Pollak: 10 Civilians Killed in Kabul, 10 Unanswered Questions Biden Must Answer
Joel B. Pollak — 17 Sep 2021
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1. What did President Joe Biden know, and did he authorize the strike? White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Aug. 30 that Biden had delegated authority to the military, but was “regularly briefed.” What did he know? Did he give the green light?
2. Were there political motivations behind the strike? Did the White House pressure the Pentagon to come up with some kind of response to the Aug. 26 suicide bombing, to provide political cover for the administration’s bungled withdrawal?
3. Why would the military launch an airstrike against an unknown person, absent compelling evidence of imminent threat? The most shocking aspect of the strike was that the Pentagon did not know who was in the vehicle.
4. Was the U.S. fed bad intelligence by the Taliban or other bad actors? There has long been suspicion that different groups in Afghanistan feed false information to the U.S. to take out their rivals. Is that what happened in the Kabul strike?
5. What does taking “full responsibility”mean? Where are the hearings, resignations, prosecutions, demotions, or firings? McKenzie did not rule out further consequences in his Pentagon press briefing, but declined to lead by example.
6. Why was the U.S. public fed a false story by the Pentagon and the White House for several weeks? The Pentagon said Aug. 30 there was a high degree of confidence in the target; the White House said much the same. Were they lying?
7. Why would the U.S. military settle for an evacuation where it had to rely on airstrikes? The Kabul airport, guarded by the Taliban, was defenseless and left the U.S. few options; given the risks, why did the U.S. abandon Bagram air base?
8. How inaccurate is the U.S. military in general when it comes to airstrikes? The fact that this mistake happened ought to prompt an immediate review of U.S. airstrikes, to determine whether their accuracy can be improved in future.
9. Will this compromise national security by discouraging legitimate, accurate targeted killings? The use of targeted killings — like President Donald Trump’s strike on Qasem Soleimani — is an important tool against terror. Have we lost it?
10. Will the Biden administration apologize to the new Taliban regime, and pay reparations? McKenzie dodged a press question about reparations, but if the Taliban regime presses the U.S. to apologize, it may find international support.
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Excellent questions, BUT, (and there is always a BIG butt), does anyone expect real answers?
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Reinke Faces Life 