‘We Were Ignored’ — Watch Marine Tells Congress In Powerful Testimony: Afghanistan Suicide Bomber Was In His Sights

“I see the faces of all of those we could not save, those we left behind,” he said according to the BBC.

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Vargas-Andrews detailed almost moment by moment the frustrating lead-up to the attack. The men were “an anomaly” in the crowd.

“Both had obvious mannerisms that go along with who we believed him to be,” he continued, telling the Congress, “This was as serious as it could get.”

Through choked-back tears, the Marine told lawmakers that he had requested permission to kill the suspected suicide bomber and his team leader readied a sniper to take the shot. He was gobsmacked when he was told: “leadership did not have the engagement authority.”

Adamant about the threat Sgt. Vargas-Andrews called for his battalion commander Lt. Col. Brad Whited “to come to the tower to see what we did.” While they waited for the colonel, he explained “psychological operations individuals came to our tower immediately and confirmed the suspect met the suicide bomber description.”

Whited arrived after a time, and the Marines showed him their findings.

“Pointedly … we asked him if we could shoot,” Vargas-Andrews said. “Our battalion commander said, and I quote: ‘I don’t know.'” At great professional risk, he pressed the colonel “very harshly, ‘Well, who does? Because this is your responsibility, Sir.'”

“He again replied he did not know who and would find out. We received no update and never got our answer,” Vargas-Andrews said.

“Eventually the individual disappeared. To this day we believe he was a suicide bomber.”

A few hours after losing sight of the suspected bomber, the sergeant was working inside the crowd near the Abbey Gate when an ISIS terrorist detonated a suicide bomb vest. He lost an arm, a leg, and was penetrated by over 100 ball bearings. Around him lay hundreds of dead and wounded men, women, children, Afghanis, and fellow Americans.

“Plain and simple, we were ignored,” he told the astonished legislators.

“We were ignored. Our expertise was disregarded,” he told them. “No one was held accountable for our safety.”

“The withdrawal was a catastrophe, in my opinion, and there was an inexcusable lack of accountability and negligence,” he concluded. “The 11 Marines, one sailor, and one soldier that were murdered that day have not been answered for.”