President Joe Biden’s political obituary should have been published numerous times — but if there was ever a time for it to be written, edited, and flashed across the news wires, it was Aug. 26, 2021.
On that date, during the fateful withdrawal from Afghanistan — an act of carnage and cowardice for which Biden and his administration bear sole responsibility — a bombing at Kabul airport killed 13 American service members and at least 170 Afghans as the American military and its allies rushed to evacuate.
Because of their premature retreat, the Biden administration was unable to defend them. When the US military used a preemptive drone strike on Aug. 29 to “protect” those attempting to flee Afghanistan from another airport bombing, the “terrorist” target turned out to be an aid worker and nine of his family members, according to NBC News.
What did President Biden do when the bodies of US servicemen and women returned home? According to multiple sources, he told the narrative about his son’s cancer death during desultory meetings with the families of the deceased.
The Kabul airport attack and its aftermath have been mostly forgotten by the official media after two years and a slew of additional atrocities.
Mark Schmitz and other Gold Star families want Americans to remember, and they went to Capitol Hill on Tuesday to make sure their loved ones’ losses are not forgotten.
According to NBC News, Schmitz and others spoke at a House Foreign Affairs Committee roundtable, where they slammed the Biden administration and Pentagon leadership.
“We’ve been lied to about what happened that day, as well as what happened to our children. We’ve been lied to about our relationship with the Taliban, which, by the way, have done more to take out the leaders of this attack than our own leadership has,” said Greg Page, according to NBC.
Page’s son, Marine Cpl. Daegan W. Page was murdered in the Kabul attack.
The viral heartbreaking moment that most represented the emotions of the fallen families, however, came from Mark Schmitz, the father of Marine Lance Cpl. Jared Schmitz.
“I identify as a father, a husband, a pissed-off, fed-up American patriot — and now, thanks to this administration, a Gold Star dad, a title no one ever wants to have,” Schmitz told the committee.
“From the age of 3, Jared has always dreamed of being a Marine,” he said, noting that his son signed up for the Corps right after high school.
“Little did he know or I know that would end up being the final major decision in his life; 2021 rolls around quickly, he says he’s getting to come home and see us and his brothers and sisters because he’s finally getting to go home on his first deployment to Jordan …
“He felt like was finally getting the chance to make a difference. He felt that by becoming a Marine, he would make that difference a reality.”
However, in the summer of 2021, Jared told his father he was being sent somewhere “he couldn’t talk about.”
“I knew it had to be Afghanistan,” Schmitz said. “We followed the news back home about what was going on and knew that had to be the place. Ever since Biden decided to ignore all reliable intelligence from his top advisers and close Bagram Air Force Base … which directly and immediately led to the Taliban taking back most of Afghanistan, that our warriors previously had fought so hard to control.”
The shutdown of Bagram effectively removed the one thing protecting the Afghan government from succumbing to the insurgents: air cover for Afghan government fighters, who had managed to keep the Taliban at bay with little cost or risk to US troops.
The original withdrawal, negotiated by former President Donald Trump, was based on “a conditions-based, methodical exit plan that would preserve the national interest,” according to a commentary piece written by Kash Patel, former President Donald Trump’s chief of staff at the Department of Defense, and published in the New York Post on Aug. 19, 2021.
Biden changed the strategy to an unconditional departure, ignoring ground conditions and any pretense of a gradual, orderly disengagement from Afghanistan.
When Schmitz’s son was finally able to contact home from Afghanistan, he claimed he was stationed at the so-called Abbey Gate — the security checkpoint at the airport where the terrible explosion occurred, according to The Associated Press.
“He said he thought he was going to die there those first couple of days due to the absolute chaos,” Schmitz testified. “He said, ‘Dad, the look on these people’s faces was that of utter human desperation and there’s no way we can save them all.’”
As it turns out, the U.S. couldn’t even save Lance Cpl. Jared Schmitz — and, as his father pointed out, “not a single person has been held accountable.”
“Our so-called leader can’t even utter their names in public — not even once,” Schmitz said. “Mr. Biden has run his entire political campaign for 50 years as a family man … That campaign slogan will never work again. We have been seeing what is going on in your family — and even worse, we’ve seen how you have been treating us, the Gold Star families.
“There cannot be anything more cowardly and disgusting with how you treated us,” he continued. “You are a disgrace to the nation.”
Schmitz went on to say that Biden was famous for frequently checking his watch while waiting for the fallen servicemen on the airstrip at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware:
Two years ago today came this infamous photo of Biden repeatedly checking his watch during the dignified transfer ceremony for the 13 heroes killed in the Abbey Gate terror attack on August 26, 2021. Biden has still not publicly said their names aloud.
👉 https://t.co/KREaNkdlj1 pic.twitter.com/eXqFIc3fj3
— Jerry Dunleavy 🇺🇸 (@JerryDunleavy) August 29, 2023
“As you can probably tell by now, I am done biting my tongue,” Schmitz said, addressing his remarks to Biden. “You, sir, stole their lives, their futures, their dreams. You ripped apart 13 families. You cannot even man up and admit that. You, sir, gave us all the title ‘Gold Star family.’ You, sir, discredit honor and integrity.”
"Our so-called leader can't seem to even utter their names in public — not even once," says the Gold Star dad to fallen Marine Lance Cpl. Jared Schmitz.
"There couldn't be anything more disgusting and cowardly than the way you have treated us. You are a disgrace to this nation." pic.twitter.com/UxttDHMt7P
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) August 29, 2023
“Two years later, there are things I find myself thinking about,” he continued. “Where and what was Biden’s logic sneaking out of Bagram in the middle of the night, before even getting a single Afghan partner or American civilian out?
“This is the purest definition of intentional negligence.”
The father’s full comments are here:
WARNING: The following video contains graphic language that some viewers will find offensive.
While that may be an exaggeration, when it comes to the amount of innocent blood poured without responsibility, it’s difficult to name anyone other than our present president.
Two years have passed since Afghanistan’s fall. It was similar to the fall of Saigon, except that it could have been avoided totally. All the president had to do was implement his predecessor’s conditional pullout strategy. He made the withdrawal conditional, which resulted in untold death and damage.
Despite this, no one has been held accountable, not by the government or the mainstream media. It’s almost as if nothing happened at all.
And, after 13 American service members were killed in the Kabul airport explosion, did Biden step up and accept responsibility? No, he looked at his watch to see when the horrible stuff was going to end. He’s been doing it since January 20, 2021.
Joe, keep an eye on that watch. God willing, the dark times will end for America on January 20, 2025, and the country will finally be able to write your long-overdue political obituary.