It is often said that hindsight is 20/20. It’s not.

Three days ago, Mr. Biden stumbled the United States out of a 20-year conflict in Afghanistan. His retrograde operation is a testament to the courage and creativity of our Armed Forces even when given a poorly thought-out order. Soldiers don’t get to select the best strategy, they often don’t get a voice in choosing the best operational concept, but they execute the mission like the true professionals they are. Their bravery and professionalism isn’t measured by the wisdom of their Commander-in-Chief but by their commitment to one another and to their assigned mission.

The anti-Biden talkingheads are laying into Mr. Austin, the SECDEF, and GEN Milley, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, for not having a better plan to exit Afghanistan. The truth is, none of us really know what advice they and their staffs gave Mr. Biden before he latched onto his plan to abandon our best base there and rush for the door before a methodical exit could occur. Get off it! I don’t know if Austin and Milley are competent military leaders or not – and neither does Laura I. or Shawn H – but I do know this is the military leadership we have and I’ll support them until they are proven evil or incompetent.

I have genuine empathy for Mr. Austin especially. He advanced up the general officer ranks under Mr. Obama’s presidency and was appointed the SECDEF by Mr. Biden because he was black – or at least that’s what the liberal media wants us to believe (and the other side encourages). Under the tribal spoils program Mr. Biden and the Left in general are promoting, a person’s gender, race, and sexual preference are the primary qualifiers for public office and not professional competence. So Mr. Austin serves under a cloud of suspicion because of the people who promoted him and not based on his own professional missteps. (And yes, he did and said some things while he was in command in Iraq and Afghanistan that have proven to be far off the mark. But you find me anyone whose judgment at the moment is flawless – especially when they are supporting the policies of their President, whoever that might be.) I think we can do better than judge a man by the color of his skin.

Afghanistan (and Iraq) is George Bush’s failure. He and Donald Rumsfeld took what should have been an expeditionary mission to eliminate al Qaeda and turned it into an attempt to convert a feudalistic Central Asian nation into an Americanesque state. Every failure of American policy, every dime spent, and every life lost must be laid at his feet. Even Mr. Biden’s stumble to the exit belongs to George Bush. I’m sorry those few Afghans (and it is only a few thousands in a population of 40 million) who embraced American social and political ideas are disappointed in the American exit and might well loose their lives in consequence. You were given false hope. Afghanistan is surrounded by Islamic nations; how could anyone not expect them to be the same?

I could rant on ad infinitum. Suffice it to say, yes, Mr. Biden is an incompetent, far too old to be in charge, president. Yes, he bungled the Afghanistan exit. But it’s an exit that should have happened 19 years ago before George Bush, Barack Obama, and Donald Trump made Afghanistan the mess that it is today. The buck stops with Mr. Biden, but it should never have dropped on his desk.