Media top headlines August 31
In media news today, critics resurface Biden ABC interview where he pledged to stay in Afghanistan until every American was rescued, Blinken gets knocked for avoiding questions after Afghan withdrawal speech, and Biden repeatedly implies he's not in charge of when, where he can take press questions
Iraqi War veteran Paul Rieckhoff on Tuesday called out President Biden's Afghanistan policy as "marred with incompetence, and failure, and disorganization, and lies."
Rieckhoff appeared on MSNBC’s "Deadline: White House" to discuss Biden’s speech Tuesday regarding the disastrous pullout of U.S. troops from Afghanistan. Host Nicolle Wallace asked Rieckhoff if Biden or national security adviser Jake Sullivan properly explained the situation to Americans.
"No," Rieckhoff responded, immediately criticizing the administration’s explanation.
"We know he cares. We know people care, but there’s an issue here that has to be pulled apart. The withdrawal is different from the evacuation, and the evacuation was marred with incompetence, and failure, and disorganization, and lies. And that is the part that people right now who are close to it are focused on," Rieckhoff said.
Rieckhoff previously criticized the Biden administration for its original decision to pull out troops by Aug. 31, citing concerns about abandoning American citizens in the process.
"One of my interpreters is still in Iraq or might be dead. I don't know what happened to him," he said in July. "That's happening now across Afghanistan and to families throughout the military and the active duty that are very concerned about these heroic people that have stood with America and are being left to die."
Rieckhoff made a similar comment Tuesday slamming the administration for having no system to retrieve citizens.
"He still didn’t give you an answer for what we do for the SIVs that are right there now being hunted by the Taliban and will be killed. It’s not a good thing that he has to work with his family through a phone treaty to get them out. We should have a government system in place, and that’s where you see the outrage," Rieckhoff said.
Rieckhoff also commended the many veterans speaking out against the president in demand for accountability and answers.
"It’s wonderful that so many veterans stood up. The American public has rallied. But we’re rallying because our government failed. And where is the accountability? That is the question for Jake Sullivan, and that is a question for the president that he continues to refuse to answer," he said.
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By contrast, MSNBC’s Rick Stengel defended Biden’s pullout, claiming that "He gave us a hard truth. We have no strategic interest in Afghanistan. Let me say that again. We have no strategic interest in Afghanistan."
"He’s a man who hates war. That’s what we heard today," Stengel said.
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