U.S. EVACUATES HUNDREDS OF AMERICAN CIVILIANS FROM SUDAN:
A convoy of 18 buses carrying several hundred U.S. citizens departed Khartoum on Friday as part of an organized effort to evacuate Americans from Sudan. The evacuees arrived at the coastal city of Port Sudan on Saturday, State Department officials said, and U.S. government officials are facilitating their onward journey by boat across the Red Sea to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
It’s the first organized effort by the U.S. to evacuate its civilians from the country amid clashes between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces.
A source linked to the evacuation tells CBS News over 500 civilians are being processed.
Security around the convoy has been described as “tight” and passengers were instructed not to use their cellphones. The 12-hour drive to the coast was confirmed to be under “top cover” protection, likely from U.S. military drones.
Flashback: Joe Biden Comes Full Circle:
During a 2012 eulogy for George McGovern, Joe Biden recalled a confrontation he had with President Gerald Ford over pulling troops out of Vietnam. Ford had agreed to meet with the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, which included then-freshman Joe Biden, to discuss the administration’s military funding requests during the fall of South Vietnam on April 14, 1975.
According to Biden’s account: “I said, ‘Begging the president’s pardon, but I’m sure if the president were in my position, the president would ask the president the following question.’ I swear to God, it’s in the transcript. And Ford looked at me very graciously, and he said, ‘Yeah?’ I said, ‘With all due respect, Mr. President, you haven’t told us anything.’ They were talking about Sector 1, Sector 2, Sector 3, and with that the president turned and said, ‘Henry, tell them.’ And that was the first time it was decided that we were not going to try to sustain our presence [in Vietnam],” said Biden.
But Biden’s alleged statement, and the response from Ford, do not appear in the classified minutes of the meeting, which have been released by the Ford Library Museum. According to the transcript, Biden did speak up at the meeting to oppose military aid to help evacuate South Vietnamese allies alongside the U.S. troops. “I am not sure I can vote for an amount to put American troops in for one to six months to get the Vietnamese out. I will vote for any amount for getting the Americans out. I don’t want it mixed with getting the Vietnamese out,” said Biden, according to the transcript.
Found via Fred Bauer, who notes, “Biden has never made any secret of his tremendous admiration for McGovern, whom he views as a transformational and inspirational figure.” Which brings us neatly to both 2021 and today:
