President Barack Obama and Vice-President Biden presided over the devastating withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq in 2011. Biden boasted at the time that pulling the troops out of Iraq "could be one of the great achievements of this administration," and thanked President Obama "for giving him the chance to end the Iraq war."
However, the war in Iraq was far from over, and in reality the withdrawal rejuvenated the terrorists that had been decimated by the presence of American troops. The vacuum resulted in the Islamic State capturing territory in Iraq and Syria that was the size of the country of Britain. The atrocities that they committed included not only terrorizing the local population but over 140 attacks in over 25 countries. Yet we can determine from Biden's statements on record that as late as 2013 he felt "happy" and fulfilled" with the decision to withdraw the troops from Iraq.
Fast forward 2 1/2 years and the Obama administration relented and sent U.S. forces back into Iraq to deal with the terrorists they had allowed to prosper. Incredibly, we have to jump to 2020 to finally see an admission from Biden that the decision to withdraw all the troops from Iraq "was a mistake." And during the presidential campaign of 2020, Biden even pointed fingers at President Trump's decision to withdraw a small force of U.S. troops from Syria saying, "when we leave a vacuum, like he's leaving it, it creates significant opportunities for difficulty."
You think?
And yet . . .
Here we are in 2021 and now President Biden has just repeated one of the most catastrophic mistakes that occurred under his leadership in 2011. The result, though yet to be fully determined, will most likely surpass the global impact that occured in Iraq. We have already witnessed a terrorist attack at the Kabul airport, that has killed 13 U.S. servicemen and over 90 Afghan civilians. The Taliban, in less than 7 days, has started rolling back progress for women and children that has taken 20 years to achieve. But the Taliban lack the arms and training, even after stealing what the U.S. was forced to leave behind to deal with the emerging Islamic faction, determined to achieve power in the vacuum that the U.S. withdrawal has created.
Biden's speech on these developments has been the usual pattern of his leadership style, pointing fingers at others and assuming none of the blame. Weeks earlier Biden had been exuding confidence on the ability of the Afghan troops and people to maintain the government that U.S. troops had died to help achieve. Either there was an complete intelligence breakdown or Biden was once again deflecting blame instead of assuming responsibility for his actions.
Worse, we are fighting a war on terrorism using the same methods that we utilized 50 years ago. The world is changing rapidly and our methods of dealing with terrorists must change as well. But one thing has not changed, the perception of America as being unwilling to do the hard things and our propensity to run at the first sign of trouble. The world has taken note of our actions and worse our enemies have judged us as weakening world power. Until we prove differently, they are right.
