The longest US war is over (with Craig Whitlock)
Skullduggery
Michael Isikoff, Daniel Klaidman, Victoria Bassetti
4.0 • 2K Ratings
🗓️ 31 August 2021
⏱️ 51 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In May of 2003, then Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, flew to Kabul to declare that combat operations were indeed over in Afghanistan. "The country is now secure." This was quite the misleading statement as our guest Craig Whitlock explains. Just one example of numerous half-truths told over four administration about the US' now longest war. On this day, the last flight out of Afghanistan carrying American troops has left, ending the endless war. We'll take a deep dive as to how we got here with the aforementioned author the brand new book, THE AFGHANISTAN PAPERS: A Secret History of the War.
GUEST:
- Craig Whitlock (@CraigMWhitlock), Investigative reporter for The Washington Post Author
HOSTS:
- Michael Isikoff (@Isikoff), Chief Investigative Correspondent, Yahoo News
- Daniel Klaidman (@dklaidman), Editor in Chief, Yahoo News
- Victoria Bassetti (@VBass), fellow, Brennan Center for Justice (contributing co-host)
RESOURCES:
- Whitlock's new book, The Afghanistan Papers: A Secret History of the War - Here.
- Whitlock's Washington Post bio page - Here.
- Yahoo News' latest article on the end of the war in Afghanistan - Here.
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| 0:00.0 | Many of us still vividly remember the day in May 2003 when then President George W. Bush |
| 0:08.6 | stood in front of a giant mission accomplished banner aboard a U.S. naval warship and declared |
| 0:14.5 | an end to combat operations in Iraq. |
| 0:17.6 | It was a scene that would haunt the Bush presidency for years as a violent insurgency |
| 0:22.4 | raged on in that country, resulting in the deaths of thousands of American soldiers. |
| 0:28.4 | But as Washington Post reported Craig Whitlock writes in his new book The Afghanistan Papers, |
| 0:33.6 | there was another eerily similar event that took place that same day that has almost been |
| 0:38.3 | completely forgotten. |
| 0:40.4 | Donald Rumsfeld, Bush's Secretary of Defense, flew to Kabul where he declared combat operations |
| 0:46.5 | were over in Afghanistan as well, and the country was, he said, now secure. |
| 0:52.6 | As Whitlock reminds us, it was merely one of scores of misleading public statements, |
| 0:56.9 | half-truths, and outright falsehoods, delivered by four administrations about America's longest |
| 1:03.6 | war. |
| 1:04.6 | Now, with the last U.S. military flight departed from Afghanistan and the Taliban celebrating |
| 1:10.3 | their victory, we'll talk to Whitlock on how and why the U.S. government and the U.S. |
| 1:14.9 | military concealed the hard truths from the American public on this episode of Skull |
| 1:20.8 | Duggery. |
| 1:21.8 | I, do solemnly swear that I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United |
| 1:29.2 | States. |
| 1:30.2 | I will to the best of my building. |
| 1:32.4 | Reserve, protect and defend. |
| 1:34.6 | Constitution of the United States. |
... |
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