Secretary of State Antony Blinken was taken to task this week by Congress for more than one of the Biden administration's blunders on the world stage. Facing questions about the White House's decision to withhold congressionally appropriated military aid to Israel, America's top diplomat also refused to commit to further cooperation with congressional oversight of Biden's botched withdrawal from Afghanistan.
"Earlier this month, the president stated on CNN that if Israel conducted a major military operation in Rafah, 'we're not going to supply the weapons and artillery,'" House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul (R-TX) reminded Blinken. "Is this still the Biden administration's policy? What specific weapons do you plan to withhold beyond the 2,000 and 500 pound bombs?" he asked.
Blinken tried to filibuster, claiming "no one will do more to make sure that Israel has what it needs to defend itself" and bragging about Biden going to Israel "days after the attack on October 7th" and deploying "resources and assets to deter any further aggression against Israel from other quarters." Conveniently, Blinken omitted the fact that Biden entirely failed in his efforts to deter Iran from launching its unprecedented direct attack on Israel.
McCaul wasn't having it. "We all know the history. Are you planning to withhold more weapons?" he pressed.
"I am happy to get to that," Blinken responded unconvincingly before finally mentioning Iran's first direct attack in another attempt to avoid answering McCaul's question.
"If Israel invades Rafah, will you withhold more weapons?" McCaul asked again.
"We actively took part for the first time ever in Israel's defense and rallied a coalition of countries," Blinken said in an attempt to take a victory lap on Biden's failure to deter Iran with his usual "don't" plea, still avoiding McCaul's inquiry.
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"That doesn't answer my question," McCaul reiterated. "Are you gonna withhold weapons?"
Finally, Blinken responded to the actual question. "When it comes to Rafah, we've made known for a long time, our concerns about a full-on military assault of Rafah, the damage that that could do to civilian population absent a clear and credible plan to protect it," he said, ignoring the fact that Israel has a combatant-to-civilian casualty ratio of 1:1.14 — better than the U.S. coalition had in Mosul in 2016-17. That is, Israel has proven its ability to carefully fight in the war started by Hamas.
Blinken continued:
And so in that context, particularly with regard to 2,000 pound bombs, which in a dense urban environment, can do terrible damage. We've been in discussions with Israel about that particular weapon and those discussions continue. Those were private discussions. It's unfortunate that it leaked to the press, [but] it did. But those discussions continue in our concerns about a full on military assault and Rafah remain. We have other ways of dealing with the challenge posed by Hamas that we believe can be more effective and more durable.
Still no answer to McCaul's question. Turning to the manner in which Americans — including members of Congress — learned about Biden preventing congressionally appropriated aid from going to Israel, the chairman asked Blinken if the administration would at least give Congress advance notification of future decisions to withhold aid.
Blinken insisted the Biden administration has "gone out of our way" and "well above and beyond" in keeping Congress informed of decisions, a laughable assertion. "I have no notification [n]or did anyone in this committee or Congress until we saw the President on CNN," McCaul reiterated. "That's hardly an adequate way to notify Congress."
In addition to being unable to say whether the Biden administration would withhold more military aid from Israel and arguing that appearing on CNN is an appropriate way to notify Congress of such a decision, Blinken would not commit to appearing before the House Foreign Affairs Committee to face additional questions about the U.S. pullout from Afghanistan.
McCaul and his committee have been investigating the Biden administration's withdrawal from Afghanistan, a report on which is due out in September, including testimony from Pentagon brass and other officials involved in the execution of the withdrawal. "Will you commit to appearing before this committee for a hearing on Afghanistan?" McCaul asked, noting "the Gold Star families deserve that as well."
Again, Blinken tried to dodge the question.
Mr. Chairman, for the Gold Star families, for the President, for me, for everyone involved, we grieve with them — the losses they suffered, including over 20 years in Afghanistan. We honor their their sacrifice. One of the ways we do that, of course, is by taking part in oversight, answering questions, giving the American people the answers they deserve. We've engaged in in very good faith in this. I think, by our count, we facilitated transcribed interviews with 15 current or former...
McCaul interjected amid Blinken's non-answer to ask, "is that a yes?"
"I've appeared before this committee five times, including one time dedicated solely to Afghanistan, but every time taking questions on Afghanistan," Blinken responded, still not answering. "That's more than any of my recent predecessors have done," he added. Notably, Blinken is the only Secretary of State to be involved in Biden's disastrous withdrawal, so it's unclear why he thinks he deserves a pat on the back for his prior appearances compared to any other secretary of state.
"Well, we look forward to your testimony in September," quipped McCaul. "We can have our teams talk about that," was all Blinken would commit.
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