Rep. Tim Burchett Saturday on Newsmax blamed the deaths of the 13 American service members who were killed in the suicide bombing at the Kabul airport during the evacuation of Afghanistan on the "gutless people" in the State Department who wouldn't allow a Marine sniper to shoot at the eventual attacker.
"Those 13 ... brave Americans should be with their loved ones today," the Tennessee Republican said on Newsmax's "Wake Up America," adding that the soldiers were killed "because of our failure and these gutless people that continuously send our American fighting men and women into combat and not allow them to fight."
Burchett, a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, added that the situation is "just pathetic and this is a perfect example. We're going to call them in. We're going to embarrass them, if the chairman lets us."
His comments come after the testimony of Marine Sgt. Tyler Vargas-Andrews before the House Foreign Affairs Committee earlier this week. Vargas-Andrews detailed the horrors he experienced at Kabul's airport during the withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021, including having identified the eventual bomber but not being cleared with orders to shoot him.
"That young Marine who you saw openly weeping: He was a sniper, and he was given the intelligence of who the suicide bomber was going to be," said Burchett. "He ID'd the guy and that he was acting suspicious. He was doing all the things that they know that they do."
But instead, Vargas-Andrews "was told by his superiors in the State Department, a bunch of gutless wonders, that he could not take that man out."
Burchett noted that Staff Sgt. Ryan Knauss, who died in the bombing, was from his district and that he knows his parents, who live in his neighborhood.
"It was a complete tragedy," said the congressman. "He was recently married. I went to his funeral at Arlington."
Meanwhile, the Biden administration considers the withdrawal a success "because they're a bunch of idiots; and the national media are lapdogs to them," said Burchett.
President Joe Biden, he added, is "not coherent. His cognizance level is below what it should be. And they got him elected, so now they've got to back him and everything he does. And they're just lapdogs to him."
Meanwhile, Congress can fight back against the administration and the Pentagon's actions through their budget, said Burchett.
"The Pentagon lost over a billion dollars last budget cycle," he said. "They don't know where the hell it is, brother; and it's ridiculous. We need to start calling them on the carpet ... my daddy was in the Second World War. His rules of engagement were if he saw the enemy he killed them, and he did. And that's the way it should be."
Burchett said the United States "should not send American fighting men and women to the end of these so-called peacekeeping roles and expect them to deal with a bunch of savages that have been acting like this for thousands of years."
"This is ridiculous," he added. "This is a complete failure. This is just a typical day in the Biden White House."
About NEWSMAX TV:
NEWSMAX is the fastest-growing cable news channel in America!