Silent Coup in the Pentagon: What really happened in Afghanistan

 

ANDY MARTIN       

Republican for U. S. Senator 2022

New Hampshire

 

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[Please feel free to post, repost and email this letter, with the copyright notice attached]

 

 

Dear Granite Stater:

 

The dodos in the Biden administration, starting from President “Dodo” Biden on down, would have you believe they were totally caught off guard when the Afghan military collapsed. That claim is true, in part, as you will read below. Biden was surprised. He believed his own b.s.

 

Based on my reporting, however, I believe the explanation for the collapse in Kabul was the result of a “silent coup” in the Pentagon. The collapse in Afghanistan was not a random event. It was engineered at the highest levels of our military. Amazingly, it is part of an ongoing series of situations where our military leaders have sought to protect officials from the risks created by presidential hubris and incompetence.

 

What you are about to read is original reporting based on extensive analysis and decades of military and intelligence experience.

 

I am calling what has happened since April, 2021 a “silent coup.” What do I mean? The military was given bad orders by President Biden. They were given orders that betrayed the sacrifice of our men and women since 2001. They were given orders that defied logic. They were given orders that would lead to the collapse of Afghanistan. They were given orders that could and will endanger our national security. And they carried out those orders to a letter. To a “t.” They knew that total “compliance” would lead to complete collapse. They even warned Biden and his boys what was going to happen.

 

And President Joe slept through all of it.

 

Since April, 2021 our military leadership has complied with Joe Biden’s ill-advised orders so meticulously that “compliance” ended up strangling his presidency. That “compliance” with orders which were obviously going to lead to disaster, is the basis for what has become in effect a silent coup. No fingerprints were left behind by the silent coup. There were no critical statements by the highest echelons of the military leadership. No “revolt of the generals.” But in the end, total compliance with Biden’s orders were used by Pentagon leaders to destroy his administration.

 

Mission accomplished.

 

1. What is “the military?”

 

We use the term “the military” and “the Pentagon” without giving much thought to what these institutions really are. We have an all-volunteer force; no one is forced to join our military services.

 

Almost all of our men and women in uniform are patriots. Almost all join out of patriotism. We draw a lot of volunteers from southern states, as well as rural areas. We also draw a large segment of our forces from minorities in urban areas.

 

When Biden made a retired military officer Secretary of Defense, he made a classic error. Secretary Austin spent decades in a highly successful career; he made it to multi-star general. Austin had absorbed the military ethos. Ultimately, as the Biden withdrawal fiasco proceeded, Austin could not betray his fellow officers and sound the alarm.

 

Military leaders are loyal to their civilian leaders. The system works well, as the Constitution intended. But high-ranking officers are not mere automatons. They also think for themselves. They know what will work and what won’t.

 

And when, as in the case of Biden, the president gave patently self-destructive and disloyal orders to the the Pentagon, generals decided to rebel in a novel way: by strictly and immediately and expeditiously complying with Biden’s orders, fully knowing such compliance would backfire and cause the Afghan mission to collapse in disgrace. Biden would get payback for ignoring military advice and his presidency would be mortally wounded.

 

The plan worked just as it was intended: Biden never knew what hit him in mid-August. The military “plot” succeeded beyond Biden’s wildest potential nightmares. By conducting a virtual silent coup through compliance, no one in the Biden hierarchy saw the disaster coming. Threw are no fingerprints of recalcitrant generals. Biden’s order had destroyed his administration.

 

General Austin probably supported the military’s advice in April to suspend an immediate withdrawal. But once the “plan” to “comply by excess” began, Austin was silent. That’s why Austin has been a “missing person” in the past few days. He knows what happened and he knows why and how it happened. Austin saw the silent coup unfold and he did not stop it because he couldn’t. His first loyalty was still to the military culture that had rewarded him.

 

Biden, on the other hand, was so blinded by hubris he didn’t realize the military’s immediate compliance with his order would become a weapon against him.

 

2. How did we start down the slippery slide to military activism?

 

Military activism began during the Obama administration. President Obama’s rigid doctrines about shutting down our presence in Iraq was based on his own ill-informed misconceptions. Because Obama’s ideas were contrary to military recommendations, the military “complied” with Obama’s orders by immediately removing troops and setting the stage for the Isis resurgence.

 

When Obama went further and called the resurgent Isis a “JV team,” the military responded by hanging back and allowing the terrorist organization to expand exponentially, again embarrassing Obama. Finally, Obama was forced to go back to the military and seek advice, which he again rejected. The result: a stalemate in Syria/Iraq when President Trump took office.

 

Trump was initially a hero to the military. When he allowed the command structure to perform, the results were spectacular. Isis was soon routed.

 

But when Trump decided to act as his own general and review deployments for political efficacy, disaster soon followed. After a phone call with the Turk dictator Erdogan, Trump announced he was abandoning the Kurds and allowing the Turkish army to take territory in Syria. Pentagon leaders were dumfounded. Trump took a stable area and wantonly destabilized it. Predictably, the betrayal of the Kurds resulted in chaos. But the military used its bureaucracy to partially nullify Trump’s edicts.

 

Trump tried to totally withdraw from Syria to claim a political benefit. But the troops are still there under Biden. Trump was probably surprised by how resilient the Syria mission was; it was reduced but never eliminated despite his insistent demands.

 

3. What did Biden order and how did the military comply? Totally

 

Biden’s order in April was simple. Get out. Biden set a date, 9/11, which was later moved.

 

The military had advised that a complete and precipitous withdrawal would be a disaster. Biden rejected that advice.

 

The silent coup began.

 

Instead of using military expertise to carefully plan the withdrawal from Afghanistan, Pentagon leaders ignored sound policies and simply ordered U S troops out of Afghanistan.

 

The shock was felt in Afghanistan, where soldiers heard about Biden’s order and saw U S forces quickly packing. Shortages of food and ammunition followed. The supply pipeline to Afghan forces went dry.

 

In mid-May I noted that, surprisingly, a large part of the U S presence was already gone. Dangerously so. I realized that the Afghan army would be demoralized by the virtually instant disappearance of U S forces. The departure of the American troops was a clear signal to their Afghan counterparts they were being abandoned on a rushed basis.

 

In May I said to my associate, “this withdrawal looks like ‘compliance with a vengeance’” with Biden’s order. The hasty withdrawal will bring down the Afghan government and destroy Biden’s plan to avoid a catastrophe. The military’s literal submission to Biden’s diktat rendered Biden’s dangerous order a time bomb.

 

There was no protest from the senior ranks in the Pentagon once Biden issued his ill-advised order. Generals complied with his command so literally that their immediate “compliance” to get out became a form of resistance to the self-destructive directive. By immediately complying with Biden’s order to get out on an expedited basis, the military was abandoning its usual expertise to plan a slower, but safer, removal of U S forces.

 

By mid-July the US was, unexpectedly, almost completely out of Afghanistan; ironically, this is where Biden and his posse were ambushed. They had no idea that the military’s compliance with the withdrawal order would lead to an immediate collapse of the Afghan government. Biden thought he was a genius for orchestrating a hasty withdrawal. The military knew better. The silent coup was in progress.

 

The net result: Biden’s ill-advised order triggered a de facto silent coup. Instead of publicly challenging Biden’s order, the military decided to take the opposite tack and comply instantly, while fully aware that their original advice to “go slow” was the correct approach. Biden’s order, on the other hand, would lead to an embarrassing collapse.

 

The collapse came soon after Bagram Air Base was abandoned, literally in the night. The Afghans were stunned, and humiliated. The U S military would normally have no reason to humiliate the Afghans and would not have done so. But by complying with Biden’s order on an instant basis, the Afghan military got the signal they feared. All was lost.

 

Former Secretary of Defense Robert Gates once said Joe Biden has been wrong on virtually every major foreign policy and military decision of the past forty (40!) years [please see Link # 1 below]. Thus, there was no way military leaders could communicate with a stubborn old man whose cognitive ability, i.e. his ability to reason and process complex information, was all but gone. Biden could not process the situational awareness of the rapidly collapsing situation in Kabul.

 

In the end, Biden has created his own latest and greatest crisis. The military helped expedite Biden’s downfall by complying literally and immediately with the president’s misguided order. The silent coup succeeded. The military had their revenge and Biden will go down in history for the most spectacular military failure in 75 years.

 

4. Who were the “Afghan military and security forces?”

 

It seems as though everyone is trashing the Afghan military. Except me. As I wrote yesterday, we tasked a small local force with garrisoning an entire nation. From the outset, it was an impossible task. But we also created the Afghan military in our own image, totally meshed in order for coordination with U S forces. No one ever designed the Afghan military to fight an enemy on its own, without air support, without massive supply networks and without intelligence oversight from above.

 

President Barry Obama started down fantasy lane in 2014 when he initiated the myth that Afghan soldiers were a separate army that would be expected to fight the Taliboys without the combined support that was necessary. Trump and Biden picked up on the fantasy that the Afghan military could be totally independent of our assistance. It never was and never could be. It wasn’t designed that way. We designed it to work with us, seamlessly.

 

When we withdrew our support of the Afghan forces, they collapsed.

 

5. How long will the Kabul disaster drag on?

 

I can’t say for sure, but I think the ongoing disaster in Kabul is going to drag on a lot longer than the Left anticipates or Joe Biden can tolerate.

 

Unless the Taliboys make a move against us or allied forces, arrangements to complete the withdrawal of tens of thousands of people could drag on for several weeks. Once again, Biden has set August 31 as a final pullout date. But that date is totally unrealistic given the tens of thousands of Americans and others who need to exit Afghanistan. Once again, Biden is setting himself up for disgrace and defeat.

 

The withdrawal from Kabul is going to dominate news coverage into the foreseeable future. The Left will not be happy. They will be looking for scapegoats, but they won’t be able to find any. There are no fingerprints left behind by the silent coup.

 

6. Where do we go from here?

 

The Left would like to blame the military for the Afghan collapse. But, on the contrary, it was Joe Biden’s capricious orders, and the Pentagon’s immediate, total and unconditional compliance with Biden’s asinine directives, that created conditions for the collapse we confront in Kabul.

 

Our military is just as well-organized and effective today as it ever was. Consider, within hours of being ordered, we had thousands of troops on their way to Kabul. Our system worked. If the Taliboys attempt to intimidate the U. S. Marines and the 82nd Airborne Division, the Taliboys will be obliterated. (Note to file: the “military” didn’t lose Afghanistan; the craven politicians on Capitol Hill and their media lackeys did.)

 

President Biden has some power in Kabul today only because our military works, and because it is organized to face the limitless challenges we face.

 

Biden wants to dismantle military spending and devote the money to day care centers and welfare payments for parents. It won’t happen. Republicans understand what Democrats deny. We need a strong military to defend our way of life.

 

Although the phrase has also been attributed to Winston Churchill, George Orwell is credited with the following words:

 

People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf.

 

What do those words mean? They mean that in order for us to enjoy our quality of life, and the freedoms we often take for granted, we need to train and have ready to deploy men and women who can do extreme violence to our enemies. Extreme violence. Not politicians’ hot air.

 

This week we saw proof of Orwell’s remarks. The politicians screwed up, yes both Trump and Biden. But in baseball terms, Biden is credited with the loss. Within minutes of the emergency, we had forces deploying around the world to rescue Americans and our Afghan supporters.

 

We have taken control of Kabul Airport. While the situation is fluid and chaotic, the Taliboys will try to avoid challenging the U S. If they attack, the Taliboys will be obliterated. We can rely on our forces because we honor and respect them. No other nation in history has had such a continuing tradition of maintaining strength through peace. In our country, “Thank you for your service” means something. Loyalty. The kind of loyalty Democrats lack for our men and women in uniform.

 

As for Joe Biden, in silent and secret ways, his administration is now on the dung heap of history. Biden may not be removed from office until 2025, but his presidency is over.

 

Say it ain’t so, Joe.

 

[More to come, stay tuned. We are monitoring the dangerous situation in Kabul.]

 

Best wishes,

 

Andy

 

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LINKS TO THIS STORY: (cut and paste the entire link below and not just the underlined portion):

 

Link #1:

 

https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2021/aug/16/biden-has-been-wrong-on-every-major-foreign-policy/

 

ANDY MARTIN - A BRIEF BIO:

 

Andy Martin is a legendary New Hampshire-based muckraker, author, Internet columnist, talk television pioneer, radio talk show host, broadcaster and media critic. With over fifty (50) years of background in radio and television and with decades of intelligence, investigative and analytical experience in Washington, the USA and around the world, Andy provides insight on politics, foreign policy, military and intelligence matters. For a full bio, go to: www.AndyMartin.com. See also www.FirstRespondersOnline.us; www.BoycottABC.com/executive_director.htm

 

Andy has also been a leading corruption fighter in American politics and courts for over fifty years and is executive director of the National Anti-Corruption Policy Institute. www.AmericaisReadyforReform.com.

 

He holds a Juris Doctor degree from the University of Illinois College of Law and is a former adjunct professor of law at the City University of New York (LaGuardia CC, Bronx CC).

 

He is the author of “Obama: The Man Behind the Mask” [www.OrangeStatePress.com] and produced the Internet film “Obama: The Hawaii’ Years” [www.BoycottHawaii.com]. Andy is the Executive Editor and publisher of the “Internet Powerhouse,” blogging at www.contrariancommentary.wordpress.com and www.ContrarianCommentary.com.

 

Andy’s family immigrated to Manchester, New Hampshire over 100 years ago; today he is New Hampshire’s leading corruption fighter and Republican Party reformer.

 

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