If you missed Last Week Tonight with John Oliver yesterday, the Main Story -- and this should not come as a shock -- was on Afghanistan. Less about the current situation, but more how we got there and what we did while there, along with what's next. It's a good look at it all, though I almost didn't embed it because, good as it was, I found it more surface than I expected even in a short piece. And in an effort to be fair (always a good thing), I felt it bent over much too much, considering it was a Republican administration that got us involved and Republican pressure over the years that had the largest weight in keeping us there. And also, once again, they made a fair criticism but without acknowledging that conditions had changed to rectify that. (In this case, it was angrily pointing out that evacuation planes had left that were partially empty. What the show failed to report is that the very next day, President Biden issue a Presidential Order -- not just a mere goal -- that no plane could leave Afghanistan unless it was full. And by the way, though I don't recall the specifics of the plane leaving that hadn't been full, my recollection is that it wasn't due to military incompetence, but that outside issues -- perhaps airport regulations? -- required that the planes leave.) All that aside, the report overall had more good in it than annoyances, plus its share of humor, so here it is.
2 Comments
Douglass Abramson
8/23/2021 10:07:14 pm
I found it a bit intellectually shallow to bash the Biden Administration 100% for the stranded interpreter situation when Stephen Miller had gone through the regulations regarding such foreign workers for US military forces and made it as inhumanly difficult as possible to bring them and their families over (and in a way I don't understand, that Biden couldn't just undo with an executive order); and Pompeo had purged the State Department of most of the personnel who would have normally handled the processing of the Afghanis' applications. Oliver's solution of "bring everyone who wants out over and THEN figure it out", is very appealing from a humanitarian viewpoint and I wouldn't have an issue with it; but it wouldn't be legal and seven kinds of hell would break loose, not all of it coming from the nutbar contingent of what used to be the Republican Party. It was a very dumb stance from a smart man with a TV show.
Reply
Robert Elisberg
8/24/2021 08:33:01 am
I'm not sure what the limits are to issuing Executive Orders, so it may be that one wouldn't fix things.
Reply
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorRobert J. Elisberg is a political commentator, screenwriter, novelist, tech writer and also some other things that I just tend to keep forgetting. Feedspot Badge of Honor
Categories
All
|
© Copyright Robert J. Elisberg 2024
|