Who wrote that book?
If you said Trump you are right (Along with a ghost writer, probably more writer and less ghost.)
He is supposed to be “The Expert” in making deals… well here is the deal he made with the Taliban.
Trump’s deal with the Taliban, explainedHey wait a minute! The article is over 3 years old!
The Washington Post
Analysis by Amber Phillips
August 26, 2021
That’s right but back then is when it all started with the deal Trump made while he was president with the Taliban which is what he is now laying on Biden and the Democrats. So let us set our time machine to when Trump signed the treaty.
With the withdrawal from Afghanistan turning deadly for U.S. troops, President Biden faces new criticism for a situation that he argues presents him few options.
The deal that President Donald Trump cut last year with the Taliban forced Biden to choose between a withdrawal now or an escalation of the war, Biden said Thursday, as he addressed the nation after at least 13 members of the U.S. military were killed in Kabul.
[…]
“I had only one alternative,” he said, “to send thousands more troops back into Afghanistan to fight a war that we had already won, relative to the reason why we went in the first place.”
When the deal was cut in Doha, Qatar, in February 2020, it wasn’t treated as huge news, because the war itself wasn’t big news. So many people don’t actually know its contents.
Here is what’s in it and how it has been perceived.
When Trump came into office, he was pretty transparent — he just wanted out of Afghanistan. “Trump had no real sense of what was at stake in the war or why to stay,” writes Georgetown professor Paul Miller in a digestible history of the 20-year war.
So Trump took a swing at something his predecessors hadn’t: a full-bore effort to strike a deal with the Taliban. It took nine rounds of talks over 18 months. At one point, Trump secretly invited the Taliban to the presidential retreat at Camp David on the eve of the anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. But he shut that down — and on Twitter threatened to shut down all talks — after an American service member was killed and there was bipartisan backlash over the invitation.
The deal laid out an explicit timetable for the United States and NATO to pull out their forces: In the first 100 days or so, they would reduce troops from 14,000 to 8,600 and leave five military bases. Over the next nine months, they would vacate all the rest. “The United States, its allies, and the Coalition will complete withdrawal of all remaining forces from Afghanistan within the remaining nine and a half (9.5) months,” the deal reads. “The United States, its allies, and the Coalition will withdraw all their forces from remaining bases.”
The United States would release 5,000 Taliban prisoners; the Taliban would release 1,000 of its prisoners.
The Taliban “will send a clear message that those who pose a threat to the security of the United States and its allies have no place in Afghanistan,” the deal read. And the Taliban agreed to “prevent any group or individual in Afghanistan from threatening the security of the United States and its allies, and will prevent them from recruiting, training, and fundraising and will not host them in accordance with the commitments in this agreement.”
This deal required taking the Taliban’s promises on faith.
[…]
One gaping problem, say scholars (including some from the Trump administration): The peace agreement came with no enforcement mechanism for the Taliban to keep its word.
Fast forward…
You all know the story from here…Opinion Column: Why Donald Trump’s politicking at Arlington National Cemetery should disgust every American
LA Times
By Robin AbcarianColumnist
August 30, 2024Former President Trump did something breathtakingly cynical, certainly immoral and probably illegal the other day.
In other words, it was Monday.
Trump used an appearance on the hallowed grounds of Arlington National Cemetery, a resting place for many who honorably served their country, to make a campaign video.
Trump was ostensibly at Arlington to commemorate the third anniversary of the killing of 13 American service members by a suicide bomber during the chaotic American withdrawal from Afghanistan. He said the soldiers’ family members, some of whom disparaged President Biden at the Republican National Convention, invited him.
But Trump also later on questioned as why President Biden or VP Harries wasn’t there, reported by NBC News
An anniversary that was created as a “Gotcha” the only thing was people didn’t like using a cemetery for a campaign ad, and they were more incensed over the fact that it was based on a lie.
His aides have publicly dismissed the report of a physical interaction at the cemetery and accused Democrats of ignoring the anniversary, which is the most poignant reminder of a withdrawal that was politically damaging to Biden.
Let's see. First they create a phony ceremony, then they go to a cemetery to shoot a campaign ad where they are not supposed to do a campaign ad, then when they get caught and raise a stink about it being an anniversary that no one else is remembering.
But get what happened when team Trump was doing their victory lap, the other shoe dropped...
Paul Rieckhoff, founder of the group Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, sharply criticized the Trump visit.
"I have never in my life seen a politician do a smiling thumbs-up in front of the grave of a fallen Marine. It’s inappropriate," he told NBC News. "It’s disrespectful. It’s not Disney World, it’s Arlington National Cemetery, and it should be respected as such."
"Now they’re literally in a PR battle — not with some liberal news entity, but with Arlington National Cemetery," he added. "This is not a group of partisans. This is not the Kamala Harris campaign. This is Arlington National Cemetery that, I think, is rightfully holding the line of good order and discipline that is expected at such a hallowed place."
According to Arlington National Cemetery’s media policy, filming and photographing is not authorized “for partisan, political or fundraising purposes, in accordance with the Hatch Act.”
The Hatch Act is a federal law that restricts the political activity of individuals employed by executive agencies and those who work for programs financed by federal loans and grants.
In a statement, the cemetery confirmed an incident occurred and a report was filed but did not provide additional information.
“Federal law prohibits political campaign or election-related activities within Army National Military Cemeteries, to include photographers, content creators or any other persons attending for purposes or in direct support of a partisan political candidate’s campaign,” the cemetery said in a statement.
The article ends with,
Some veterans were alarmed about the incident. VoteVets, a progressive organization that works to elect veterans, shared a screenshot of the TikTok, criticizing Trump for the incident and video.
“And there you go. Donald Trump is using footage and photos his campaign took at Arlington National Cemetery for political purposes — against the rules and law that govern this hallowed ground,” VoteVets said.
The family who invited Donald Trump to Arlington National Cemetery on Monday was “happy to welcome him,” mother-in-law of a dead soldier Christy Shamblin told CNN on Saturday. Shamblin added that Trump accompanied the family to Section 60 of the graveyard “at our request to spend time with our loved ones.”“There was not a press presence there,” Shamblin continued. “We privately took pictures among ourselves and it was, you know, a more celebratory feeling for that day. Because we want to celebrate our loved ones, and it’s very hard to find ways to do that at, you know, at a cemetery, but they were very respectful.”Shamblin also said the families extended an invitation to the Biden-Harris administration, “and we didn’t hear back from the White House.”
I guess in Trump's case; "Once a felon, always a felon."
Question: While president how many wreath laying events did Trump attend?
The entire Arlington event was a contrived political stunt. Even if one accepts the invitation to attend a private service at a grave site there are rules in place. Even if the parents of the deceased service person wanted a photo taken, once it was known to them and Trump, none should have been taken. It was all orchestrated. Then, a campaign video was produced. Shame on Trump! But, his actions are in character for for himself. I do not want to seem crass. At least one of my platoon members from my infantry company, who was killed on a combat assault is interned at Arlington. He was a draftee who went to war and paid the ultimate sacrifice. All the young men in my squad who were killed or serious wounded were draftees. Those, who were unfortunately killed in that Afghanistan withdrawal, which was a total mess started by Trump's hasty timetable, enlisted in the military knowing they were always at risk of dying. None of the families of the 17 young men of my company killed in Nam made a public event of their personal suffering. Those families had every intent of creating what happened at Arlington. It did not just happen.
ReplyDeleteNow that we know it’s against the law. What’s next? Fine? Thirty days in jail ? Banded for life? Community service? No Veteran should ever vote for Trump!
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