On Friday’s broadcast of the Fox News Channel’s “The Story,” Rep. Michael Waltz (R-FL) reacted to the Pentagon admitting that the August 29 drone strike killed civilians and not any ISIS-K members by stating that the military on the ground was “put in an impossible situation” by the White House and the Kabul airport “was indefensible.”
Waltz said, “Every time I think this story can’t get worse, it does, and it’s just heartbreaking. But, Martha, I want to take a step back and just unpack a few things…that Gen. McKenzie said there. Number one, the military mission on the ground was put in an impossible situation. They were given two conflicting missions. One, a full withdrawal in the face of enemy contact and obviously ISIS threats. But on the other hand, they had to stay in a posture to still be able to receive people and keep gates opened and have our American citizens and others flow through. And those are conflicting. And they were put in that position by the White House. The other piece is it ignores the fact that Kabul International was indefensible. It’s like being in the middle of Mogadishu. It is in the middle of a four-million-person city. And I still want to get to the bottom of, did the Pentagon brief the White House on taking Bagram back as a course of action and was that rejected or was it never briefed? Because Bagram is north of the city. It’s defensible and it has a much larger runway and capability.”
Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett
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