Joe Biden addressed the nation on his extremely flawed and deadly withdrawal from Afghanistan.  His comments came a day late and a dollar short once again, despite claiming that the buck stops with him."  His address on August 31 blamed everybody but himself for the utter failure of his withdrawal.

Once again, he threw his military advisers under the bus, stating that they unanimously recommended closing Bagram Air Base over Kabul International for the evacuation.  Anyone with an ounce of strategic planning training knew that this was a bad choice.  Why would you withdraw and surrender a base with a 30-mile defensible perimeter and air support over one crammed into a tight urban setting surrounded by high ground, cover and concealment, and civilian shields?  You know that General Mark Milley and secretary of defense General Lloyd Austin did not as a first choice recommend to the president surrendering Bagram over Kabul.

If you listen closely to Milley's statements, the decision to close Bagram was due not to strategy, but to personnel constraints.  In other words, "President" Joe Biden disregarded their advice to collapse the embassy and move it to Bagram, where they could more easily defend personnel and civilians while completing the withdrawal.  Think about it: the personnel (troops) were already present at the airbase to defend it.  But instead, Joe Biden and his ego, in a rush to be the "president" who ended this conflict from the American perspective, ordered that the personnel at the airbase be removed first.

In other words, "President" Joe Biden took the first option off the table and left Milley and Austin with no real choice.  Without formally calling out the president, on August 18, General Milley stated his mission this way: "Our task given to us at that time, our task was [to] protect the embassy in order for the embassy personnel to continue to function with their consular service and all that[.] ... If we were to keep both Bagram and the embassy going, that would be a significant number of military forces that would have exceeded what we had or stayed the same.  So we had to collapse one or the other, and a decision was made."

Following the lawful orders of their commander-in-chief, they then recommended as "the only" option they were left with to collapse the airbase and concentrate efforts on securing Kabul.  The "president" tries to spin this as "his generals and advisers" all being in agreement that using Kabul should be the plan going forward.  Therefore, Joe Biden owns this debacle all to himself.  The "president" is also responsible for not ensuring that the Afghan commanders at Bagram were informed of our departure and the time frame in which it was executed.

Joe Biden is a coward and proves it every time he takes to the podium.  He talks big, then turns tail and runs.  Our country is less safe with the vacuum he has left in Afghanistan, and I am willing to cut General Milley and Secretary Austin some slack.  However, now that they have fulfilled their lawful orders, they should resign as recommended by Lt. Colonel Stu Scheller, USMC.

As President Obama said: "Don't underestimate Joe's ability to f--- things up."

United States Marine Corps veteran (sergeant), retired 32-year law enforcement veteran of the Douglas County Sheriff's Department, and Denver, Colorado Police Department.  Terrorism liaison officer, 14-year airport officer, and certified member of the American Association of Airport Executives, former aviation security supervisor III- Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport.

Image: ResoluteSupportMedia.

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