printThe image you see here shows “inside a U.S. Air Force C-17 plane that left Kabul for Qatar on Aug. 15 (Courtesy of Defense One).”
Media “reporting” on Afghanistan is not reporting, but, rather, an unremitting gush, in an effort to create a state of heightened sentimentality, sentiments of the right kind, of course. That involves a constant reference to the “American retreat from Saigon, Vietnam, in 1975.” Truly repulsive.
I see a special commendation in the future of the Empire’s Pilot, who made a decision to airlift more Afghanis—not Americans, mind you—than his C-17 (“workhorses of the airlift are four-engine Boeing C-17A Globemaster jets which combine excellent cargo capacity, long range and short-takeoff and landing capability“) would ordinarily carry.
The pilots initially thought 800 passengers were on board, according to an apparent audio clip from the flight, in a plane that can carry up to 164,900 pounds. “How many people are on your jet,” an unidentified person asks the flight. “800 people on your jet? Holy cow.”
“Make no mistake,” slobbers Forbes, “lifting six times more people than an aircraft is designed to seat is a heroic achievement of logistics, skill and sheer grit.”
Not that these inept journalists ask for an accounting—but reading between the lines, it is my impression that very few Americans—in the mere hundreds—have been airlifted to safety. I guess Americans are not quite as pushy.
Besides, while funded by Americans, the US military’s allegiances are global and humanitarian. Our soldiers are trained to be “a global force for good.” In 2009, that indeed was “the U.S. Navy’s recruiting slogan,” for a while.
The slogan was ditched then, but it is perfectly apropos now, since recruits are inculcated with a thoroughly cosmopolitan, even anti-American, sensibility.
By the sounds of it, very few Americans are on these flights.
A defense official said about 5,700 people, including about 250 Americans, were flown out of Kabul aboard 16 C-17 transport planes, guarded by a temporary U.S. military deployment that’s building to 6,000 troops. On each of the previous two days, about 2,000 people were airlifted.
Biden said 169 Americans had been brought to the airport from beyond its perimeter, but he provided no details.
UPDATE (8/22):
MORE PLEASE: Young, military age men:
The duopoly pundits seem thrilled that the US is bringing in plane loads of young, strong men, unburdened by women and children. The hallmark of a good immigrant my foot. #KabulEvacuation https://t.co/qSE4flyO92
— ILANA Mercer (@IlanaMercer) August 17, 2021