We have been reporting on Joe Biden’s harebrained Gaza Pier from the jump, detailing for you the ridiculous waste of your money spent by this administration, which is now approaching half a billion, with a B, dollars:
Of course, Professor Jacobson, as did others, had Biden’s number:
Even serious military professionals had their doubts, starting with our favorite Navy blogger, Commander Salamander:
This will take about 1,000 personnel to accomplish. I don’t know a single maritime professional who thinks this is a good idea given the location and conditions ashore, but orders are orders. Make the best attempt you can.
And in late May, we reported on the Gaza Pier having to be taken apart and removed to a safe harbor in Israel because of only slightly worse than benign weather, and part of it broke up and ended up on the beach in Gaza:
For me, the most disturbing part of the whole affair is how benign the weather was that caused this debacle….This has to be a joke. Wind that “gusts” to 20 mph or so, meaning that the sustained winds were probably 10-15 mph, was so “severe” that parts of the pier had to be moved to Israel and four Army boats ran aground????I know I was/am a submarine guy, but we routinely, while on deployment in the North Atlantic, and other places ;), prayed for weather this benign anytime we were near the surface. This is basically like weather slightly worse than what you find at the beach. And if Biden’s $300+ million Gaza pier and supporting vessels can’t take swells 4.5 feet, i.e. up to your chest, high, pardon my French, but who designed and is running this piece of crap???
And of course this was after the Gaza Pier had been attacked by forces in Gaza, three U.S. servicemen had been injured, one of them severely, and you, the taxpayer, had spent over $320 million of your hard-earned cash on this.
Now we find out that the Gaza Pier is under constant attack, U.S. troops are at risk daily, and the Gaza Pier is being used primarily, not to deliver food to Palestinians, but for a Biden Administration “photo-op.”
From Breitbart News: Exclusive — Sources Say Joe Biden’s Gaza Pier Is Endangering Troops’ Lives for a ‘Photo-Op’
The Biden administration has publicly praised American troops who are part of the risky mission to deliver aid to Gaza via a temporary pier, but behind the scenes, sources tell Breitbart News that the troops’ safety is being endangered for a “photo-op.”
There are approximately 1,000 troops who are part of the novel operation to attach a floating pier to the coast of Gaza. The pier went operational on May 17, but eight days later on May 25, it broke apart due to heavy seas and had to be dismantled from the coast and repaired. It was reattached just last week….
[S]ources say behind the scenes, troops’ lives are being put at risk, sometimes for literal photo-ops.One U.S. source involved in the mission said the pier has been targeted daily. “[There] absolutely has been gunfire and mortars. It’s all day and night nonstop,” the source said.Indeed, due to the risk of sniper-fire, troops are ordered to wear tactical vests as far as five nautical miles out from the coast, and aid has to be rushed off the boats onto the temporary pier due to the “constant” attempts to attack the pier, according to the source.Yet, minutes before the first boat filled with aid hit the pier, troops were ordered to roll up plastic covers on the trucks so that the aid could be photographed, the source said.
Troops were also ordered to wash the aid trucks and sweep flour off of them so that they look good in photos. The source said this happened twice — once for the first delivery of the operation, and again recently after the pier was reattached.
The Biden administration has also boasted about the amount of aid moved over the pier — a little more than 2,000 metric tons to date, or approximately 4.6 million pounds. But sources say moving that amount of aid has taken a toll on troops.Two U.S. sources said commanders are ordering troops to work 12 to 48-hour shifts with very little sleep so that they can move more pallets, which has led to “many accidents,” including one service member being “crushed” by a forklift.The first U.S. source said it was lack of sleep that led to the service member being run and crushed over by an unlicensed forklift driver during night operations.Biden administration officials have revealed little about that injury, with Singh only saying that it was a “noncombat injury that happened on a ship that was away from the pier.” They recently acknowledged that the service member is in critical condition, and was recently moved along with his family from a hospital in Israel to the Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio, Texas.
According to the U.S. source, the service member is “currently brain dead in a coma.” Breitbart News reached out to the 7th Transportation Brigade — Expeditionary to confirm the service member’s injuries and status, but did not receive a response.
The Pentagon has acknowledged two other service members being injured, calling them “minor” injuries.However, the second U.S. source said troops are “being injured daily and not being taken off the mission.”“Someone dislocated their shoulder [and is] still being forced to work,” the source said. “Others are getting injuries [and are] still just being ignored because they just want this mission to show as a ‘success.’ It’s a disaster.” [emphasis mine]
And now, the Gaza Pier is being dismantled AGAIN due to marginal weather. It’s almost comical at this point:
So how high were those “high sea”??? Take a look:
I mentioned it in a previous post, but this weather is essentially what you see at the beach. These are NOT HIGH SEAS. I’ve been in high seas, like 50-70 foot high seas, and this ain’t that.
Others have noticed:
Fortunately, some our members of Congress have taken notice:
Let’s hope somehow Congress can put an end to this ridiculous waste of money that is endangering our hard-working troops.
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