The marine slammed Joe Biden and his administration for their handling of the Afghanistan crisis.
A Lieutenant Colonel has been fired after he took to social media to launch a furious attack on president Joe Biden and military leaders for their role in the Afghanistan crisis.
In a five-minute video, Marine Lt. Col. Stuart Scheller slammed senior figures for allowing an estimated 170 Afghan citizens and 13 US Marines to be killed in a deadly suicide bombing on Thursday, and accused senior figures of abandoning Afghanistan to the Taliban.
He also questioned key strategic decisions by the military which have resulted in the Taliban having access to over $85 billion worth of US weapons.
Scheller, who has served in Iraq and Afghanistan, demanded accountability from Biden and military leaders.
He said: “The reason people are so upset on social media right now is not because the Marine on the battlefield let someone down.
“People are upset because their senior leaders let them down. And none of them are raising their hands and accepting accountability or saying, ‘We messed this up’.
“I have been fighting for 17 years. I am willing to throw it all away to say to my senior leaders, I demand accountability!”
The marine went on to question the strategic decision-making of military figures, highlighting the abandonment of the former US-run Bagram airbase which has since been seized and pillaged by the Taliban.
According to the Express, the Taliban now has access to over 100 helicopters including elite Black Hawk helicopters, convoys of US Humvees, tanks, armoured vehicles and an arsenal of over 600,000 weapons.
"I have been fighting for 17 years. I am willing to throw it all away to say to my senior leaders, I demand accountability." – Marine Lt. Col. Stuart Scheller on the failures in Afghanistan that led to American servicemen dying. pic.twitter.com/JPH3nTctrG
— David Hookstead (@dhookstead) August 27, 2021
Scheller concluded: “From my position, potentially all those people did die in vain if we don’t have senior leaders that own up and raise their hand and say ‘we did not do his well in the end’.
“Without that we keep making the same mistakes.
“I think what you believe in can only be defined by what you’re willing to risk. So, I think it gives me some moral high ground to demand the same honesty, integrity, accountability from my senior leaders.”
Related links:
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Afghanistan: US military says it has killed Islamic State planner after Kabul bombing
Afghanistan: British nationals amongst those killed in Kabul airport attack
Major Jim Stenger, a spokesperson for the Marine Corps, told the Daily Mail that Scheller had been relieved of command due to “a loss of trust and confidence in his ability to command.”
He added: “This is obviously an emotional time for a lot of Marines, and we encourage anyone struggling right now to seek counseling or talk to a fellow Marine.
“There is a forum in which Marine leaders can address their disagreements with the chain of command, but it’s not social media.”
