President Joe Biden’s political obituary should have been published many times over — but, if there were ever a time for it to be written, edited and flashed over the news wires, it would have been Aug. 26, 2021.
On that date, during the fateful withdrawal from Afghanistan — an act of carnage and cowardice Biden and his administration bear sole responsibility for — 13 U.S. servicemen and women and at least 170 Afghanis were killed in a bombing at Kabul airport as the American military and its allies rushed to evacuate.
The Biden administration couldn’t protect them, thanks to their hasty withdrawal. When it tried to “protect” those trying to flee Afghanistan from another airport bombing with what the U.S. military termed a preemptive drone strike on Aug. 29, the “terrorist” target turned out to be an aid worker and nine of his family members who were killed in the process, according to NBC News.
Then, when the bodies of the U.S. servicemen and women came home, what did President Biden do? He made the story about the loss of his son to cancer during desultory meetings with the families of the deceased, according to numerous reports.
Two years and a pile of other outrages later, the Kabul airport bombing and its aftermath have been largely forgotten by the establishment media.
Mark Schmitz and other Gold Star families want Americans to remember — and they went to Capitol Hill on Tuesday to ensure the deaths of their loved ones are not forgotten.
According to NBC News, Schmitz and others testified at a roundtable hosted by the House Foreign Affairs Committee, where they blasted 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 one of those killed in the Kabul bombing.
However, the viral emotional moment that best captured the mood of the families of the fallen came from Mark Schmitz, 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 closure of Bagram effectively ended the one thing keeping the Afghani government from falling to the insurgents: Air cover for Afghan government fighters, which had managed to keep the Taliban at bay with minimal cost or risk to U.S. troops.
The original withdrawal, negotiated under former President Donald Trump, was based on “a conditions-based, methodical exit plan that would preserve the national interest,” according to a commentary piece published by the New York Post on Aug. 19, 2021, and written by Kash Patel, former President Donald Trump’s chief of staff at the Department of Defense.
Biden altered the plan to make it an unconditional withdrawal, ignoring conditions on the ground and any semblance of a methodical, orderly exit from Afghanistan.
Schmitz said that when his son finally had a chance to call home from Afghanistan, he said he was stationed at the so-called Abbey Gate — the security checkpoint at the airport where the deadly explosion took place, 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 note that Biden infamously checked his watch repeatedly as he waited for the dead soldiers on the tarmac 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.
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At one point, Schmitz referred to the global black market for weapons left behind by the military in Afghanistan as well as the illegal immigration crisis raging on the United States southern border and spreading throughout the country.
With that, “and all your failed foreign policy decisions,” he said, still addressing Biden, “You have more American blood on your hands, Mr. Biden, than any president in U.S. history.”
While that might be an exaggeration, strictly speaking, when it comes to the amount of innocent blood shed without any accountability, it’d be hard to pick anyone but our current president.
We’re two years on from the fall of Afghanistan. It was like the fall of Saigon — except, in this case, it was entirely preventable. All the president had to do was follow a conditional withdrawal plan set up by his predecessor. He made the withdrawal unconditional, leading to untold death and destruction.
Yet, no one has been held accountable — either by the government or by the establishment media. It’s almost as if nothing ever happened.
And when 13 U.S. servicemen and women died in the Kabul airport bombing, did Biden step up and take responsibility? No, he checked his watch to see when the bad stuff would be over. Just like he’s been doing since Jan. 20, 2021.
Keep checking that watch, Joe. God willing, the bad stuff will officially be over for America on Jan. 20, 2025, and the country can finally write your long-overdue political obituary.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.
