George Floyd's death put more emphasis on the video and emotion. The video was not seen in a larger context or explained with an overview and ditto for the emphasis on inflammatory and hysterical. It was a deficiency of perspective.
That is also true for the tragic loss of 13 young US soldiers and Marines and those who have sought to make political gain on the back of the deaths.
23 US service personnel were killed and 325 wounded in Operation Just Cause, the December 1989-January 1990 invasion of Panama to capture former Panamanian leader Noriega.
Noriega had been a CIA asset and used his military and political leadership to become a drug trafficker and racketeer.
In the tense weeks of negotiations and failing relationship, Panamanian Defense Forces (PDF) stopped a group of partying Americans. Marine First Lt. Robert Paz was shot and killed, other Americans were wounded and American witnesses were assaulted. President George HW Bush ordered the invasion the next day.
27 thousand US troops and 300 aircraft were sent to contend with 16 Thousand PDF. Civilians and US personnel were hit by "friendly fire," two died and 19 were wounded by the US shooting of their own. At the time politicians and media treated it as a tragedy and not fodder for political gain.
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In October 1983, 242 US Marines, Soldiers and Sailors were killed in the car bombing of the Marine barracks in Lebanon. The very presence of those troops was the source of a rift in the Reagan administration. |
The US never launched a major retaliatory strike primarily because of the feud between Reagan, Secretary of State George Schultz and Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger. Schultz and Weinberger were at odds and even admitted so publicly.
This was covered by the media and it was commented on by Republicans and Democrats but not with the shrill, opportunistic and venomous lack of perspective that has greeted Biden who oversaw the largest evacuation from a war zone and a retaliatory strike within hours. Perspective.
Our political culture is at a low ebb. There appears to have been no division in the Biden Whitehouse about the exit. That could not be said of Ford in Vietnam, or Reagan in Lebanon.
In a previous post I faulted Biden for not working to build an international exit plan, sill he has moved more than 115 thousand Afghanis.
A missing perspective in most of the political and media potshots and carping is why did the Afghani military collapse, why after 20 years, American lives and Trillions of dollars did most Afghani people reject the US, and the type of life and government we hoped they would adopt? Do those critics earnestly believe the US has an obligation to every Afghani who wants to leave? And ask that question of some of Biden's loudest critics who also are some of the loudest anti immigration loud mouths. They are trying to have it both ways? Where is the perspective?
Resolutely, as he promised, Biden brought to an end a bad and fraudulent war. History will recall and reward that. All of the other carping is akin to a statement my mother used..."Your cutting of your nose to spite your face." Look around there are plenty of noseless media and politicians.
Another old proverb comes to mind, "There are none so blind as those who will not see."
Perspective.
See you down the trail
