VIDEO: Barrasso Says Biden’s Afghanistan Pullout is ‘Worse Than Vietnam’
Senator John Barrasso of Wyoming continues to criticize the means and measure by which President Biden withdrew from the war in Afghanistan.
Now, during a Senate hearing on the 'Chaotic Afghanistan Withdrawal' (credit Fox News), Biden has doubled down on his claims that President Biden is lying when he says the Afghanistan evacuation was an 'extraordinary success.'
"President Biden has described the evacuation from Afghanistan as an extraordinary success," Barrasso began. "His words - 'extraordinary success.' This has to be the lie of the 21st century. It's dishonest. And if he believes it, it's delusional. America can no longer ever say 'We leave no American behind,' because Joe Biden did. And by your own testimony, in your words this morning, there are still about a hundred Americans trapped behind enemy lines."
Barrasso is, perhaps, taking this a bit more personally as one of the 13 U.S. Service members who was killed in the terrorist attack in Kabul, Afghanistan was Wyoming's own Rylee McCollum.
"We've heard a lot about the 13 U.S. Service members who died a couple of weeks ago," Barrasso said. "One was Rylee McCollum of Jackson Hole, Wyoming. He was 20 years old, signed up for the Marines on his 18th birthday, his wife Gigi expecting a baby. The baby was delivered just yesterday; a baby girl. I stood with Rylee's family and his then pregnant wife one Friday in Jackson Hole, Wyoming as his remains were brought back in a flag draped coffin from Afghanistan. He never made it back home alive."
Barrasso has spent much time with the McCollum family, as well as with Rylee's wife Gigi. He delivered a fitting tribute to the young marine on the Senate floor Tuesday and, because of his relationship with the McCollum family, may be even more prickly when it comes to President Biden's decisions.
"As a result of this administration's failures, people in Wyoming view this as having lost one of their sons, one of their children," Barrasso said. "It is a devastating loss and they really do believe that it's the administration who should hold the blame for what has occurred."
While Barrasso certainy doesn't speak for all Wyomingites, there are many who echo his sentiments.
"This withdrawal, and you've heard it from other senators on both sides of the aisle, has been an epic failure," Barrasso reiterated. "No planning. No strategy. IIt was cobbled together at the last minute, disorganized."
Barrasso then shifted blame to Secretary of State Antony Blinken. It was Blinken who was there to defend the Biden Administration's decision to pull out of Afghanistan and it was he who would bear the criticism from top Republicans, two of which actually called for him to resign.
"It didn't have to be this way," Barrasso told Blinken. "I'm thinking back to your confirmation hearing. I had raised a number of questions and concerns about your record on foreign policy failures in Syria, in Libya, in Iran. I said these botched decisions have serious consequences. I said I believe they emboldened terrorist organizations around the globe. I said your decisions in the past had put lives of men and women who serve our nation at risk because of these failures and I said I think it would be a grave mistake to confirm a Secretary of State who has a demonstrated track record of repeatedly making the wrong decisions when it comes to American foreign policy and national security. And the actions I've seen from you over the last seven months have proven my assessment to be correct."
Barrasso then named many of the perceived failures of the Biden administration.
"The most egregious [thing] though, that I hear about in Wyoming and people all across the country are most offended by is abandoning American citizens, as well as abandoning our allies in Afghanistan," Barrasso repeated. "Senator Portman went over the numbers, the Washington Post called it a moral disaster. I think it's a moral disgrace, but you nearly dislocated your shoulder though, patting yourself on the back for the great job you've done."
Barrasso then began asking Blinken a series of questions that very quickly turned into a debate about the effectiveness of the plan to evacuate Afghanistan. Barrasso maintained that plan was not a good one.
Following the Senate hearing, Barrasso spoke to reporters and continued to make his thoughts and feelings known.
"The United States is less safe now than we were over the last twenty years and Afghanistan is now a haven for terrorists," Barrasso stated. "Our enemies are emboldened, our friends are furious, and President Biden wants to wash his hands of this entire thing and get it behind him, in spite of how many people have been left behind to be captured, tortured, and killed."
Barrasso then made clear that he believes the deaths of Americans and Afghanistan allies are directly because of President Biden's actions.
"President Biden has blood on his hands," he said. "And no matter how hard he tries, he cannot remove the stain of this from his hands or from his reputation. This is worse from Benghazi, it's worse than the Iran hostage crisis, it is worse than Vietnam. It's heartbreaking."
Then Barrasso once again brought up Rylee McCollum and the fact that the people of Wyoming have raised an incredible amount of funds to take care of Rylee's wife and baby girl.
"The American people, through a GoFundMe page, have raised over a million dollars for Rylee's wife and baby daughter, who will never get a chance to meet him," Barrasso said. "And today, I have a lot more faith in the American people than I certainly do in this disgraced and incompetent president."