OPINION:
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President Biden will be in Alaska on Monday for the 22nd anniversary of 9/11 — about as far as he can get from New York and still be in the United States. It’s no wonder, given all he’s done to make America more vulnerable to future attacks.
With our disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan, our welcome-mat border, our acquiescence to Iran’s nuclear ambitions, our refusal to confront the growing menace of China and the war on domestic energy production, President Biden has set the stage for the next 9/11.
The toll of the Afghanistan exit includes the 13 U.S. service members killed at the Kabul airport and $7.2 billion in military equipment left behind, some of which has already found its way into the hands of terrorists in Pakistan and the Middle East.
The Afghanistan disaster disheartened our friends and emboldened our enemies. Russia invaded Ukraine less than six months later.
In the evacuation from Afghanistan, Mr. Biden ignored his military advisers so that he could say he brought the troops home after 20 years of war. The result was a catastrophe that looked as if it had been orchestrated by Pee-wee Herman and led by Larry, Moe and Curly.
It sent a message to the world: The United States lacks the will to stay the course and thinks nothing of abandoning its allies to a horrible fate. Washington engaged in the lowest form of self-deception, calling an unmitigated disaster a brilliant success.
The gates were flung wide open on our southern border. Since this president came to office, as many as 2 million people have entered the country illegally. For the most part, we don’t know who they are, what they’ve done or what they’re planning.
Between October 2022 and this past August, Customs and Border Protection flagged 74,904 illegal immigrants nationwide as security risks. They include so-called asylum-seekers from all over the Islamic world and hordes of Chinese nationals.
We won’t know if they came here to escape something back home or perpetrate something here until it’s too late.
Mr. Biden should receive a warm welcome in Alaska, given his decision this past week to prohibit drilling on another 23 million acres in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge — the latest offensive in his war on domestic energy production, which increases our dependence on nations such as Iran, Saudi Arabia and Venezuela.
Iran is the chief state sponsor of terrorism. So, against all reason, the president is helping Iran advance its nuclear program. Desperate to revive a deal with the rogue regime, at least $16 billion in what were frozen assets have been made available to Tehran, without congressional ascent.
Besides its doomsday dash to acquire nuclear weapons, Iran has become a terrorism supply depot, arming groups operating in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Israel, Bahrain and Yemen.
Foreign-policy realists see China as the major threat to U.S. security. We could be in a shooting war with the Middle Kingdom by the end of the decade.
The administration’s policy here is a combination of appeasement (Neville Chamberlain 2.0) and playing “woke” games with our military.
Over the summer, Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and White House climate czar John Kerry all went to Beijing to pay homage to the most dangerous regime on Earth.
For Mr. Biden, whatever China does is understandable and excusable, including its spy balloon, trying to infiltrate our military bases, sending Mexico the chemicals to flood the country with fentanyl (resulting in 100,000 deaths annually) and unleashing a super virus that has killed an estimated 1 million Americans.
Under Mr. Biden, America has done nothing to counter China’s growing influence in South America or its acquisition of 380,000 acres of U.S. farmland, some near our military bases. While China builds aircraft carriers and makes incursions on Taiwan’s airspace, we work to integrate transgender troops in our armed forces.
If Mr. Biden deliberately set out to make America more vulnerable to war and terrorism, he could hardly have done a better job.
While the administration solemnly commemorates the attacks 22 years ago that resulted in the murder of more than 3,000 Americans, it continues to assure us that the only things we have to fear are White supremacy, transphobia and climate change.
In light of his abysmal record, the most fitting way for Mr. Biden to observe 9/11 is to resign from office forthwith and take Vice President Kamala Harris with him.
• Don Feder is a columnist with The Washington Times.
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