Letters: ‘Miracle of Kabul’ was logistic achievement; Mask up to protect your neighbors

‘Miracle of Kabul’ was logistic achievement

Before we criticize President Biden’s management of the exodus from Afghanistan, we should consider the problem he faced. The Afghan army and entire government collapsed on Aug. 15. With less than two weeks to plan and execute the move, the United States evacuated almost 150,000 Allied troops, U.S. citizens and former Afghan collaborators while under sporadic enemy attack.

To place it in perspective, compare two widely hailed large-scale troop movements of the past:

In 10 days, between May 26 and June 4, 1940, the British rescued their Expeditionary Force of 338,000 men, encircled by German forces at Dunkirk, Belgium. An average of 34,000 men abandoned their equipment on the Dunkirk beach each day. This amphibious evacuation required a massive effort by hundreds of naval vessels, fishing trawlers, ferry boats, and small private yachts. It is often referred to as the “Miracle of Dunkirk.”

On June 6, 1944, “D-Day,” the Western Allies landed 156,000 American, Canadian and British troops on the coast of Normandy. To accomplish this required more than two years’ planning, a year’s advanced staging in England, and participation of 5,000 ships and 18,000 aircraft.

By the most generous estimate, Joe Biden had less than six months as president to organize the “total” withdrawal from Afghanistan before Sept. 6. In my view, the “Miracle of Kabul,” disorganized as it may have appeared, was an exceptional logistic achievement.

Mask up to protect your neighbors

For many years, I have said to my wife (who occasionally listens to me) “it seems to me that most people have very little ability to understand cause and effect.”

As I read newspaper and magazine reports, watch television programs and observe people’s behavior, I have been struck by how so many people look at reports of the number of people who have died or are very ill from the COVID-19 virus do not see the connection between the near-necessity of wearing masks and getting vaccinated.

Using political beliefs and biases should not be the standard for insuring life and good health, in my opinion, unless your perception of liberty and freedom is your right to die and take others with you. Unfortunately, that course of action endangers me and my family. No one has the right to ignore the responsibility of keeping others from being needlessly exposed to a disease that has already taken the lives of almost 700,000 Americans.

If you are offended by wearing or having your children wear a mask, please stay at home and keep your children there as well. When I was a child that was called being quarantined, whether you had the disease or not.

Please understand that I respect your opinion and beliefs, but I do not accept you have the right or privilege of putting others in harm’s way.

As is stated in the Bible, if your eye offends you, pluck it out, but not your neighbor’s eye, too.

Keller puts party before district

It’s hardly a surprise that Congressman Keller would have a memory lapse when writing his op-ed on the Biden administration’s infrastructure bill. It’s beyond laughable that he would tout how the bill would raise the national debt when the previous administration oversaw the fastest increase in the debt of any president, almost 36% from 2017 to 2020. Instead of fulfilling his campaign promises to cut the debt, the previous administration did the opposite. And unless you are a corporation or among the wealthiest in the country, you had little to show for The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 (TCJA). Keller repeatedly votes against legislation that would benefit constituents in his district. If he wants to take care of seniors, expand broadband, create manufacturing jobs, improve transportation and take care of veterans, he needs to work for the passage of the American Jobs Plan instead of trying to sabotage it. Let’s be honest. If this plan was put forth by a president with an “R” behind his name, Keller would be on board. Time to stop putting his party before his district. Time for new representation.