Vice President Joe Biden joked Monday about his experience riding in a Humvee while visiting Iraq — as opposed to a Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicle. “Congressman and senators are expendable,” Biden said.
While speaking at the Pentagon about the importance of MRAP vehicles to the safety of U.S. military personnel, Biden recounted his past trip to Fallujah, Iraq.
The vice president said he was shown photographs of an MRAP that hit an improvised explosive device (IED) and flew into the air so high that it “literally ripped the telephone wires.”
In the photos, Biden said, he could see various parts of the vehicle spread out all over the ground.
“But the hull of the ship, so to speak, was in place. Everyone survived. Nobody died — and I’m going back to my vehicle, which was a Humvee, and I’m riding back to the center,” Biden said to laughter from the audience at the MRAP Program Transition Ceremony on Monday.
“Hey, look,” he said: “Senators and vice presidents are expendable, man.”