Well, look who’s decided to whip out the political playbook yet again—the media and their friends on the left. Republicans and Democrats are set to release two conflicting documents on the chaotic U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan in August 2021, and naturally, it’s all about the blame game.

The Republicans, led by Chairman Michael McCaul of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, are ready to lay out the cold, hard facts in their report, while the Democrats, led by Rep. Gregory Meeks, are expected to spin a minority memorandum defending their camp. This tug-of-war over who’s at fault is timed perfectly as former President Trump’s campaign gears up to make the Afghan exit a key issue in the final weeks before the presidential election. Let the circus begin!

The Republican-led investigation shines a glaring light on the Biden administration’s mishandling of the situation, emphasizing that the current mess was entirely avoidable. The Republican report argues that the “Biden-Harris administration” misled and, at times, outright lied to the American people at every stage of the withdrawal. From start to finish, the Republicans accuse this administration of failing to own up to its disastrous decisions. And why should they? They’re too busy trying to bury their mistakes and blame their predecessors, despite the facts staring them right in the face.

The Republican report, over 350 pages long, doesn’t hold back in pointing fingers and calling for accountability. It lays out 23 recommendations, including passing resolutions condemning President Biden, Vice President Harris, and other members of the national security team. And guess what? It also suggests setting up some much-needed standards for future non-combatant evacuation operations (NEO). After all, if the Biden administration had any clue about how to execute such a drawdown properly, maybe we wouldn’t have had the disaster at Abbey Gate, where 13 American service members lost their lives.

Naturally, the Democrats have their own version of the story. Rep. Meeks has already accused McCaul of pushing a “predetermined, partisan narrative” and claims the Republicans are just chasing headlines in the heat of an election season. Meeks insists that the Biden administration initiated a “robust” review process and that the fall of Kabul “precipitously changed the situation,” prompting an unprecedented response that supposedly protected U.S. interests. Well, isn’t that a convenient excuse?

The media, of course, has been quick to jump on board with the White House’s talking points. They’ve accused the Republican report of cherry-picking facts and pushing biases. Because apparently, it’s now considered partisan to want to know why a catastrophic withdrawal went so wrong, why thousands of Afghans who helped the U.S. were left behind, and why American lives were lost. But don’t worry—the media will make sure we’re all aware that Biden was just “inheriting an untenable position.” Let’s ignore the fact that the administration had months to plan for an orderly withdrawal and chose instead to prioritize optics over safety.

Meanwhile, the Republican report makes it clear that the Biden administration had its mind set on withdrawal at all costs. Forget the Doha Agreement, forget the pleas from the Afghan government, and forget the objections from NATO allies. The only thing that seemed to matter to this administration was getting out, no matter the consequences. The report accuses them of dragging their feet on ordering a NEO, allowing Afghanistan to revert into a terrorist haven for groups like al-Qaeda and ISIS-K. But hey, the Democrats will tell you it was all part of a well-considered plan.

The Republican report doesn’t just aim its fire at the Biden administration, it takes on the whole chain of decision-making. It points out that Zalmay Khalilzad, the Special Representative for Afghanistan appointed by the Trump administration, was pushing for a succession plan that involved the Taliban, and that he was willing to negotiate away any semblance of power-sharing. The details of those negotiations have been murky, to say the least, but the report highlights how the Taliban’s demands kept escalating as they advanced on Kabul.

So here we are, more than three years later, with countless investigations, hearings, and reports, and still no accountability from those in power. The Democrats, meanwhile, are busy trying to protect Vice President Harris, who’s now their presidential nominee, from any fallout. Meeks argues that she’s only mentioned three times in the committee’s transcripts, yet somehow Republicans are painting her as the architect of the U.S. withdrawal.

Chairman McCaul isn’t done yet, though. As Election Day nears, he’s pushing forward with his probe, even threatening to subpoena key officials like Secretary of State Antony Blinken and National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan. And why not? The American people deserve answers. They deserve to know why this administration was so reckless, so blinded by its desire to pull out, that it ignored the chaos it left behind. The blame game might be in full swing, but it’s about time we demand some real accountability from the people who got us here in the first place.