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Biden and Harris 'Never Once Reached Out' to Relatives of Soldiers Killed in Bungled Afghanistan Withdrawal, Families Say
Washington Free Beacon ^ | August 26, 2024 | Alana Goodman

Posted on 08/27/2024 5:34:13 AM PDT by george76

They just want to pretend it didn't happen,' says Gold Star aunt Cheryl Juels...

The families of U.S. service members killed at Abbey Gate in Afghanistan said they have never been contacted by Joe Biden or Kamala Harris, three years after the administration’s rushed withdrawal left 13 Americans dead and hundreds stranded.

"There's never even been condolences [from Biden or Harris]. They just want to pretend it didn't happen," said Cheryl Juels, the aunt of fallen 23-year-old Marine Sergeant Nicole M. Gee. "They want to take credit for ending the war, but they don't want to take any responsibility for the way it all went down."

Juels said Biden has "never once reached out to any of our family. Kamala Harris has never reached out."

Alicia Lopez, the Gold Star mother of Marine Corporal Hunter Lopez, 22, criticized what she saw as a "lack of responsibility taken by the administration of both Harris and Biden," and a failure to investigate the mistakes behind the withdrawal.

"For them to think that it's okay, and to treat it as another page in the book that they're just flipping over for the next chapter, it saddens me and frightens me, all at the same time," she said.

The families were speaking at a press phone conference organized by the Trump campaign to mark the third anniversary of the terrorist bombing at Abbey Gate outside the Kabul airport. The attack, which took place while the United States was rushing to evacuate the city to meet Biden’s withdrawal deadline, killed 13 U.S. service members and injured 18. Over 100 Afghan civilians were also killed in the bombing.

On Monday, former president Donald Trump visited the Arlington National Cemetery to help place wreaths on the graves of the soldiers killed in the attack.

Harris, who did not have any memorial-related events on the schedule, released a statement honoring the fallen soldiers who "made the ultimate sacrifice three years ago." She also defended her administration’s Afghanistan withdrawal as the "courageous and right decision."

Trump’s running mate J.D. Vance, a Marine veteran, slammed Harris as "incompetent" during the call with the Gold Star families.

"It is incompetent not to get to the bottom of why this disaster happened in the first place, and what breakdown in authority led to this disaster," said Vance.

The Gold Star families on the call also criticized Biden and Harris for not attending memorial ceremonies for the soldiers on Monday. Biden is reportedly vacationing at his family’s beach house in Delaware.

Mark Schmitz, the Gold Star father of Marine Lance Corporal Jared Schmitz, said Biden and Harris have "treated the withdrawal from Afghanistan like the plague."

"They have stayed as far away from us as they possibly can," he said. "Seeing that today was the wreath-laying ceremony at Arlington, I’m not surprised in the least that neither one of them would show up."

While Harris hasn’t highlighted the Afghanistan withdrawal on the campaign trail, she told CNN’s Dana Bash three years ago that she was the "last person in the room" when Biden made the decision to pull out.

House Republicans have been investigating the Biden administration’s mistakes during the operation. The Pentagon recently confirmed that the Abbey Gate suicide bomber was an ISIS-K terrorist who had been freed from a prison discarded by the U.S. military during the withdrawal.


TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; Government; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections; US: District of Columbia; War; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: afghanistan; withdrawal

1 posted on 08/27/2024 5:34:13 AM PDT by george76
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To: george76

“Last person in the room when Biden made the decision to pull out.”

Sounds like something party girl Heels would say.


2 posted on 08/27/2024 5:43:34 AM PDT by AFret. (.)
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To: george76

biden is indeed scum. All we hear about is Beau’s combat legacy, but not one word to the families of actual heroes.

Meanwhile down at the VFW, Harris is touting walz’s bravery while dodging snipers in Italy.

Disgraceful...


3 posted on 08/27/2024 5:50:37 AM PDT by AFret. (.)
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To: george76

We will NEVER FORGET the 13 American heroes killed in Biden’s botched Afghanistan withdrawal — whose names Biden and Harris have never bothered to say out loud or acknowledged.

Staff Sgt. Taylor Hoover
Sgt. Nicole Gee
Sgt. Johanny Pichardo
Staff Sgt. Ryan Knauss
Cpl. Daegan Page
Cpl. Humberto Sanchez
Cpl. Hunter Lopez
Corpsman Maxton Soviak
Lance Cpl. Kareem Nikoui
Lance Cpl. Dylan Merola
Lance Cpl. Jared Schmitz
Lance Cpl. David Espinoza
Lance Cpl. Rylee McCollum


4 posted on 08/27/2024 6:00:44 AM PDT by Indy Pendance (Jesus can't here soon enough!)
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To: george76

They probably would have if the soldiers killed had been illegal aliens or foreigners. Unfortunately these soldiers were Americans which are very unpopular with the Pedophile/Refugee Administration.


5 posted on 08/27/2024 7:31:53 AM PDT by FlingWingFlyer (Remember! A vote for the Voo Doo Hoo Doo and Timmy is a vote for another four years of Kenyan BS.)
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To: george76

“They just want to pretend it didn’t happen,’ says Gold Star aunt Cheryl Juels...”

Avoiding uncomfortable and damning questions is what the Democrats have always done, with the help and assistance of their leftist media cohorts.

And the truth is... they just don’t give a damn about the US Military. Never have, never will. Quite the opposite, in fact.


6 posted on 08/27/2024 7:38:53 AM PDT by Danie_2023
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To: george76

bkmk


7 posted on 08/27/2024 8:00:21 AM PDT by God luvs America (6young 3.5 million pay no income tax and vote for DemoKrats...)
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