“What you believe in can only be defined by what you’re willing to risk. So if I’m willing to risk my current battalion commander seat, my retirement, my family’s stability to say some of the things I want to say. I think it gives me some moral high ground to demand the same honesty, integrity, and accountability from my senior leaders. We have a secretary of defense who testified to Congress in May that the Afghan National Security Force could withstand the Taliban advance. We have chairmen of the Joint Chiefs [of Staff] who were supposed to advise on military policy. We have a Marine combatant commander. All of these people were supposed to advise.
I’m not saying we’ve got to be in Afghanistan forever. But I am saying, did any of you throw your rank on the table and say ‘hey, it’s a bad idea to evacuate Bagram Airfield strategic airbase before we evacuate everyone. From my position, potentially all those people did die in vain if we don’t have senior leaders that own up and raise their hand and accept accountability to say ‘we did not do this well. Without that, the higher military ranks are not holding up their end of the bargain. I have been fighting for 17 years. I am willing to throw it all away to say to my senior leaders, ‘I demand accountability." - Lt Col Stuart Scheller, Marine Battalion commander.
ICHEOKU says the commander indeed lived up to the expectations of the bravery usually associated with his group, the United States Marines; and he courageously spoke the minds of millions of American people as well as his fellow Marines. It was not about the mission but the poor manner in which it was executed or rather still being executed. Why was Bagram base evacuated of its military human assets before the civilian component of the operation withdrawal from Afghanistan was completed. Who gave the order and who signed off on such abnormal order of things? Did Joe Biden know about it and if, did he sign off on it or did the military high-ups cause such aberration. How could those who are supposed to conduct the evacuation evacuate themselves first? Somebody needs to be held to account for why the cart was put before the horse in the withdrawal scheme of things.
Unfortunately, the commander who voiced out such concern has now been relieved of his duties just for speaking out against the absurdity that was the botched withdrawal from Afghanistan. What happened to the ban of a previously standing order of "don't ask, don't tell" in the military or is it only on matters of homosexuality and woke feminism that it comes alive? The guy is being punished for telling his story and sharing his misgivings about the haphazardness which trailed the concluding parts of the Afghanistan withdrawal. Meanwhile, nobody is accusing him of saying what is not true or lying against the military hierarchy or even spreading fake news. No, his only offense for which he has been summarily dismissed from the Marines is that he said it, he dared speak the truth to the powers that be and therefore must be canceled and destroyed.
ICHEOKU says Joe Biden must demand accountability from those military top heavies who authorized the reversed stages of the withdrawal. If only they have followed acceptable evacuation protocol of civilians first and military last, nothing near the scale of the disorder at Kabul airport, which have led to loss of lives of American military personnels as well as Afghanis would have occurred. The military is a top to bottom command structure based institution, so before Bagram base was vacated and abandoned, somebody on top of the food chain must have signed off on the action plan. It is that person who did so that must fall on his sword and commit harakiri. Nothing else will suffice nor satisfy the situation than such holding of accountability; exactly the message which the now fired commander is sending.
The Japanese military commanders do it without being prodded, but if it means pushing those who botched and bungled the Afghanistan withdrawal, so be it. It was an absolute failure to carry out an ordered operation which has left a steep American death toll and even a steeper Afghanistan death toll; and equally left America's reputation in total tatters and possibly damaged forever. It therefore cannot go unpunished and it does not matter how many brave officers they fire in their attempt to cover the scandal up and protect and shield their own butts from being axed, it is something that must be done as duty demands that it be done. The withdrawal of troops was a right thing to do but they turned it into an unmitigated disaster because they did not want the mission in Afghanistan to ever come to an end.
It was an attempted blackmail on Joe Biden geared towards forcing his change of mind on the withdrawal. Those responsible for it should therefore be punished as a deterrent to any future such paddling of canoe away from an ordered commander in chief's mission. American military is above such a third rate, mediocre performance in executing an assigned mission and everything must be done to avoid a repeat occurrence in the future and also tell all those who caused it that it is a shame they even dared to try. Lieutenant Colonel Stuart Scheller will be alright and history will acknowledge him as one brave and courageous son of a gun for braving all the consequences to put his words out there; and on behalf of his colleagues in uniform as well as the American people.
The officer should also consider setting up a Go Fund Me page for himself to help cushion the hash effects of the economic hardship which lack of salary, allowances and pension will surely bring to him and his family. ICHEOKU knows that American people will respond positively to such a plea for a assistance from an officer who served his country very well and who spoke up when it mattered most and when many others cowered, afraid of the consequences of speaking up. Although, it is a military thing to always salute and execute, but sometimes, people are forced to speak to the King even if it means wearing a mask to do so. He has done his part and now American people must show him that they appreciate his courage with their support.
ICHEOKU says still supports Joe Biden's decision to end the mission in Afghanistan and admires his courage in pushing ahead with completion of the withdrawal despite all the curveballs strewn on the way of accomplishing the objective. It is the right thing to do and he did the right thing. History will write him well notwithstanding the hiccups along the way. It was not his fault that the people he put in charge of it decided to do things differently, which resulted to the encountered problems. However, it will become his fault if he fails to reprimand those of them who brought about the disorder witnessed and in some cases, punish those whose conduct fell abysmally below expectations. #CompleteTheWithdrawal.
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