Thread by @FreedomFriesInc

I'm sure Kabul will fall within a month or even sooner.😢

So that the deaths of 80* countries' soldiers wouldn't be in vain, I wanted the coalition to stay there longer. But then July 2021 ravaged the US w/ Delta.

The US needs it's people (& money) on the home front. Period.

https://twitter.com/TelegraphWorld/status/1425489419017019397

*OK I see now it was >40 countries officially involved. I always thought it was more like 80, but I've made a mistake somewhere along the line. 20 years is a long time to follow the events of a war, right?

Anyway, it was a lot. Not just the USA. Even New Zealand helped...

I don't want the sacrifices of the other countries to be forgotten.

10 of my fellow Kiwis lost their lives serving in Afghanistan. There were a few more who fought for the UK but were NZ-born.

Lest we forget: newshub.co.nz/nznews/a-look-…

NZ has become a very left-leaning country since our voting system changed to proportional representation in 1996.

Mea culpa: I voted for that in two referenda.

I didn't fully understand what was at stake.

Consequently, those of us who *always* #SupportTheTroops who risk life and limb to reduce the chance of terrorist attacks at home or when we travel (and we Kiwis travel a lot) are a smallish group.

We remember New York, Bali, Madrid, London, multiple attacks in India, & so on.

I chose my Twitter handle because it represents the phenomenon of countries that fail to unite with others to address a shared threat.

It's controversial, sure.

I just will never stop thinking of the victims of terrorist attacks, whatever their "motive."

3/15/19:

Those 51 innocent souls gunned down in my home town in 2019 were targeted by a far right terrorist bc of their race & religion.

There will always be people who hate others because of their race or religion. At home, we have a duty to contain & shrink the size of their groups.

I was speaking up about 1/6 before 1/6.

I predicted violence, just not as much of it. I didn't realize Trump would essentially kneecap the LE & military units under his direct control, on which the USCP depended.

Yes ofc these events are all linked, & no I won't move on.

If Trump had not mismanaged pandemic response, his lawful successor's need to bring folk home to fight pandemic effects would not have been as great as it is now.

It's a tragedy for Afghans esp. the translators who risked life and limb for us & are now getting killed for it.

The same is true of Iraqis.

Effective & democratic leadership of any country requires the daily choosing the lesser of two evils.

People in countries where a US-led coalition may in future decide to topple an autocracy will remember the translators. It will not go well.

I never thought I'd end up agreeing with those who say Trump is a fascist, autocratic, authoritarian wannabe.

But the credible evidence of that reached a level I could no longer ignore or explain away with his own talking points.

He has gone even further since he was fired.

In 2016 Trump campaigned on #BringTheTroopsHome.

The far right segment of his voters claimed to be "anti-war."

We are all anti-war, if we have a working moral compass. I differ from them because I support self defense & #PeaceThroughStrength.

MAGA folk believe in Trump's alleged #PromisesMadePromisesKept.

Yet an objective assessment of his national security record shows the high number and magnitude of broken promises that helped get the US to where it is now.

This pandemic is a threat to national security, which applies both at home and abroad.

I hate that innocent translators in Iraq & Afghanistan are being killed every day for helping our coalitions.

Ask yourself what was done prior to 1/20/21 to prevent this catastrophe.