A highly decorated British Army officer said he is “absolutely shocked” at President Joe Biden’s Afghanistan withdrawal, rendering the 20-year war “a total waste.”
“6,500 people died, including 3,000 deaths at Twin Towers, and we didn’t achieve a single thing,” said retired Special Operations Staff, Sgt. Trevor Coult, who has been feted by both the queen and President George W. Bush.
“He destroyed 20 years’ work in less than 24 hours.”
Coult served for 21 years in Bosnia, Iraq, and Afghanistan, where he was involved in 178 enemy engagements and survived three bomb blasts. The queen awarded him one of the United Kingdom’s highest honors, the military cross, for saving allied lives during an ambush. Bush also awarded him a presidential citation during a White House dinner.
“Biden is the most incompetent president in the history of the United States,” Coult told the Washington Examiner. “He has befriended terrorists. The White House is not a friend to the West. It’s a danger while he is president.”
Coult said he has spoken to numerous British generals and Special Operations officers about Biden, and they all agree that no one can understand his logic.
“We believe Biden is more of a threat to the West than the Taliban ever was. Without a shadow of a doubt. He betrayed us,” Coult said.
These comments come after former British Prime Minister, Tony Blair said Europe and NATO should prepare to act when the U.S. is unwilling.
“For me, one of the most alarming developments of recent times has been the sense that the West lacks the capacity to formulate strategy,” Blair said. “That its short-term political imperatives have simply squeezed the space for long-term thinking.”
Blair is just one of several British politicians who have criticized Biden’s handling of the Afghanistan withdrawal, spurred on by reports that calls to the White House by Prime Minister Boris Johnson were ignored for 36 hours during the initial chaos. The U.K. Parliament held Biden in contempt.
As for future relations with the U.S., any military cooperation with its Western allies is likely finished until a new president is elected, Coult said, reiterating his conversations with military leaders and public sentiment.
“We don’t know what he is going to do. Why would you help someone who would turn your back on us?” Coult said. “He has nailed that door closed.”
‘We did not want him anywhere near us’: Gold Star families vent fury with Biden
Meanwhile, meeting the president of the United States has been both an honor and a sense of comfort throughout history for military families grappling with losing loved ones to the horrors of war.
That tradition seemingly came screeching to a halt in the past week as nearly half of the Gold Star parents who lost their loved ones in the Kabul suicide blast have publicly excoriated President Joe Biden for his role in their deaths.
Parents have said on television and print that Biden is at fault for the tragedy outside the gates of Kabul airport during the U.S. evacuation. Their anger has been fueled by several Biden gaffes, such as repeatedly checking his watch when caskets were unloaded at Dover Air Force Base and frequently mentioning his late soldier son Beau in an ill-conceived attempt to relate to their grief.
“To have them come out in this regard is unparalleled, and the complete lack of decorum shown in the Biden administration in this solemn event from checking his watch to making a speech about his son and his loss is unacceptable,” said decorated retired Green Beret Jay Collins, who is running for Congress in Florida. “At every opportunity given, he continued to do the wrong thing.”
Collins was deployed to Afghanistan and Iraq after 9/11, later losing his leg in a firefight. He served five more years with a prosthetic. Despite this, Collins recalled his excitement when meeting President George W. Bush at Ft. Bragg when the former commander in chief stopped by to thank the troops.
“I couldn’t believe it … It was W!” Collins said. “It was a complete honor. President Bush had everyone’s respect. [Soldiers] knew he believed in them and was willing to stand up for them and have their interests at heart.”
But when it came time to meet Biden at Dover, members from two Gold Star families skipped the occasion.
“We said, ‘Absolutely not.’ We did not want to deal with him. We did not want him anywhere near us,” Darin Hoover, father of Staff Sgt. Darin Hoover Jr., told Sean Hannity on Fox News.
Hoover felt disrespected to see Biden looking at his watch.
“That happened on every single one that came out of that airplane,” Hoover said. “They would release the salute, and he would look down at his watch on every one. All 13.”
Roice McCollum told the Washington Post her entire family, except for the wife of Lance Cpl. Rylee McCollum, refused to meet with Biden at Dover.
“You can’t f*** up as bad as he did and say you’re sorry,” she said. “This did not need to happen, and every life is on his hands.”
The two most vocal parents have been Mark Schmitz, father of Lance Cpl. Jared Schmitz and Shana Chappell, mother of Lance Cpl. Kareem Nikoui.
Schmitz did several TV interviews, including one on Newsmax, saying he forced Biden to look at a photo of his son.
“I expressed my frustrations with the president to the extent of, mainly I wanted him to look at my son’s picture, the final photo taken the day of his death,” Schmitz said. “I said, ‘Jared Schmitz, don’t forget that name. And don’t forget that face, and don’t forget the names and faces of the other 12, and make sure you spend some time learning their stories.’ And he said he knew their stories, which it didn’t sit well with me.”
In lengthy emotional posts on Facebook, Campbell cursed at Biden and relayed her traumatic experience meeting the commander in chief.
As she relayed her pain, she accused Biden of “roll[ing] your f***ing eyes in your head like you were annoyed with me….i then proceeded to tell you again how you took my son away from me and how i will never get to hug him, kiss him, laugh with him again etc… u turned to walk away and i let you know my sons blood was on your hands and you threw your hand up behind you as you walked away from me,” she wrote.
On Laura Ingraham’s Fox News show, Paula Knauss, mother of slain Staff Sgt. Ryan Knauss, said she has no confirmation that anyone has taken responsibility for the deaths.
“It should never have happened the way it did. Who is accountable for this?” she said. “Who will stand up and say they will be accountable for 13 men and women? Who? Who will stand up and say I am the one who is responsible? I would like to know that.”
Ryan Knauss’s final words to his mother were, “Mom, I’ve been trained. I’ll be in, and I’ll be out in no time. It’s going to be a s***show. You just watch.”
[Washington Post]
