This is what General Kenneth McKenzie actually said to the world shortly after our 13 soldiers and more than 100 Afghans were killed by suicide bombers at the Kabul airport:

It was a failure by the Taliban to operate with varying degrees of confidence. Some of those guys are very scrupulously good. Some of them are not[.] ... And then we also use the Taliban as a tool to protect us[.]

I repeat, in referring to the Taliban — a brutal and barbaric terrorist organization, but now supposedly our partner in this mission — our general said, "Some of those guys are very scrupulously good."

This reminds me of when President Trump was chastised for saying there were some "very fine people on both sides" in Charlottesville.  He was talking about American citizens exercising their First Amendment rights while attending a rally, not a sworn enemy, the Taliban. 

In declaring his candidacy for president, Joe Biden said President Trump's comments were the reason he was running.

On April 25, 2019, Biden made his announcement and, referencing Trump's comments, said this: "With those words, the president of the United States assigned a moral equivalence between those spreading hate and those with the courage to stand against it."  Fair enough.

But what "moral equivalence" did President Biden and General McKenzie assign the Taliban, some of whom are "very scrupulously good"?

For me, August 26, 2021 — the day the Taliban were referred to as "very scrupulously good" — was the day our soul may have died. 

Sure, it's been tested and damaged in my 50 years, as Watergate, September 11, the 2000 election, race riots, and events like Charlottesville took their toll.  But on August 26, 2021, at best our administration's incompetence was exposed, and at worst, a self-sabotaging desire was revealed, as it laid the blame for our 13 soldiers' deaths not at the feet of our enemy, the Taliban, but at the feet of our partner, the Taliban, some of whom are "very scrupulously good."

Afterward, secretary of defense Lloyd Austin said we "will not be dissuaded from the task at hand.  To do anything less — especially now — would dishonor the purpose and sacrifice these men and women have rendered our country and the people of Afghanistan."

Those are nice words, but our president's and his leaders' ignorance, stupidity, and hubris didn't already just dishonor our soldiers' purpose; it killed them. 

This is not a partisan rant.  I belong to no party.  I support any party and person who spews logic, reason, facts, history, truth, context, and common sense while maintaining a heart.

If nothing else, no matter which "side" one is on, all should agree on a basic order of operations.  In math, there's even a simple acronym for it: PEMDAS.  First parenthesis, then exponents, then multiplication... 

So in leaving a country after 20 years with terrorists — Taliban — filling the void, there is a basic order of operations.  First American civilians, then Afghan teammates, then remove or destroy your equipment...and finally, your soldiers go last.

My kids can nail order of operations when doing their math homework, but our president and his advisers couldn't when doing their most important work.  

Of course, this was not a math problem.  This was life and death — 13 volunteer soldiers now dead — and this was our administration's soul, value structure, and competence laid bare for all that it is, and isn't.

Sadly, it was more than 13 of our soldiers that died in Kabul.  It was also our world standing.

Though words matter, deeds matter more.  And here our deeds come with names:

Marine Corps Lance Cpl. David L. Espinoza, 20, of Rio Bravo, Texas 

Marine Corps Sgt. Nicole L. Gee, 23, of Sacramento, Calif. 

Marine Corps Staff Sgt. Darin T. Hoover, 31, of Salt Lake City 

Army Staff Sgt. Ryan C. Knauss, 23, of Corryton, Tenn. 

Marine Corps Cpl. Hunter Lopez, 22, of Indio, Calif. 

Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Rylee J. McCollum, 20, of Jackson, Wyo. 

Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Dylan R. Merola, 20, of Rancho Cucamonga, Calif. 

Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Kareem M. Nikoui, 20, of Norco, Calif. 

Marine Corps Sgt. Johanny Rosariopichardo, 25, of Lawrence, Mass. 

Marine Corps Cpl. Humberto A. Sanchez, 22, of Logansport, Ind. 

Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Jared M. Schmitz, 20, of St. Charles, Mo. 

Navy Hospitalman Maxton W. Soviak, 22, of Berlin Heights, Ohio 

Marine Corps Cpl. Daegan W. Page, 23, of Omaha, Neb. 

God bless them.  And God bless America, as we need God's blessing and guidance more than ever.

William Choslovsky wrote this in the wee hours of August 27, 2021, after a mostly sleepless night mourning our soldiers.  He is a Harvard Law School graduate who clerked for two judges, worked with indigenous people in Alaska, and is now a lawyer in Chicago.  He was born and first raised in Gary, Indiana followed by Chicago's south suburbs.  He serves on the local school board at Lincoln Park High School and on the advisory board at Misericordia, a Chicago home where more than 600 developmentally disabled children and adults receive world-class care.

Image: newsonline via Flickr, CC BY 2.0 (cropped).

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