A former Green Beret who rescued hundreds of US allies from Afghanistan after Biden’s deadly 2021 withdrawal unleashed a scathing rebuke of the president’s nominee for US ambassador to Iraq, saying the promotion would be a ‘slap in the face’ are for veterans.
The Biden administration last week nominated 59-year-old Tracey Jacobson as U.S. ambassador to Iraq. She previously served as US ambassador three times: to Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Kosovo.
Jacobson was in charge of the Special Immigration Visa (SIV) program to provide US Afghan allies, such as translators and military personnel, with paperwork so they could escape Taliban persecution.
But as many as 150,000 U.S. allies remained behind and are still waiting to escape, according to the 1208 Foundation, which works to help Afghans left behind obtain visas.
“The State Department’s role in all of this has been a colossal shame and this promotion is just another slap in the face to the veteran population,” retired Army Lt. Col. Scott Mann told DailyMail.com exclusively in a statement .
“Instead of being held accountable and relieved of her duties, (Jacobson) was promoted,” said Mann, who led Operation Pineapple Express — a mission that evacuated hundreds of Afghan allies during the 2021 Taliban takeover.
The White House nominated Tracey Jacobson, 59, as the new ambassador to Iraq
Before horrific images emerged of desperate parents handing their babies over to American soldiers, Biden said he put Jacobson in charge of removing American allies.
Lt. Col. Scott Mann is a retired Green Beret and led Task Force Pineapple along with two fellow Special Forces soldiers
Biden put Jacobson “in charge of a whole-of-government effort to process, transport and move Afghan special immigrant visa applicants and other Afghan allies.”
But that was before horrific images emerged of desperate parents handing their babies to US soldiers during the bloody withdrawal in August 2021 that left 13 troops and hundreds of Afghan allies dead.
The White House touted Jacobson’s experience in the Senior Foreign Service and at the U.S. Embassy in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, in the post announcing her appointment.
Jacobson has had a “distinguished” career, serving in multiple diplomatic positions abroad, as well as on the National Security Council. the announcement said.
However, others have described her promotion as a failure upwards.
“No words… Tracey Jacobson has failed our Afghan allies. Now she’s getting a promotion,” Republican Rep. Mike Waltz, also a former Green Beret, said posted on X.
House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul similarly ripped Jacobson’s performance.
“I am extremely frustrated that the Biden administration continues to reward and promote those who played a role in the catastrophic American withdrawal from Afghanistan,” McCaul said in a statement to DailyMail.com
“Tracy Jacobson failed America’s veterans and our Afghan allies when she and the Biden administration abandoned hundreds of thousands of our Afghan allies.”
The deadly withdrawal from Baghdad embarrassed the US as Afghan allies were left behind in the fight against the Taliban
Jacobson was in charge of helping US allies obtain visas to flee to the US, but as many as 150,000 people remained behind and are still waiting to escape
Smoke rises from the airport area after an explosion outside Hamid Karzai International Airport late last week
‘If she can become the next American ambassador Iraqthe Democratic USA Senate “I will tell the American people – and the world – that there is no such thing as accountability or justice in the Biden administration,” McCaul said.
Meanwhile, Republicans and Democrats in the House of Representatives heard testimony Wednesday from American veterans who are still actively trying to evacuate Afghan allies from Taliban-occupied Afghanistan.
Witnesses stated that many of their Afghan comrades, who failed to secure SIVs, continue to be actively hunted and killed by the Taliban as they await paperwork from the State Department.
“900 days after the failed withdrawal from Afghanistan, American veterans continue to maintain lifelines for our American allies facing retaliation, torture and execution,” Mann told DailyMail.com.
Jacobson is a “terrible choice” for the role, Mann reiterated.