The Character of Nations and Failed Leadership
 If anyone in the White House or its circling Obama attendants were conscious of history, they would recognize that political will, courage, and integrity forever define the character of nations. Consider the actions of British Prime Minister Winston Churchill who, when faced with a devastating military defeat in France, gave his military his full support in accomplishing the miracle of Dunkirk. Pictured: Churchill (left) in June 1940. (Photo by Central Press/Archive Photos/Getty Images) |
Perhaps not since 1939, when this nation turned away over 900 German Jews seeking refuge from Nazi terror and certain death, has an American president acted as shamelessly as we approach President Biden's unilateral deadline for evacuating our Afghan allies.
On the eve of World War II, the German transatlantic liner, the St. Louis, sought entry in the United States as well as Canada, and Cuba, its manifest filled with the names of German Jews who knew full well their fate if they were forced to return to the port city of Hamburg and the Third Reich. While the other two nations also denied its passengers entry visas, it was the moral authority of the United States that had collapsed, giving others the cover they needed to act accordingly. It has remained among the most shameful abdication of presidential leadership in our history.
Until now.
If anyone in the White House or its circling Obama attendants were conscious of history, they would recognize that political will, courage, and integrity forever define the character of nations. Consider the actions of British Prime Minister Winston Churchill who, when faced with a devastating military defeat in France, gave his military his full support in accomplishing the miracle of Dunkirk. And what is less known is that of the 338,000 men evacuated by British ships of all sizes were 100,000 French allies. They would not be allowed to be left on the beach to face the deprivations of the victorious Nazis. They should consider themselves fortunate that they were not allies of Joe Biden and his circle of advisors, lobbyists, and consultants.
One can just imagine how America's leading military men would have responded to Biden's directives to abandon allies and weapons to the sworn enemies of democracy and freedom. Recognizing the ruthless nature of Stalin's bloodthirsty regime, at the end of World War II General Patton mused he was prepared to march on Moscow. U.S. Air Force General Curtis LeMay was in charge of the Strategic Air Command during the height of the Cold War and he too was prepared to do whatever was necessary to defend not just our nation but those Western European nations who stood with us in facing down the Communist Iron Curtain.
This President will have much to answer for as history records his catastrophic failure in how we left Afghanistan. The coming summary executions, the destruction of women's rights, where even the joy of dancing is forbidden, will be as much part of the Biden legacy as the billions in sophisticated American military equipment now part of the Taliban arsenal.
But Biden will not stand alone in that coming judgment. His circle of apologists and enablers, including Vice President Harris, Washington's shadow figures who are close to power but avoid disclosure, and the Progressive/socialists now strangely quiet in Congress will likely be viewed by historians as co-conspirators in allowing a global cancer to metastasize once more in Afghanistan, becoming far more powerful, more malignant and more deadly than before.
Patton would weep on LeMay's shoulder.
Lawrence Kadish serves on the Board of Governors of Gatestone Institute.