Over the weekend, the U.S. military bravely evacuated our diplomats from the U.S. embassy in Khartoum.As a former diplomat, I feel an incredible sense of pride in our armed forces. Yet, I was horrified to learn that thousands of our fellow citizens didn't make it out.
They were abandoned by their government, while much smaller nations, like Spain and Saudi Arabia, were able to get their civilians to safety.
It is a bitter irony that today, as Biden announces his bid to again represent some 330 million Americans as president, some 16,000 are stranded inside this troubled East African nation.
In lieu of rescue, Americans left behind are advised to undertake a treacherous trek - on their own - across a 500-mile battlefield to Port Sudan.
It's unrealistic, dangerous, and deeply irresponsible.
This is not the way United States behaved when I served overseas.
It is, however, very similar to the way the United States behaved in quitting Afghanistan. At least this time the White House isn’t pressuring State to stop assisting or to actively block volunteer evacuation efforts. So far, at least.
I love my country and all she stands for, but I have a strong dislike for this administrations' foreign policy decisions thus far.
ReplyDeleteMay the Lord be with all those trying to get out, and the innocent Sudanese caught between the rival armies.
LittleRed1
I can't help but think of the opening titles of Casablanca, describing the plight of people fleeing the Nazi conquest of France to try to get to America.
ReplyDelete"With the coming of the Second World War, eyes in imprisoned Europe turned hopefully, or desperately, toward the freedom of the Americas. Lisbon became the great embarkation port, but not everybody could get to Lisbon directly, so a tortuous, roundabout refugee trail sprang up... across the rim of Africa, in French Morocco."
The French government couldn't help its people, and left them to that torturous refugee trail across Africa because it had been conquered by foreign enemies. We cannot do it in spite of having the world's strongest military force, perhaps because we have been conquered by domestic ones.