(LibertySons.org) – Secretary of State Antony Blinken proposed a compromise to House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul (R-TX) on Wednesday, May 17, to allow him and ranking member Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-NY) access to a controversial dissent-channel cable and replies sent in the weeks before the final US withdrawal from Afghanistan. According to the New York Post, McCaul claims the Biden administration failed to “heed all their warnings,” resulting in the disastrous departure.
In March, McCaul issued a subpoena for the July 2021 cable expressing serious misgivings regarding US plans and policies to withdraw from Afghanistan and predicting the government’s fall. After reading the dissent cable and subsequent replies at the State Department on Tuesday, May 23, the committee chairman declared the documents showed the embassy personnel were “absolutely right” in their predictions and warnings and “deserve a medal.” He added that when the administration failed to listen to its local experts, “we got what we got,” referring to the departure’s chaos, injuries, death, and destruction.
While pursuing access to the cable and replies, McCaul told the secretary of state, “The American people deserve answers” about how and why the situation unfolded as it did in August 2021. Blinken explained the State Department depends on maintaining the confidentiality of dissent cables to keep that line of communication open, fearing that releasing the information to the Committee, at large, would chill future dissent cables, a valuable intelligence resource for the nation.
Meeks said the documents didn’t reveal any new information the committee didn’t previously know. He expressed hope that the resolution to find Blinken in contempt of Congress for not responding to the subpoena, which McCaul placed on hold rather than dismiss, and suspicions about the president “hiding something or whatever” could “be put to rest.”
As of Memorial Day, Monday, May 29, Chairman McCaul renewed his demand that Blinken should provide the entire committee with viewing access to the dissent cable and replies by June 9. McCaul threatened to continue with the resolution to hold the secretary in contempt unless the State Department accommodates all committee members with viewing access. He also asked Blinken to declassify the documents and release them publicly.
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