Wounded wartime veteran Brian Mast now serves as Florida’s 18th congressional district since 2017. Mast, like most, was outraged at Biden’s mishandling of the Afghanistan withdrawal saying that he ‘dishonored the US for optics’. During an interview with Fox News’ Mark Levin, Mast claimed that all this bloodshed was because Biden wanted a 9/11 celebration.
“I look at the generals we have now, Congressman Mast, and I think to myself: I watch you at these Pentagon briefings, and you’re spinning and you’re spinning,” Levin said.
“We don’t have one among them who’s willing to say, ‘I can’t accept what’s taking place [in Afghanistan], I know the military mission is virtually impossible.’
“We’re putting our troops on the line because we have a commander in chief who is either knows what he’s doing or doesn’t. Either way, it’s a disaster,” Levin said.
“We’ve had generals resign before, but apparently nobody wants to resign here,” said Levin, who has previously suggested Biden’s top general, Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Mark Milley, should resign over the Kabul catastrophe.
“As far as Gen. Austin and Gen. Milley are concerned, their departments are leaking to The New York Times … well then, resign; if you think what is going on is so horrible …,” Levin said earlier this month.
Mast says that Pentagon brass has to be willing to stand up to Biden:
“They have to be willing to say, ‘I can’t give that order. I cannot support that. I will not do that. … That is not an order that should be given to any troop. You are directly putting their lives at risk’ – and this goes to what you spoke about in the beginning as to the United States of America. If we’re not achieving a strategic objective, then we are doing something strictly for the purpose of optics.”
Mast said Biden chose the original Afghan withdrawal date of Sept. 11, 2021, as a symbolic “optics”-driven date, adding that he suspected top adviser Susan Rice or someone like her in the White House suggested that idea.
“The generals needed to say absolutely not: ‘I will not put our men and women at risk just because you want to have a 9/11 celebration and have your name across the newspapers and the right headlines,’” Mast said.
“That did not meet any strategic objective of eliminating terrorists, of making America safer, of making Europe or the Middle East safer [or] a worthy accomplishment to reach.”
Biden turned Afghanistan into another Vietnam War, Mast said. He added that he regularly tells Vietnam vets that their sacrifice was not in vain:
“I said it to Vietnam veterans and veterans of the war on terror – and it also goes to optics: Vietnam was not lost because of those that trudged selflessly through the jungles and rice paddies in Vietnam. It was lost because of Pennsylvania Avenue,” he said, referring to the famous street connecting the White House and Capitol.
“And Afghanistan was not lost because of those that I stood shoulder to shoulder with that went over those mountains, that fell off a cliff, that took incoming mortar and sniper rounds. It wasn’t lost because of them. It was lost because of Pennsylvania Avenue.”
According to The New York Post, dozens of retired generals and admirals have called on Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley to step down, accusing them of “negligence” in connection with the disastrous US troop withdrawal from Afghanistan.
NYP noted that some 90 retired generals joined in to petition for the resignations. The signatories, who claim membership in a group called “Flag Officers 4 America,” claim Austin and Milley “should have recommended against this dangerous withdrawal in the strongest possible terms. If they did not do everything within their authority to stop the hasty withdrawal, they should resign.”
