Families of fallen during Afghanistan withdrawal sharply criticize Biden

During a rally in California, the parents of some of the officers killed during the chaotic troop departure call for the resignation of the president, whom they accuse of lying to them.

One of the planes used to evacuate troops from Afghanistan. — (Evacuation of soldiers from Afghanistan/Cordon Press)

Published by

Israel Duro

8 de agosto, 2023

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The families of some of the U.S. military personnel who lost their lives during the withdrawal from Afghanistan charged the administration and President Biden. At an event organized in California by Representative Darrell Issa, several of the relatives demanded from the Executive "answers," and "the truth" of what happened during "this failure." Some of the participants went further and demanded that the commander-in-chief admit his mistakes and resign immediately.

Issa organized the event at the Escondido (California) City Hall where relatives of the soldiers killed at Hamid Karzai Airport in Kabul could offer their testimony and remember their loved ones. The official version of their deaths is that it was a suicide bomb attack, something about which the relatives have doubts and denounce inconsistencies and the existence of a three-minute hole in the recordings that recorded what happened.

Those responsible for the exit from Afghanistan "must resign immediately"

The most forceful, without a doubt, was Darin Hoover, father of Marine Sergeant Darin Taylor Hoover Jr., who demanded that senior members of the Biden Administration and, ultimately the president himself, acknowledge what was done wrong in the exit from Afghanistan and his immediate resignation:

I’m calling out Secretary Blinken, Secretary Austin, General Milley, General McKenzie, Lt. Col. Whitehead — who could not give the order to the snipers to take out the bomber before he detonated his vest — and ultimately, the president. Do what our son did: Be a grown-ass man. Admit your mistakes. Learn from them so that this doesn’t happen ever, ever again. You all need to resign immediately. Our sons and daughters have more integrity in their little toes than every one of them combined.

"How can anyone be so heartless?"

Also expressing her dissatisfaction with the Executive was Cheryl Rex, mother of Marine Dylan R. Merola, who also lost his life in the attack in Afghanistan. Rex denounced that the explanations she received from a colonel and JAG about what happened at the airport present serious inconsistencies and denounced that the recording made by drones that they were able to see what happened is incomplete:

I was being given false information. While this colonel was describing Dylan’s wounds, he was describing the report as intended towards a right-handed person. My son’s personal trait was that he was left-handed, so when I questioned, ‘How could my son obtain wounds on the opposite of his body that he was illustrating?’ he could not respond, leading the conversation to the JAG to change the subject.

Rex, further recalled the moment when Biden approached her to express his condolences and said, "My wife, Jill, and I know how you feel. We lost our son as well and brought him home in a flag-draped coffin...". Rex stressed that she already knew Beau had died of cancer and recalled how she experienced that moment, "My heart started beating, how could anyone be so heartless to say they knew how I felt?" when they had been able to be at their son's deathbed.

"I want the answers, I want the truth" about what happened in Afghanistan

She also expressed her doubts about the official version Coral Briseño, mother of Humberto Sanchez: "The commander in chief failed in the oath he took... he failed everyone. I want the answers, I want the truth. I want to know this type of failure will not repeat itself again."

"I continue to work until every question you have is answered"

In a tweet, Issa thanked all the participants for their presence and testimony and assured that he will echo this and ensure that the families of the fallen soldiers in the Afghanistan withdrawal receive all the answers they demand.