Lack of outcry by local Democratic leaders on Afghanistan

“Lack of outcry by local Democratic leaders on Afghanistan”, Monterey Herald–Aug 29, 2021

Except for Rep. Jimmy Panetta, the lack of outcry by local Democratic leadership over the handling of the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan is deafening. Regardless of how we might feel about the engagement in Afghanistan, it is sad and disheartening to see our Peninsula leadership cower in silence the past two weeks.

Did the thousands of service members from the Naval Postgraduate School and Defense Language Institute who lived in your communities and deployed to Afghanistan mean so little to you? Is the plight of the Afghan refugees so far away and detached? Or are you just willing to play the party line and endorse a short-sighted decision made by a president who seems to care more for a physical date than actual lives?

People love to say they are embarrassed to be American. Why do you think so many still want to come here? Why did a 17-year-old risk falling from the wheelwell of a C-17 for a chance to immigrate here? I am more embarrassed for those who cannot understand that living in America is a privilege. Thanks Jimmy for standing against those inside the beltway and within your own party.

— Glenn Woodson, Marina