In the immediate aftermath of the Biden administration’s announcement that the CIA had killed Al Qaeda leader and 9/11 plotter Ayman al-Zawahiri, ABC’s Cecilia Vega leaped into action to note how President Biden was right that the United States could still fight terrorism in Afghanistan without having a presence on the ground there.
Shortly after the Biden administration’s announcement that the United States killed Zawahiri, Vega couldn’t wait to scream he told you so.
During her report for World News Tonight from the north lawn of the White House, Vega bragged how “This time last year, President Biden was pulling troops out of Afghanistan. At the time, the White House faced push-back frankly for saying that it would continue to be able to hunt down and track terrorists down in Afghanistan after American troops were gone.” Adding that “they have shown tonight that is still a possibility.”
A little over an hour later, during ABC’s special report following Biden’s speech officially announcing the killing of al-Zawahiri, Vega doubled down:
Frankly, as Martha was saying there seems to be a little bit of we told you so coming from the President and certainly senior administration officials here. Look they were criticized pretty heavily of course for the botched withdrawal that we all covered in depth about a year ago at this time. In fact, the timing of this was noteworthy. It was about a year ago right now that President Biden had started to pull troops out of Afghanistan, and at the time the White House faced very serious criticism from -- from many across this city and beyond that's basically saying that they wouldn't be able to continue to get intelligence if American troops were not there on the ground and in that region, and at the time they said that would still be possible despite this criticism and you are hearing from the administration right now from senior administration officials who say this is proof you don't need American troops on the ground and in harm's way in Afghanistan in order to get this Intel like you're seeing come out of the White House right now.
Meanwhile, during NBC’s special report, chief foreign correspondent Richard Engel tried to slickly blame former President Trump for Biden’s withdrawal from Afghanistan
“The U.S. left less than one year ago, and they left with this promise that the Taliban would never allow Al Qaeda to come back in the country, that they would never allow a future Osama bin Laden to launch attacks from there. That was the deal struck first by President Trump and carried out by President Biden,” Engel proclaimed.
This is in stark contrast to how NBC treated President Trump when he killed ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. On October 27, 2019, NBC decried how Trump was “going to take a victory lap” after killing al-Baghdadi.
This wasn’t the only instance, of NBC siding with our nation’s enemies over an American President they disagree with politically.
On January 3, 2020, NBC Nightly News turned itself into essentially an infomercial for the Iranian regime after then-President Trump killed terrorist Qasem Soleimani.
At that time, Engel wailed how “Qasem Soleimani was no ordinary general. The U.S. classified him as a terrorist but in Iran, he was a national hero.”
The leftist networks would rather side with our nation’s enemies, rather than a Republican President. It’s only when the President is a Democrat do they not root for evil.
This anti-American programming on ABC’s World News Tonight was made possible by Ensure. NBC & ABC’s special reports did not run ads but you can check out a list of their other sponsors by clicking here.
To read the relevant transcripts click “expand”:
ABC’s World News Tonight
August 1, 2022
6:35:54 p.m. EasternCECILIA VEGA: But the timing of this tonight, Linsey, is worth noting. This time last year, President Biden was pulling troops out of Afghanistan. At the time, the White House faced push-back frankly for saying that it would continue to be able to hunt down and track terrorists down in Afghanistan after American troops were gone. Linsey, they have shown tonight that is still a possibility.
ABC News Special Report
August 1, 2022
7:42:59 p.m. EasternLINSEY DAVIS: His administration has taken numerous hits over the month. What does this mean? It feels like he was taking a bit of a victory lap today.
CECILIA VEGA: Yeah. I think you're exactly right, Linsey, a victory lap, and frankly as Martha was saying there seems to be a little bit of we told you so coming from the President and certainly senior administration officials here. Look they were criticized pretty heavily of course for the botched withdrawal that we all covered in depth about a year ago at this time. In fact, the timing of this was noteworthy.
It was about a year ago right now that President Biden had started to pull troops out of Afghanistan, and at the time the White House faced very serious criticism from -- from many across this city and beyond that's basically saying that they wouldn't be able to continue to get intelligence if American troops were not there on the ground and in that region, and at the time they said that would still be possible despite this criticism and you are hearing from the administration right now from senior administration officials who say this is proof you don't need American troops on the ground and in harm's way in Afghanistan in order to get this Intel like you're seeing come out of the White House right now.
NBC News Special Report
August 1, 2022
7:40:52 p.m. EasternRICHARD ENGEL: So, there are many layers to this story. On one hand, it shows the absolute arrogance, overconfidence of the Taliban. The U.S. left less than one year ago, and they left with this promise that the Taliban would never allow Al Qaeda to come back in the country, that they would never allow a future Osama bin Laden to launch attacks from there. That was the deal struck first by President Trump and carried out by President Biden. Clearly, they violated that deal with not only the leader of Al Qaeda, Ayman Al Zawahiri in
Kabul, not far from the presidential palace, but he had also apparently been there for months, long enough for U.S. Troops to start briefing about his whereabouts, U.S. forces, U.S. intelligence to start briefing about his whereabouts back in April, long enough to build a mock-up of the safe house where he was staying, long enough for that mock-up to be studied, to have the President briefed, to discuss the infrastructure of the buildings so that when a strike was carried out that it wouldn't cause collateral damage, kill members of Zawahiri's team.
And the President gave the final go-ahead to the military a week ago saying, when there is an opportunity, you guys take the strike. And that strike was taken while he was on a balcony in the middle of the night on Sunday to eliminate, apparently the risk for collateral damage. So on one level, it shows decisive action from the United States, arrogance from the Taliban, but also confidence Al Qaeda that it was willing to go there, willing to be there for months. It paints a very disturbing picture about the security situation in Afghanistan right now.
A lot of people don't know it, but there is cooperation between the United States and the Taliban when it comes to the fight against ISIS, which the Taliban see as a rival organization. But that cooperation has not really extended -- clearly has not extended -- to the fight against Al Qaeda. And I think the U.S. now is sending a message to the Taliban, to Al Qaeda, that it does not want the organization, once again, to have a base in the country.
