Attacks on our Border Patrol

 Gary Fouse

fousesquawk

http://garyfouse.blogspot.com

This article first appeared in New English Review.

 As if the scenes this past couple of weeks in Del Rio of 15,000 Haitians storming our border with Mexico were not bad enough, the unconscionable attacks upon our Border Patrol officers by the left and the media are enough to turn your stomach. From Joy Reid at MSNBC to Ilhan Omar, DHS head Alejandro Mayorkas, Kamala Harris, and others took one look at the BP officers on horseback, reins flapping, to quickly conclude that they were whipping the poor Haitian migrants and "bringing back memories of the days of slavery". Talk about a rush to judgment!

And on Friday, President Biden, speaking at a press conference and "answering" a question about the situation at Del Rio, went on to crucify his own Border Patrol, saying that "those people will pay," and "There will be consequences". It was shocking, especially given the fact that the slow-thinking president had a couple of days to digest the situation and realize that nobody was being whipped. Yet, he went right along with his leftist handlers and joined the chorus. Meanwhile, Mayorkas has ordered that the officers be placed on administrative leave and removed horses from any efforts to control the flow of migrants across the river and onto our shores.

As a former federal agent (DEA),  I cannot imagine how our Customs and Border Control agents continue to work under these conditions, where they are given no support from their superiors and the administration in Washington, and now see their very jobs-and freedom- under threat just because they were doing their jobs. All because the media and the ruling Left cannot or do not want to see the difference between whips and horse reins.

So what comes next for the officers on horseback? Will they be disciplined, fired, even be prosecuted and sent to prison? In the same breath that Biden announces an investigation is underway, he states that "those people will pay" and "there will be consequences". Is he the judge, jury, and executioner? At the same time, that hapless hack, Mayorkas, assures reporters that "they know how to conduct an investigation". With the president already promising punishment. That's how the Biden DHS will conduct the investigation.

Just as the Obama administration and the Eric Holder DOJ threw ATF under the bus for the  Operation Fast and Furious fiasco, which was no doubt concocted in Washington, the Biden administration is throwing the Border Patrol under the bus when the videos are clearly exculpatory. It is a disgrace. Neither Biden nor Harris have bothered to spend any time on the border, yet they sit in Washington and condemn the actions of the BP officers who have been put in an impossible situation by the ineptitude and negligence of the Biden administration, which have led to the mess in Del Rio.

Meanwhile, out of 15,000 arrivals, only about 2,000 have been sent back to Haiti, according to DHS, (Mayorkas initially was unable or unwilling to give the numbers when questioned before Congress.) while the remainder are being "processed for removal", a euphemism meaning that they are being transported to points unknown around the US, released, and told to appear later before an immigration judge. The fact is that very few will show up. And all this while several BP officers now have to worry about their careers and their very freedom as Biden promises, "they will pay".

It is all beyond disgusting.

Joe BIden's "Extraordinary Success"

 Gary Fouse

fousesquawk

http://garyfouse.blogspot.com

This article first appeared in New English Review. 

Every time Joe Biden steps in front of a camera, it just gets more pathetic. This week's episode, where he announced the final withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan, was classic Joe Biden. In the face of this unmitigated disaster, Biden actually bragged about the withdrawal, calling it an "extraordinary success"! He rattled off the numbers of people evacuated. He defended his actions and pointed the finger of blame at Trump. This was classic Biden. It's what he has done for 50 years in Washington. This man has never admitted he was wrong about anything. No, Joe Biden is always the smartest guy in the room. In reality, he has spent five decades being wrong about everything. In truth, he is an empty-suit blowhard.

If you want to characterize the performance of our troops at Kabul airport along with the State Department people on the ground in getting 120,000 people onto planes and out of Afghanistan as extraordinary, that part I will agree with. They did a phenomenal job, especially given the circumstances they were given to work with by their leaders in Washington- at the White House and the Pentagon.

What was not an extraordinary success was how our leaders brought this evacuation about. The scenes of tens of thousands of desperate people outside the gates of the airport trying to pass through Taliban roadblocks was not an extraordinary success. Having 13 US troops and almost 200 Afghan civilians killed by a suicide bomber is not an extraordinary success. People falling to their deaths from the wheel wells of departing planes was not an extraordinary success. Leaving our allies in the lurch and unprepared to evacuate their own personnel and Afghan allies was not an extraordinary success. Leaving American citizens behind in order to adhere to the August 31 deadline was not an extraordinary success. Leaving behind some 80 billion dollars in military vehicles, weapons and other equipment is not an extraordinary success.

I do not blame the troops on the ground and the diplomats who stayed to the last for the above. All this would have been avoided had our leaders properly planned and organized this withdrawal. They put those on the ground at Kabul in an impossible situation, and the latter performed heroically under the circumstances.

But there was Biden defending his actions while avoiding the main point. Very few Americans are outraged because he decided (as did Trump) that it was time to end our fighting in Afghanistan and let the Afghans defend their own country. Yes, once we took care of Al Qaeda in Afghanistan and once Usama bin Laden was dead, we should have gotten out. Establishing a Jeffersonian democracy in Afghanistan should never have been a consideration. Yes, it would be great if Afghan women and girls had equal rights and go to school, etc (let alone not be executed in soccer stadiums), but it is not for American soldiers to die to bring that about. Sorry, it just isn't.

No, Mr Biden; it's not that you ended our military involvement in Afghanistan. It is the bungling, incompetent manner that you and your top advisors and military leaders (Secretary of Defense Austin and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Milley)  organized the withdrawal.

In the coming days and weeks, we will hear about one Taliban atrocity after another, likely some committed against American citizens left behind. That will not help Biden's standing. In addition-and I want to say this carefully- we don't know as yet just who these 100,000+ Afghans who were evacuated are. We are told they are interpreters, embassy workers, those who worked with our forces, and Afghans with dual citizenship. If so, I have no issue with that. We have a moral duty to save all of those people.

But how many will turn out to be people who don't fall into those categories? There are already reports coming out that the US and European countries are discovering people who got out who are Taliban members (France) or those on terror watch lists. Countries like Sweden, Germany, and Austria are dealing with a massive crime problem with young Afghan men who have arrived unaccompanied in the past few years. Aside from the Afghans in the categories I mentioned, we need to be very cautious before we open the floodgates to massive Afghan immigration. There is no valid reason why neighboring countries or other Muslim countries should not accept these people. Let them all live happily under Sharia law.

As for Biden, in just 8 months, he has surpassed any and all previous presidents who history has regarded as failed presidents. That is an extraordinary achievement. But it is not an extraordinary success.