By Aula Minerva
Spy Archivist
The collapse of the Afghan Army and Government, and the difficulties that ensued, have been big news in all media, and the consensus is clear: it's all Biden's fault!
Treating the Taliban’s seizure of Afghanistan’s capitol over the weekend as a shocking event in the wake of U.S. troops withdrawing from the war-torn country, the press eagerly jumped into the blame game. In the process, they diligently did the GOP’s bidding by omitting key context in its rush to pin the blame for a 20-year, extraordinarily complex and heartbreaking military and foreign policy failure on a single man who took office just seven months ago.
Turning over their platforms to partisan Republicans and pro-war military experts, the media seemed eager to portray President Joe Biden as one being swallowed up in “crisis,” even as his call to withdraw troops has drawn overwhelming, bipartisan support at home.
How could Joe Biden have screwed up so badly, after 20 years of bipartisan success in Afghanistan? How come he didn't realize that the Afghan Army would evaporate in a matter of days? Everybody knew, right?
Funny story:
Who was Biden listening to, anyway? The New York Times offers a clue:
Speaking at the Pentagon, Gen. Mark A. Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, also said intelligence predictions of when the Afghan security force would stop fighting and of the government collapse varied widely.
“There are not reports that I am aware of that predicted a security force of 300,000 would evaporate in 11 days,” General Milley said.
Imagine relying on the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff before taking action. What kind of schmuck listens to his top generals? Not Biden's predecessor.
This attack on a President for relying on what he was told in trying to navigate the chaos of the abrupt end of a 20-year war caused us to wonder if there was anything in the Spy's archives that might provide some precedent for such criticism.
We found some.
From The Massachusetts Spy, December 25, 1944:
From The Massachusetts Spy, August 31, 1864:
From The Massachusetts Spy, December 15, 1776:
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