Fox News: ‘The Five’: Biden’s botched Afghanistan withdrawal is worse than we thought

‘The Five’ co-hosts discuss the first House hearing on the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan and Marine Sgt. Tyler Vargas-Andrews’ emotional testimony about how lives could have been saved at the Kabul airport. #foxnews #fox #thefive

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Transcript

♪ >> Greg: EMOTIONAL HOUSE HEARING ON PRESIDENT BIDEN’S BOTCHED AFGHANISTAN WITHDRAWAL. MARINE SNIPER WHO SURVIVED THE THAT THE BOMBER SAID HE COULD NOT STOP THE ACES SUICIDE BOMBER WHO KILLED 13 SERVICE MEMBERS AND COUNTLESS AFGHANS. >> I REQUESTED ENGAGEMENT AUTHORITY WHEN MY TEAM LEADER WAS READY ON THE SEMIAUTOMATIC CIPHER SYSTEM.

THE RESPONSE, LEADERSHIP DID NOT HAVE THE ENGAGEMENT AUTHORITY FOR US, DO NOT ENGAGE, PLAIN AND SIMPLE, WE WERE IGNORED. OUR EXPERTISE WAS DISREGARDED, KNOWN AS HELD ACCOUNTABLE FOR OUR SAFETY, AND A FLASH, A MASSIVE WAVE OF PRESSURE, I AM THROWN 12 FEET ON THE GROUND, I OPENED MY EYES TO MARINE’S

DEAD OR UNCONSCIOUS, LYING AROUND ME. THE WITHDRAWAL, THE WITHDRAWAL WAS A CATASTROPHE, IN MY OPINION. AND THERE WAS A INEXCUSABLE LACK OF ACCOUNTABILITY AND NEGLIGENCE. >> Greg: SANDRA, THE ACTUAL POLICY DECISION ISN’T THE ARGUMENT HERE. MOST OF US HAVE ACCEPTED THAT THIS WAR HAD TO END, BUT IT WAS

HOW IT WAS CARRIED OUT. YOU KNOW, WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON THIS? >> Sandra: NEGLIGENCE FEAR OF EXTREME LACK OF ACCOUNTABILITY AS A RESULT. PLAIN AND SIMPLE, WE WERE IGNORED. THAT IS HEARTBREAKING TESTIMONY. OUR EXPERTISE WAS DISREGARDED. NO ONE WAS HELD ACCOUNTABLE FOR OUR SAFETY. LET’S NOW GO TO THE NEARLY

$7.2 BILLION WITH OF AIRCRAFT, GUNS, VEHICLE, AMMUNITION, SPECIALIZED EQUIPMENT, THAT HAS FALLEN INTO THE HANDS OF THE TALIBAN. 78 AIRCRAFT WORTH $923 MILLION. I MEAN, JUST THINK ABOUT THAT ALONE AS A RESULT OF THIS CHAOTIC WITHDRAWAL FROM AFGHANISTAN. FURTHERMORE, THE TALIBAN’S RECRUITING FORMER AFGHAN MILITARY PERSONNEL. THINK OF THE REAL WORLD

CONSEQUENCES THIS FAR OUT NOW THAT WE ARE NOW SUFFERING, THAT HAS PUT US IN JEOPARDY, AND US IN PERIL AS A RESULT OF THAT WHICH CHAOTIC WITHDRAWAL. >> Greg: THAT’S INTERESTING, I WAS GOING TO ASK YOU ABOUT THAT, JESSE, THE EQUIPMENT VEHICLE HAVE WE SEEN THEM USE IT YET? LIKE THE PLANES?

IS IT SIMPLY, LIKE. >> Jesse: I DOUBT THEY HAVE THE EXPERTISE TO FLY OUR JETS, BUT THEY PROBABLY COULD USE SOME OF THE ARTILLERY, SOME OF THE TANKS, SOME OF THE WEAPONRY. BUT, WHAT WAS IT, HOW MANY MILLIONS DID WE LEAVE OVER THERE? WE PROBABLY COULD HAVE TAKEN

THAT AND SOLD IT TO THE UKRAINIANS AND SAVED A LITTLE BIT OF A DISCOUNT, AND WE DO KNOW THAT PUTIN SAW THAT CHAOTIC WITHDRAWAL AND THAT ENCOURAGED HIM TO INVADE UKRAINE, BECAUSE HE SENSED WEAKNESS ON BEHALF OF THE UNITED STATES. SO, BIDEN CUTS THIS SIDE DEAL WITH THE TALIBAN FOR THE E BACK

AND SAYS WE ARE NOT GOING TO SHOOT YOU, YOU DON’T SHOOT US, LET’S DO THIS THING AND KABUL, BUT THERE WERE NO RULES OF ENGAGEMENT HAMMERED OUT, SO IF SOMEONE SAW A THREAT AND THEY WENT UP THE FOOD CHAIN FOR APPROVAL, NO ONE KNEW WHAT TO SAY, SO NONE OF THESE MEN NEEDED

TO DIE, AND THEN THE STATE DEPARTMENT SHUTS DOWN THE PROCESSING OF THESE GUYS AND THE PLANES AT DARK. ONCE THE SUN GOES DOWN, PEOPLE START PILING UP AT THE AIRPORT AROUND THE BARBED WIRE, AND THEY ARE TRAPPED, AND THEN IT IS CHAOS, AND THEY ARE SLITTING THEIR THROATS AGAINST THE BARBED

WIRE BECAUSE THEY ARE TOO AFRAID TO GO BACK TO THE TALIBAN BECAUSE THAT TORTURE IS GOING TO BE WORSE THAN THE BARBED WIRE. AND NO ONE HAS BEEN FIRED. AND THE DEMOCRATS NEVER EVEN REALLY INVESTIGATED THIS, DID THEY? SO WE POURED BILLIONS OF DOLLARS INTO THIS STUPID COUNTRY, WE

LEFT OF THE TALIBAN WITH TONS OF EQUIPMENT, WE HAVE TONS OF PEOPLE DEAD, WOUNDED, NO LEGS, NO ARMS, I’M NOT SURE WE HAVE A LOT TO SHOW FOR IT. SO FAR, THOUGH, THERE HASN’T BEEN ANY OF THOSE OVER-HORIZON ATTACKS THAT WE WERE WORRIED ABOUT IF WE EVER DID LEAVE.

>> Greg: JUDGE, IT IS KIND OF SAD TO NOTE, HE HAD AN EYEBALL ON THE HOMICIDAL BOMBER, AND IT COULD HAVE BEEN PREVENTED, BUT IT WASN’T. >> Jeanine: YOU KNOW, THIS WAS A FAILURE OF EPIC PROPORTIONS. THIS FOLLOWS A PARTICULAR FOREIGN POLICY DISASTER THAT WILL GO DOWN IN HISTORY AS ONE

OF THE WORST FEARS WERE THE FIRST WAS THE DECISION TO LEAVE THE BAGRAM AIR FORCE BASE, WHICH WAS A PROTECTED, VERY SOPHISTICATED AIR FORCE BASE, DECIDED THEY WERE GOING TO DO THE EVACUATION FROM THE MIDDLE OF THE CITY IN KABUL, 4 MILLION PEOPLE, WITH ONE AIRWAY, AND THE

TRUTH IS, THIS GUY THAT WAS JUST TESTIFYING IS MINA’S LIMBS, HE HAS HAD 44 SURGERIES, CREDIBLE INFORMATION OF A POTENTIAL SUICIDE BOMBER, THEY ACTUALLY HAD CREDIBLE INFORMATION, AND THEY IDENTIFIED HIM, THEY HAD WHAT THEY CALLED, ASSURED THEIR LEADERS OF THE EASE OF FIRE, WHAT DO YOU CALL THEM, THE M1

TEN SNIPER GUY, READY, AND THEY DID NOT GET AN ANSWER. HALF OF NEW YORK CITY HAS MORE OF AN ABILITY TO SHOOT SOMEONE THEN WE DO IN A WAR, IN THE THEATER OF WAR, IN AFGHANISTAN, AND THAT IS THE SAD PART OF ALL OF THIS. YOU HAVE 13 GOLD STAR FAMILIES,

170 AFGHANS WHO WERE KILLED, AS A RESULT OF AN ACT THAT I DIDN’T HAVE TO HAPPEN. THEY COULD HAVE STOPPED THE SUICIDE BOMBER, BUT THEY CREATED THE CHAOS, THEY PICKED THE SETTING, AND THIS GUY DONAHUE WAS A TWO STAR GENERAL, REMEMBER SEEING HIM, THE LAST GUY TO GO

ON THAT C-130 OR WHATEVER IT WAS, NOBODY IS ACCOUNTABLE, NOBODY IS ANSWERABLE, THEY MAKE DONAHUE A THREE-STAR GENERAL AT FORT BRAGG WHERE THIS YEAR I HEAR THERE IS SOMETHING LIKE 109 PEOPLE IN THE MILITARY WHO ARE DEAD, EITHER FROM FENTANYL, MURDER, SUICIDE. IT’S A DISASTER. THERE IS NO ACCOUNTABILITY.

AND THE SAD PART IS, IF THEY HAD RULES OF ENGAGEMENT, THEY COULD HAVE TAKEN IT OUT AND PREVENTED IT. >> Greg: LAST WORD TO YOU, HAROLD. >> Harold: WARS ARE MESSY. MY PRAYERS GO OUT TO THE SERGEANT, MARINES ARE JUST TAYLOR. I THINK IF YOU WERE TO INTERVIEW ANY MILITARY PERSONNEL AFTER

MISTAKES WERE MADE, YOU WOULD GET TESTIMONY LIKE THIS. IN FACT, OUR WHOLE PREMISE FOR GOING INTO IRAQ, SADDAM HUSSEIN POSSESSED WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION WAS FAULTY, IT WAS WRONG. WE HAVE A HISTORY OF MAKING MISTAKES AT CRITICAL TIMES. THIS IS NOT TO BLAME ANYONE. THIS IS NOT TO SUGGEST ANYONE

HAD THE WORST INTENTIONS OR BAD INTENTIONS. WHAT I TAKE FROM ALL OF THIS — AND I DON’T DISAGREE, ALL THE THINGS SET UP A TABLE — WHAT DO WE LEARN FROM THIS? OUR POSTURE IN UKRAINE IS ESSENTIALLY ONE OF WAR. WE ARE PROVIDING MATERIALS, PERSONNEL — TECHNOLOGY AND WEAPONRY TO GO AFTER RUSSIA.

WE FIND CHINA ON THE VERGE OF PERHAPS INVADING TAIWAN. WHAT HAVE WE LEARNED FROM THESE STATES? THE SECOND MOST IMMEDIATE QUESTION FROM A NATIONAL SECURITY STANDPOINT, IF MEXICO CANNOT POLICE ITS CARTELS, WHAT IS OUR MILITARY STRATEGY TO HELP? HOW DO WE LEARN FROM THE MISTAKES MADE IN AFGHANISTAN? THE MISTAKES MADE IN IRAQ?

EVEN MISTAKES WE ARE MAKING REAL TIME IN UKRAINE? TO ENSURE THAT GOING FORWARD, WE DO NOT MAKE THE SAME MISTAKES. >> Jeanine: THE PROBLEM IS WE ALWAYS SAY “LESSONS LEARNED,” LET’S MAKE SOMEONE ACCOUNTABLE. IF YOU’VE GOT CREDIBLE INFORMATION, EYES ON THE TARGET, A CROWDED, CHAOTIC THEATER, AND

YOU CAN TAKE HIM OUT, I DON’T NEED ANY LESSONS. WE NEED A MILITARY AND NOT A POLITICAL DECISION. >> Harold: THERE WERE MISTAKES MADE, BUT NEITHER YOU NOR I WERE IN THE ROOM AND THOSE MILITARY PERSONNEL MAKE DECISIONS. THEY CLEARLY MADE ON ONCE — FOR >> Jeanine: THAT WAS WRONG.

>> Harold: THEY COULD HAVE MADE DIFFERENT ONES, BUT I’M NOT GOING TO SECOND-GUESS SOMEONE WHEN I WAS NOT IN THAT ROOM. >> Jeanine: I CAN SECOND-G

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