If Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin had any respect either for themselves or for the United States, they'd resign before they are impeached, "which is what needs to happen with each of them" after the "epic failure" in the pullout from Afghanistan, Rep. Scott Perry said on Newsmax Saturday.
"They have lost the trust of the American people," said the Pennsylvania Republican on Newsmax's "America Right Now," where he was interviewed along with Rep. Steve Chabot, R-Ohio.
"They have lost credibility for America and they're responsible for these deaths, not only the members of the military that died needlessly. But of the civilian casualties, which they then went and lied about for political purposes so they could show us that they were being tough on the perpetrators of those who killed our service members."
The U.S. military said Friday that an Aug. 29 drone strike in Kabul killed as many as 10 civilians, including seven children, and apologized for what the Pentagon called a tragic mistake. Initially, officials said the strike had hit a target that was a threat to the Kabul airport in the final days of the evacuation from Iran, not civilians.
"Just keep in mind that whoever is responsible for those deaths is still out there right because they killed innocent people, including children," said Perry, a retired U.S. Army lieutenant colonel. "Apologies ring hollow. Where's the accountability?
Chabot said he thinks the timing of the drone strike is "somewhat suspicious," and said an investigation is warranted because the Biden administration is trying to change its story.
"We know that one can never avoid civilian casualties in every circumstance," said Chabot. "It happens in war. But in this case, I think certainly the timing is very suspicious."
Meanwhile, the United States should not be in the position of protecting itself from the renewed threat of al Qaeda, ISIS, and other terrorists who could begin using Afghanistan again as a base of operations for attacks, said Chabot.
"I believe this was the worst foreign affairs blunder in American history," Chabot said. "We went into Afghanistan because we had been attacked by al Qaeda, who was harbored by the Taliban in Afghanistan. Our brave men and women in uniform kept the United States safe for 20 years, but then all those gains were kicked aside by this administration so recklessly and in this chaotic pull-out."
As a result, "the terrorist groups will have a gathering place there to plot against us and our allies, and they'll have the most sophisticated weaponry, $85 billion or so worth of that equipment, our own equipment to use against us," he continued. "This is a disgrace of epic proportions that never should have happened and President Joe Biden has been pointing the blame everywhere else."
However, Biden wouldn't follow Trump's policy on the southern border or the Keystone pipeline, or on the Paris Climate Accord or Iran, but Afghanistan "is the one policy he had to follow," said Chabot.
Biden also blamed the Afghan troops for not fighting, but U.S. troops did not lose one person in the last 18 months in Afghanistan, Chabot said.
"There were 3000 Afghans who lost their lives fighting the Taliban, so their excuses ring very hollow," said Chabot.
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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