The Morning Dispatch: U.S. Apologizes for Strike that Killed Afghan Civilians

Happy Monday! Andy Dalton, meet Wally Pipp. 

Quick Hits: Today’s Top Stories

• Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said Friday an internal Pentagon investigation found that the United States’ supposed retaliatory drone strike in Kabul last month was a “horrible mistake,” one that killed up to 10 innocent people—including seven children—and no ISIS-K members.

• An external Food and Drug Administration advisory committee voted on Friday to endorse COVID-19 vaccine booster shots only for Americans over the age of 65 or who are otherwise at high risk of severe disease. The recommendation is nonbinding—the FDA and CDC will make a final decision in the coming days—but the vote served as a rebuke of the Biden administration’s plan to offer booster shots to most Americans eight months after their second dose.

• The Department of Homeland Security said over the weekend that it intends to “accelerate the pace” of removal flights expelling thousands of Haitians who arrived at the United States’ southern border last week. More than 12,000 would-be migrants have arrived in Del Rio, Texas, in recent days, overwhelming U.S. Border Patrol’s ability to process them.

• French Foreign Affairs Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian announced Friday he was—at President Emmanuel Macron’s request—recalling the country’s ambassadors to both the United States and Australia in retaliation for the countries’ nuclear submarine agreement, which Le Drian decried as “unacceptable behavior between allies and partners.”

• Early reports out of Moscow show President Vladimir Putin’s United Russia Party will retain its majority in the lower house of Parliament despite its projected vote share falling nearly 10 percentage points from 2016. The election was marred by allegations of fraud, and both Apple and Google removed an app promoting Putin’s opposition from their respective app stores last week after threats from Russian authorities.

• Senate Parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough ruled over the weekend it would be inappropriate for Senate Democrats to try to extend legal status to millions of undocumented immigrants through the budget reconciliation process, arguing it is not primarily a budget matter.

• A State Department spokesman said Saturday that 28 more U.S. citizens—and seven lawful permanent residents—departed Kabul on Friday aboard a Qatar Airways charter flight.

U.S. Military Apologizes for Killing Civilians

On August 29—just days after ISIS-K militants killed 13 American troops and dozens of Afghans in Kabul—the U.S. military said it had headed off a second attack.

“U.S. military forces conducted a self-defense unmanned over-the-horizon airstrike today on a vehicle in Kabul, eliminating an imminent ISIS-K threat to Hamad Karzai International airport,” a Central Command spokesman said. “We are confident we successfully hit the target.”

A few hours later, a second statement was issued. “We are aware of reports of civilian casualties following our strike on a vehicle in Kabul today,” it read. “We are still assessing the results of this strike, which we know disrupted an imminent ISIS-K threat to the airport.”

Soon, those reports of civilian casualties rose to 10. But Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley defended the strike during a September 1 press conference. “We know from a variety of other means that at least one of those people that were killed was an ISIS facilitator,” he said. “So were there others killed? Yes, there are others killed. Who they are, we don’t know. … At this point, we think that the procedures were correctly followed and it was a righteous strike.”

On Friday, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin formally admitted what the New York Times had reported a week earlier: The United States hadn’t struck an ISIS-K adherent, but an Afghan U.S. aid group worker named Zemari Ahmadi—and it had killed seven nearby children in the process.

“We now know that there was no connection between Mr. Ahmadi and ISIS-Khorasan, that his activities on that day were completely harmless and not at all related to the imminent threat we believed we faced, and that Mr. Ahmadi was just as innocent a victim as were the others tragically killed,” Austin said after being briefed on an internal investigation. “We apologize, and we will endeavor to learn from this horrible mistake.”

Gen. Frank McKenzie, commander of U.S. Central Command, took full responsibility for the strike and its “tragic” outcome in a briefing Friday before reminding reporters of the context: 13 U.S. troops had been killed days earlier, and military leaders had received more than 60 pieces of intelligence hinting at another “imminent” threat.

“One of the most recurring aspects of the intelligence was that ISIS-K would utilize a white Toyota Corolla as a key element in the next attack,” he said, noting that leaders latched onto a vehicle meeting that description in the morning and observed it pick up and drop off various men for eight hours before striking. “Our investigation now concludes that the strike was a tragic mistake.”

The outrage was swift and bipartisan. “There must be accountability,” Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy said. “If there are no consequences for a strike this disastrous, it signals to the entire drone program chain of command that killing kids and civilians will be tolerated.”

Republican Sen. Jim Inhofe, ranking member of the Armed Service Committee, demanded a full accounting of the failure from the administration—and warned such failures could become more common after the United States’ withdrawal from Afghanistan. “​​The August 29 strike shows how difficult and complex counterterrorism operations can be,” he said. “Unfortunately it highlights that an ‘over-the-horizon’ strategy will only increase the complexity and difficulty.”

Asked if, given the fatal miscalculation, he is concerned about the United States’ “over-the-horizon” (OTH) capabilities going forward, McKenzie claimed the August 29 strike was conducted under the “self-defense” rules of engagement, which is “not the way we would strike in an OTH mission going into Afghanistan against ISIS-K targets.”

But when the strike was first announced last month, Central Command described it as “over-the-horizon”—and President Biden touted the capability himself just days later.

“We will maintain the fight against terrorism in Afghanistan and other countries,” he said in an August 31 speech from the White House. “We just don’t need to fight a ground war to do it.  We have what’s called over-the-horizon capabilities, which means we can strike terrorists and targets without American boots on the ground—or very few, if needed. We’ve shown that capacity just in the last week. We struck ISIS-K remotely, days after they murdered 13 of our servicemembers and dozens of innocent Afghans.”

Emal Ahmadi—Zamarai’s brother—spoke to CNN over the weekend about the death of his brother, daughter, nieces, and nephews. “The US [knew] that inside this area, inside the car, [were] children, why [did] they target innocent [people] in this area?” he asked, noting the family had to borrow money to pay for all the funerals at once. “They are, all of them, innocent, like my cute daughter … she was so lovely.”

McKenzie said the United States is considering ex gratia payments to the Ahmadis.

Trudeau Hopes to Avoid Self-Inflicted Wound

At polls across Canada today, voters will cast their ballots in the country’s 44th parliamentary election to determine whether sitting Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Liberal Party will maintain its minority government or if—in an ironic twist in a snap election Trudeau himself called nearly 40 days ago—the prime minister will be unseated by Conservative leader Erin O’Toole.

Roughly 5.78 million ballots were cast during the country’s four days of early voting, and many more are expected on election day.

Understandably, debates over COVID-19—both its recent surge and what some Canadians have criticized as heavy-handed attempts to curb it—have been at the center of the campaign. Objections by some to mandatory vaccinations, restrictions, and lockdown measures have been key in motivating Trudeau’s opposition.

“We need to encourage as many Canadians as possible to get vaccinated,” O’Toole—among the only party leaders to not require his party’s candidates be fully vaccinated prior to campaigning—said a few days ago. “We’re not going to be doing that by wedging people, like Mr. Trudeau, always dividing people. Using even a health crisis for his own benefit.” As of last week, about 85 percent of Canadians 12 and over have received at least one COVID-19 vaccine dose.

Trudeau claimed in mid-August that he called a snap election for September 20—a full two years earlier than scheduled—because he wanted voters to weigh in on how best to combat the pandemic and shape Canada’s recovery. “Canadians need to choose how we finish the fight against COVID-19 and build back better,” he said. “The decisions that your government makes now will define the future that your children and grandchildren grow up in.”

But most see his decision as an attempt to solidify his party’s standing and regain a full majority in the House of Commons, which he hasn’t held since 2019. “Why did Mr. Trudeau choose to launch an election? It was to get a majority,” Jagmeet Singh, leader of the New Democratic Party (NDP), said during a televised debate earlier this month. 

Singh—whose progressive NDP is currently polling around 19 percent to Conservatives’ and Liberals’ 33 percent—has also taken aim at the prime minister for his record on climate change, corporate taxation, and indigenous rights. “Mr. Trudeau, it’s not enough to say you care about Indigenous communities. You actually have to do something about it,” he said on Twitter. “Real leaders fight for people. I’m committed to walking the path of reconciliation with actions not just words.”

Trudeau is still expected to clinch a plurality of seats and stay in his post, but the race is proving surprisingly tight. O’Toole, a former Royal Canadian Air Force helicopter pilot, has marketed himself to voters as worker-friendly and moderate on climate, immigration, gun control, and social issues. Above all, he has focused his campaign on targeting the incumbent prime minister, whose broad popular support among Canadians has been shaken by the pandemic.

‘Justice for J6’ Rally a Dud

Nine months after a sea of rioters stormed the Capitol, a handful of Trump supporters gathered in Union Square Saturday to protest the alleged plight of those who were arrested on January 6.

After everything that transpired on the day of the election certification, U.S. Capitol Police were not going to be caught flat-footed again. The fencing that surrounded the Capitol for much of the first half of the year was reinstalled last week, National Guard members were on standby to be deployed as necessary, and few—if any—lawmakers or staff members were around. 

But after all the hype and preparation, the event was—as domestic extremism researcher Jared Holt predicted in a piece we mentioned last week—more or less a nothingburger. Very few people showed up, and the day came and went relatively peacefully.

“Paranoia of federal law enforcement and intelligence agencies’ surveillance has been one of the single most uniting factors in far-right extremist movements this year so far,” Holt wrote. The Proud Boys—key figures on January 6—messaged their followers ahead of Saturday’s event saying the group wouldn’t be showing up because it “sounds like bait.”

Former President Donald Trump echoed this sentiment in an interview with The Federalist Thursday. “On Saturday, that’s a setup,” he said. “If people don’t show up they’ll say, ‘Oh, it’s a lack of spirit.’ And if people do show up they’ll be harassed.”

People showed up, but they weren’t his people: The handful of Trump supporters who gathered on the National Mall paled in comparison to the number of police and reporters present. So far, just four arrests have been made in connection with the protest—two attendees on weapons charges and two people with outstanding felony warrants (it’s unclear if the latter two were rally attendees).

Rally organizer and Look Ahead America executive director Matt Braynard—a former low-level Trump campaign staffer—said he expected as much, telling MSNBC Friday that media attention mattered more than the number of rally attendees. “It’s not really a numbers game, it’s a message game,” he said.

Those who attended the event likely did so because they knew they’d have the opportunity to air their grievances to the press. “I just want my voice to be heard,” said Daniel Collins, who traveled from New York to attend the rally and said he believes those who were charged with trespassing the Capitol on January 6 should be released from prison. 

“If they did in fact commit violent crimes or sprayed anybody with chemicals and things like that, yeah, they deserve to be charged,” Collins said. “But trespassing? It’s a victimless crime.”

“I’m mostly concerned that people are being detained without their constitutional rights,” congressional candidate Joe Kent told The Dispatch after speaking at Saturday’s rally. Kent—endorsed by Trump—is seeking to oust Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler of Washington, one of 10 House Republicans who voted to impeach Trump back in January.

Mike Collins—running to succeed Rep. Jody Hice in Georgia’s 10th congressional district—also spoke at Saturday’s rally. (Hice is primarying Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger.)

The congressional candidates’ appearances at the event exposed some cracks within the MAGA wing of the GOP, as even the usual suspects—Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene, Matt Gaetz, Madison Cawthorn, Paul Gosar, and Louie Gohmert—steered clear on Saturday. Kent, meanwhile, declared himself more MAGA than the former president. “The reaction to the J6 political prisoners rally is telling. Many are saying it’s a trap etc.,” he tweeted a day before the rally. “The ugly truth is that we have to show up if we want things to change. It’s on us, there’s no plan to trust.”

As the event concluded and Braynard was walking away from the stage flanked by security, a reporter asked him what the purpose of the rally was. “You’re here,” he replied.

Worth Your Time

• In a thoughtful piece for National Review, Yuval Levin argues it’s time for the conservative movement to devote the same energy it spent reshaping the federal judiciary to reforming Congress. “James Madison was not wrong to say that the legislative branch necessarily predominates in our republic,” he writes. “When Congress is dysfunctional, the larger system of which it is the foremost part falls into dysfunction too. Conservatives therefore need to respond to our distaste for Congress like we responded to our distaste for the judiciary—by recovering a proper understanding of the purpose of the institution, and then acting to bring it into line with that understanding. The Congress has the power to reassert itself. What it lacks is the will. And that means that the project of reassertion must begin by changing how Congress understands itself, and how our society understands it.”

Presented Without Comment

Toeing the Company Line

• Jonah was in rare form in his Friday G-File, aiming his fire first at the James Beard Awards—and “the refusal of institutions, and the people who run them, to stay in their lanes”—before turning to the hyperbolic reaction from MAGA supporters to former President George W. Bush’s speech commemorating the 20th anniversary of the September 11 attacks. “If I write a ‘news’letter condemning cannibalistic pederasts and you reply, ‘How dare you insult 74 million Trump voters,’ I’m not the one calling Trump voters cannibalistic pederasts,” he writes. “But when a former president condemns ‘violent extremists’ and the response from Trumpy right-wingers is ‘How dare you?’ I have to ask: What the actual fornication are these people doing?”

• In the second Uphill of the week (🔒), Harvest and Ryan dove into the latest efforts to raise the debt limit and examined how higher staff pay might—or might not—prevent some of the “brain drain” from Congress. “The amount of time Congress has left to avoid [a U.S. default] has shrunk,” they write, “and the political pressure to act is growing.”

• Sarah and Steve were joined by political commentator S.E. Cupp on Friday’s Dispatch Podcast for a conversation about the first few months of the Biden administration, political extremism, and how social media is rewiring all of our brains.

• “The transformation of white Evangelicalism into a primarily political movement is a cause for deep and profound concern,” David writes in his latest French Press. “It’s become a force that is helping fracture our nation and sicken its people, and its extreme elements have become instruments of cruelty and even violence.”

Let Us Know

It’s easy given what we now know to criticize the intelligence failure that led to the ill-conceived drone strike in Kabul.

In the moment itself, how confident would you have to be in the intelligence assessment of an impending strike for the benefits of stopping it to outweigh the risk of targeting innocent civilians?

Reporting by Declan Garvey (@declanpgarvey), Andrew Egger (@EggerDC), Charlotte Lawson (@lawsonreports), Audrey Fahlberg (@AudreyFahlberg), Ryan Brown (@RyanP_Brown), Harvest Prude (@HarvestPrude), and Steve Hayes (@stephenfhayes).