Ex-DOD Official: US Had Drone Locked on Kabul Bomber, Was Denied Permission to Take Shot
A former Pentagon employee claimed in a recent interview that the U.S. military could have stopped the suicide bomber who last week set off an explosion that killed 13 U.S. service members and over 100 Afghan civilians.
If the report is true, it’s yet another strike against the credibility of the Biden administration and the Defense Department, and should lead to resignations and court-martials for high-ranking members of the administration.
Media Research Center TV reported that in an interview with Univision earlier this week, the former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Western Hemisphere Affairs, a man named Roger Pardo-Maurer, said that the man who set off a bomb that left 13 American heroes dead was known to the military.
Even worse, according to Pardo-Maurer, a Predator drone operator who had the bomber in his sights, knew his identity and was prepared to neutralize him, was ordered to stand down before the Kabul airport explosion.
“What is being said by people who were involved is that the Department of Defense already knew who the bomber was, and when [the Kabul attack would happen], and that a Predator drone had a lock on him, OK, and that they refused to grant permission to fire upon that bomber,” Pardo-Maurer said, according to an interpretation from MRC.
“[Permission] was requested, and was denied. Why? Because we are in this process of negotiating with the Taliban, who aren’t even in control of their own government or their own people,” the former Defense Department official said.
???? Per former Deputy Assistant SecDef Roger Pardo-Maurer, the DoD had foreknowledge of the Kabul bomber AND denied permission to fire to the Predator drone that had a lock on the bomber. pic.twitter.com/ZDh27drdwu
— Jorge Bonilla (@BonillaJL) August 31, 2021
If this report is true, then it’s time to clean house with regard to U.S. military leadership — not that it hasn’t been time for that for months.
We of course cannot verify the claims made by Pardo-Maurer, and he did not disclose his sources, but the country’s current commander-in-chief was on record not long ago stating that he urged former President Barack Obama not to green-light the operation which killed terror mastermind Osama bin Laden in 2011.
The Washington Post reported on comments President Joe Biden made in 2012 urging Obama not to take out bin Laden.
“The president, he went around the table with all the senior people, including the chiefs of staff, and he said, ‘I have to make a decision. What is your opinion?’ He started with the national security adviser, the secretary of state, and he ended with me,” Biden stated.
“Every single person in that room hedged their bet except [former CIA Director] Leon Panetta. Leon said, ‘Go.’ Everyone else said, 49, 51.”
“He got to me. He said, ‘Joe, what do you think?’ And I said, ‘You know, I didn’t know we had so many economists around the table.’ I said, ‘We owe the man a direct answer. Mr. President, my suggestion is, don’t go,” Biden said at a retreat for House Democrats.
Biden would revise the story, but his 2012 remarks show he has a history of seeking to let horrible people get away with atrocities. He’s also surrounded himself with advisers and leaders who are supremely unqualified to lead troops, so who knows about the report that the Pentagon ordered the airport bomber to be left alone?
Fox News reporter Jennifer Griffin disputed the report on Twitter on Thursday after saying she had spoken with the Defense Department about the claims from Pardo-Maurer.
“The problem is this report is NOT true,” Griffin tweeted. “Spoke to multiple senior leaders today in chain of command and I am told on authority this DID NOT happen. On the record from Gen McKenzie Spox: Capt Bill Urban, ‘This is NOT true. It never happened.’”
The problem is this report is NOT true. Spoke to multiple senior leaders today in chain of command and I am told on authority this DID NOT happen. On the record from Gen McKenzie Spox: Capt Bill Urban, “This is NOT true. It never happened.” https://t.co/VfpNH76ehG
— Jennifer Griffin (@JenGriffinFNC) September 2, 2021
Griffin is no amateur reporter, but she cited the same Pentagon which left Kabul in a chaotic fashion this week and also left behind hundreds of American citizens.
It would be reassuring to believe Griffin and to think that our military leadership wouldn’t allow both soldiers and civilians to be massacred by refusing to act on good intelligence. But the reality is that when it comes to the current administration, we simply don’t know.
The politicized Pentagon throughout this year has earned the suspicion, not the trust, of the American people.
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