RUTHFULLY YOURS

https://www.wsj.com/articles/pentagon-drone-attack-10-dead-kabul-investigation-11631477201?mod=opinion_lead_pos3

Did the Biden Administration mistakenly kill 10 innocents, including seven children, as it rushed to the Afghanistan exits last month? That is what a growing body of evidence seems to show, and Congress ought to look for the truth.

On Aug. 29 a U.S. missile blew up a car the Pentagon had been following for hours, as the U.S. evacuation was nearing its end. Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, called it a “righteous strike” and President Biden mentioned drone strikes as evidence the U.S. was hitting back against ISIS-K for the suicide bomber who killed 13 Americans.

But reporting by the New York Times and Washington Post suggests the attack on the white Toyota Corolla may have been a terrible mistake. It killed Zemari Ahmadi, a longtime employee of the U.S. nonprofit Nutrition and Education International, who had wanted to emigrate to the U.S.

The media accounts are compelling in their detail that Ahmadi wasn’t collecting explosives that day. He had loaded water into the car to bring home because water to his neighborhood had stopped since the Taliban takeover. He stopped during the day at the nonprofit’s office, not an ISIS safe house. The missile that killed him exploded in a crowded neighborhood and the dead included children who approached the car when it backed into a courtyard.

Targeting terrorists is a fraught endeavor, and mistakes are inevitable. But the timing and details of this attack are troubling because the Biden Administration was looking to show it was taking action to protect Americans after the 13 airport deaths.

https://www.wsj.com/news/opinion?mod=nav_top_section

The Taliban finally let more than 100 Americans, Canadians, Brits, U.S. permanent residents, and others fly out of Afghanistan Thursday and Friday. The State Department said it expects more departures, but the Biden Administration still isn’t doing nearly enough to save thousands of Afghans who earned the right to emigrate to the U.S.

Americans, U.S. residents and endangered Afghans are still scattered throughout the country. The Taliban have effectively taken hundreds hostage at the airport in the northern city of Mazar-e-Sharif. Some Americans have been told to travel to Kabul, but no one knows how many can do so safely.

“The United States has pulled every lever available to us to facilitate the departure of these charter flights from Mazar,” a State Department spokesman said Thursday, adding that “we were very clear” they should be allowed to leave. This helplessness is humiliating, and across Afghanistan a massive tragedy is unfolding.

The Special Immigrant Visa (SIV) program offers a path to U.S. citizenship for Afghans who worked with the American government for at least a year during the war. The process can take years, and hundreds of applicants and family members have been killed over time. A State Department official acknowledged that “the majority” of SIV applicants remained after U.S. forces departed. This is one of the worst wartime betrayals in U.S. history.

“There are about 18,000 so-called principal applicants in the system. Of the 18,000, half are at the very early stages,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in June. “Then there is another 9,000 who are much further along.” Mr. Blinken played down the risk of a quick Afghan government collapse, and Foggy Bottom did little to avert the nightmare now unfolding for thousands of SIV applicants.

James Miervaldis of the nonprofit No One Left Behind says that his organization is aware of some 200 approved SIV applicants and their families hiding throughout the country. Fully vetted with paperwork in hand, they were told by the State Department to remain in place during the chaotic evacuation. Then the last American planes left.

Organizations like No One Left Behind have the financial wherewithal to pay for their flights out of the country, but they’re at the mercy of the Taliban to allow safe passage. Remember these families whenever the White House brags about the scale of the August airlift.

The thousands more still in the 14-step application process should have been evacuated to a secure location months ago. Politicoreports that only 705 SIV applicants left during the evacuation. Some U.S. officials have denied that number but declined to provide their own. Mr. Blinken is testifying before the House and Senate this week, and Congress should demand exact numbers.

The Taliban said last week that it will let only foreign passport- or visa-holders leave the country. Are the thousands of endangered Afghans supposed to wait for the process to play out from Washington? And if they survive long enough to get a visa, who expects the Taliban to grant safe passage? The new government’s security forces are run by a leader of the terrorist Haqqani Network wanted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/17751/britain-uae

No world leader is better equipped to help us understand and contain this rising threat to Britain and our international interests than Mohamed bin Zayed, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and the greatest foe of radical Islamism in the Arab world.

He helped stem the escalating regional challenge of the Muslim Brotherhood from Egypt; his forces combatted Al Shabab in Somalia, supported the Libyan National Army against its Islamist opponents and fought against Islamic State in Syria and Iran-sponsored Houthi insurgents, Al Qaida and the Islamic State in Yemen.

Lord Trimble, former First Minister of Northern Ireland and a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, nominated Mohamed bin Zayed for the same award in recognition of his “historic achievements in advancing peace in the Middle East”.

[W]e should be looking to the UAE’s leadership to further strengthen and broaden them. Britain should stand with them. As with the UAE, we are a close and historic ally of Israel, with significant influence across the Middle East. Freed by Brexit from our stifling dependency on the EU, we should now be ready to play a leading role alongside Abu Dhabi in this strategically important process, both in our own interests and in the interests of peace in the region.

Here in Britain there has been great concern about ruptures to the UK-US special relationship following the catastrophic unilateral US withdrawal from Afghanistan and US President Joe Biden’s intransigence over the emergency evacuation from Kabul.

1. Yom Kippur is considered to be a Super Sabbath (Shabbat Shabbaton in Hebrew) – a soul-searching opportunity for pious and evil people alike.2. Yom Kippur is observed on the 10th day of the Jewish month of Tishrei (September 16, 2021). Tishrei’s astrological sign is Libra (), which symbolizes the key themes of Yom Kippur: optimism, truth, justice, scales, humility and tolerance. Libra is ruled by the planet Venus (Noga – נגה in Hebrew – is the name of my oldest granddaughter), which represents divine light and compassion.

3. Yom Kippur dates back to the Biblical Exodus (Leviticus 23:26-32): “The Lord said to Moses, that the tenth day of this seventh month [Tishrei] is the day of Atonement…. Do not do any work on that day…. This is a lasting ordinance for generations to come….”

4. Yom Kippur (the 10th day of the Jewish year) concludes 10 days of soul-searching, atonement and repentance– the holiest Jewish time – which begins on Rosh Hashanah, the first day of the Jewish year, commemorating the creation of the first human-being, Adam.
Ten, which represents wholesomeness, has a special significance in Jewish history: God’s abbreviation is the 10th Hebrew letter (Yod – י); the 10 Commandments; the 10 Plagues of Egypt; the 10 spheres of the spiritual universe, which were highlighted during the Biblical Creation; 10 reasons for blowing the Shofar (ram’s horn) on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur; the 10% Biblical gift to God (tithe); the 10 Martyrs (Jewish leaders), who were tortured/murdered by the Roman Empire; the 10 generations between Adam and Noah and between Noah and Abraham; the 10 divine tests passed by Abraham; the 10-person-quorum (Minyan in Hebrew), which is required for a collective Jewish prayer service; the 10 sons of Haman and the 10 Nazi leaders, who were hung; etc.

5. The Hebrew word Kippur, כיפור (atonement/repentance), is a derivative of the Biblical word Kaporetכפורת ,, which was the cover of the Holy Ark in the Sanctuary, and Kopher, כופר, the cover of Noah’s Ark and the Holy Altar in the Temple.  The day of Yom Kippur resembles a spiritual cover (dome), which separates the holy (Yom Kippur) from the mundane (the rest of the year), between spiritualism and materialism. The Kippah, כיפה (skullcap, yarmulke’), which covers one’s head during prayers, reflects a spiritual dome.

6. Asking forgiveness of fellow human-beings – and not only of God – is a major feature of Yom Kippur. From acrimony and vindictiveness to forgiveness and peace-of-mind. Hence, sinners and criminals are invited to Yom Kippur services. Asking forgiveness is consistent with Leviticus 19:18 (“Love thy neighbor as yourself”), and with the philosophy of Hillel the Elder, a leading 1st century BCE Jewish Sage: “Do not do unto your fellow person that which is hateful to you. That is the essence of the Torah; the rest is commentary….”  Asking forgiveness of fellow human-beings aims at displaying magnanimity, humility, compassion, consideration, responsibility, optimism, faith and genuine-repentance.  It recognizes one’s fallibilities, learning from one’s mistakes, minimizing future missteps, elevating morality and enhancing family and community cohesion.