Posted on 09/28/2021 10:43:55 AM PDT by Kevmo
Top generals contradict Biden, say they urged him not to withdraw from Afghanistan
Gen. Frank McKenzie said that he recommended maintaining a small force of 2,500 troops in Afghanistan earlier this year.
Gen. Frank McKenzie, commander of the United States Central Command, listens during a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing.
By LARA SELIGMAN
09/28/2021 11:38 AM EDT
Updated: 09/28/2021 12:00 PM EDT
Top generals told lawmakers under oath on Tuesday that they advised President Joe Biden early this year to keep several thousand troops in Afghanistan — directly contradicting the president’s comments in August that no one warned him not to withdraw troops from the country.
The remarkable testimony pits top military brass against the commander-in-chief as the Biden administration continues to face tough questions about what critics are calling a botched withdrawal that directly led to the deaths of 13 American service members, scenes of chaos at the Kabul airport, and the abandonment of American citizens and at-risk Afghans in the war-torn country.
Gen. Kenneth "Frank" McKenzie, the commander of U.S. Central Command, told the Senate Armed Services in a hearing Tuesday that he recommended maintaining a small force of 2,500 troops in Afghanistan earlier this year.
He also noted that in the fall of 2020, during the Trump administration, he advised that the U.S. maintain a force almost double the size, of 4,500 troops, in Afghanistan.
In answering questions from Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.) about his advice, McKenzie said he would not share his “personal recommendation” to the president.
But he went on to say that his “personal view,” which he said shaped his recommendations, was that withdrawing those forces “would lead inevitably to the collapse of the Afghan military forces and, eventually, the Afghan government.”
McKenzie also acknowledged that he talked to Biden directly about the recommendation by Gen. Scott Miller, the commander of U.S. Forces Afghanistan until July, that the military leave a few thousand troops on the ground, which Miller detailed in closed testimony last week.
“I was present when that discussion occurred and I am confident that the president heard all the recommendations and listened to them very thoughtfully,” McKenzie said.
McKenzie’s remarks directly contradict Biden’s comments in an Aug. 19 interview with ABC’s George Stephanopoulos, in which he said that “no one” that he “can recall” advised him to keep a force of about 2,500 troops in Afghanistan.
During the interview, Stephanopoulos asked Biden point blank: “So no one told — your military advisers did not tell you, "No, we should just keep 2,500 troops. It's been a stable situation for the last several years. We can do that. We can continue to do that"?
Biden answered: “No. No one said that to me that I can recall.”
Top generals contradict Biden, say they urged him not to withdraw from Afghanistan Austin: Milley sought 'clarification' from Russian counterpart on offer for assistance Pentagon leaders: Kabul withdrawal was a ‘strategic failure’ During the hearing on Tuesday, Inhofe next asked Gen. Mark Milley, chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, if he agreed with the recommendation to leave 2,500 troops on the ground. Milley answered affirmatively.
Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska) attempted to pin Milley down on Biden’s August remarks, repeatedly asking the general whether the comments constituted “a false statement.”
Milley declined to give a direct answer, saying only that “I'm not going to characterize a statement of the president of the United States.”
Sullivan then grilled McKenzie about the accuracy of the president’s statement, stressing that the general does not “have a duty to cover for the president when he's not telling the truth.”
McKenzie again declined to criticize the president, saying only that “I've given you my opinion and judgment.”
Later in the hearing, Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) asked Milley if he should have resigned when the president decided to fully withdraw from Afghanistan against the generals’ advice.
Milley argued that resigning in protest would have been a “political act,” and that the president has no obligation to agree with his military advice. “It would be an incredible act of political defiance for a commissioned officer to just resign because my advice is not taken,” Milley said. “This country doesn't want generals figuring out what orders we are going to accept and do or not. That's not our job.”
Milley added that his decision was also informed by the experience of his father, who fought at Iwo Jima.
“[My father] didn’t get a choice to resign,” Milley said. “Those kids there at Abbey Gate, they don’t get a choice to resign,” Milley said, referring to the 13 American service members who died during the evacuation from Kabul in late August when an ISIS-K suicide bomber detonated an explosive vest. “They can't resign so I'm not going to resign. There's no way.”
Impeach 46!
Impeach 46!
Generals Milley & McKenzie confirmed they recommended against President Biden’s withdrawal timeline
https://rumble.com/vn2g19-generals-milley-and-mckenzie-confirmed-they-recommended-against-president-b.html
CNN not buying it either
CNN on the general contradicting Biden’s claim on Afghanistan withdrawal
https://rumble.com/vn2odj-cnn-on-the-general-contradicting-bidens-claim-on-afghanistan-withdrawal.html
JUDAS JOE SOLD THE AMERICAN PEOPLE OUT AGAIN.
Those kids at Abbey Gate didn’t have a well paid BOD “job” on the line, either.
i think China told Biden to get out and leave the equipment there as a sweetener to the Taliban for their mining deal.
Generals, testifying under oath to Congress, are required to reveal the truth as they know it.
Contrast this to Milley talking with Woodward for an anti-Trump book, and telling the Chicoms he would give them advance warning of a surprise attack, which are both actionable under UCMJ. (Or, at least the should be actionable)
“Milley argued that resigning in protest would have been a “political act,” and that the president has no obligation to agree with his military advice. “It would be an incredible act of political defiance for a commissioned officer to just resign because my advice is not taken,” Milley said. “This country doesn’t want generals figuring out what orders we are going to accept and do or not. That’s not our job.””
Too bad he didn’t feel that way with Trump. He opposed and undermined him to the point of having backchannels to the murderous communist Chinese government.
No, you'll just commit treason against a Republican President, and the country you took an oath to protect.
biden is the dangerous one! The entire hypocritical left wailed in panic over Trump and claimed he was going to start a war. They moved the ridiculously stupid “doomsday clock” to 11.59 PM.
We are in more danger under the bucket of sheep spit than under Trump.
Lots of comments regarding General Miller’s recommendations and if they were presented to Biden. From the tone of the senators it sounded like they did not think his recommendations were given
And certain Generals are bastards.
“”Victory has 100 fathers and defeat is an orphan.” JFK”
Something tells wasn’t the original person to say that.
Seneca said something like it. About Tacitus, IIRC.
I call my plan the emBASEee strategee. From my home page:
I have been advocating for several years a policy I call ‘embaseees’. Embassy + AirBase —> EmBASEeees. We go into a terrorist country, clear out their taliban equivalent, then withdraw to very large Embassies, perhaps 3 of them. Have them big enough to encompass a military airbase where we can use it for decades on end to conduct anti-terrorism operations. As long as the ‘host’ country aint killing Americans then we let them have self-sovereignty. Kind of like how we operated in the Phillipines for decades. We could even have an intermediate zone that we patrol but it would be autonomous. Let them have their taste of freedom. A referendum every 10 years to see how large the boundaries of the intermediate autonomous zone should be.
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He's probably telling the truth, since "no one" that he "can recall" ever told him his Depends needed changing.
As far as I’m concerned, I would not impeach Joe Biden. I would have the Marines or Secret Service arrest him for Treason and Court Marshall. Them when he is convicted with a death sentence for the murder of USA thirteen military personnel and the murder of innocent civilians and innocent children....I would commute his sentence to life in prison in Alaska, Giving him just enough food and medicine to keep that bastard alive!!! Why?
Folks this evil “Satan” Biden, among us has no heart, no compassion, no decent humanity within his evil bones!!! He has a hateful temper, thinks he is a legend in his own warped mind...which he is not now and never will be!!! Joe Biden is the lowest form of human being possible...that is why thousands, if not millions of Americans are shouting out loud everywhere “F—K You...Biden”!!! Actually Biden deserves every word they utter!!! This guy Biden worships, only himself, and his Navy Rejected, Drug Addict, Woman Abuser, Criminal, son, Hunter Biden. What a pair!!! Wake up America....the Biden faults are coming to you and your loved ones!!!
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