I’m not a frequent viewer of MSNBC, to say the least, so I don’t know if they aired the press briefing by Biden National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby on a White House report about the Afghanistan withdrawal. But since Rachel Maddow claimed that MSNBC wouldn’t air Trump’s speech because they have too much integrity to show someone telling lies, I assume they also barred Kirby’s presser, since I can’t recall ever seeing such a relentless stream of offensive, outrageous, self-serving, jaw-dropping lies, and I regularly watch Karine Jean-Pierre’s press conferences.

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/white-house-insists-afghanistan-report-accountability-chaos-deadly-withdrawal

Kirby ostensibly came out to inform Americans about the Afghanistan report’s findings, but it was obvious that the opposite was the case: they wanted as few people as possible to know about this, and for obvious reasons. Even some normally sycophantic reporters were upset that the Administration released the report late on the Thursday before a long holiday weekend to draw minimal public attention, and just minutes before the briefing so reporters had no time to read it and ask tough questions. And anyone with a brain (I know, that doesn’t include some of the White House press corps) would have a LOT of questions.

Kirby insisted that the report was not about “accountability,” and that might be the understatement of the century. Instead, it was about avoiding any accountability and downplaying the level of the deadly disaster. He somehow simultaneously claimed that the mission was well-executed and they have nothing to apologize for (Kirby said, “For all this talk of chaos, I just didn’t see it” -- is his TV broken?), and also that the tragedies and chaos were all Trump’s fault.

You see, Biden was, for some reason, “constrained” by the plan and timing Trump set up, even though Biden was in office for months before the pullout, and he not only had the power to change the plan and the timing, but he did, in fact, change both, stupidly and for the worse.

To name just a few of the many flabbergasting whoppers Kirby dispensed, he claimed that nobody predicted how swiftly the Taliban would take over once we withdrew, which was widely predicted. I hammered the White House in this newsletter months before the pullout for failing to expedite the paperwork to help our Afghan allies get out. When the Taliban took over, they were still stuck there, and the paperwork still hadn’t been done.

When asked about all the military equipment Biden left behind for the Taliban, Kirby channeled his inner Nathan Thurm and replied, “This idea is just…LUDICROUS! That we left millions of dollars of stuff in Afghanistan? We didn’t!” Technically, he’s correct: we left BILLIONS of dollars of military equipment there, which the Taliban is repairing and using.

Kirby also claimed that Biden was following the advice of military experts, when he famously ignored their advice. As one military expert told Fox News, Biden believed he was “the smartest person in the room,” a claim I can’t imagine ever being true, no matter what room he's in.

Fox News’ Peter Doocy grilled Kirby on his mind-boggling denial of reality, but Kirby stuck with his fantasyland narrative. And of course, when Doocy asked if anyone would be fired (and the people responsible for this should be fired out of cannons into the ocean), of course, the answer was no. Just as in the Obama/Biden Administration, no matter how badly someone performs, nobody is ever held accountable or fired. Look at how many oughta-be-convicted-felons are drawing fat federal pensions.

As infuriating and insulting to our intelligence as this was, the worst of it all was the attempt to claim some sort of accolades for a horrifically botched withdrawal that resulted in the terrorist bombing deaths of 13 heroic US Marines and over 100 Afghans, the horrifying images of desperate people falling to their deaths as they tried to cling to departing planes, and the continuing torture and terror inflicted on the Afghan people.

I could go on, but I’m so furious over this, I need to take a break before I hyperventilate. So I will just point you to this article by Nick Arama at Redstate.com, which sums up my feelings perfectly about this Administration’s sheer gall in attempting to dodge responsibility and shift blame for one of the worst military debacles in American history, one that lies squarely at the feet of Joe Biden.

https://redstate.com/nick-arama/2023/04/06/doocy-wrecks-kirby-over-afghanistan-report-and-him-saying-purpose-of-this-is-not-accountability-n727560