Joe Biden was confronted by a man identified as an Air Force veteran at a campaign stopover in California on Super Tuesday who accuses Biden of enabling the Iraq War.
About Face: Veterans Against the War, an anti-war veteran’s organization, identifies the man as Michael Thurman, an Air Force veteran and conscientious objector that is a member of the organization. The man is seen asking Biden, who is surrounded by his staff at Buttercup Diner in Oakland, Calif., why “we should vote for someone who voted for a war and enabled a war that killed thousands of our brothers and sister and countless Iraqi civilians.”
Two veterans confronted @JoeBiden about his record of supporting war during his campaign stopover in Oakland on Super Tuesday. Read more here- https://t.co/ushpLvVXK5 #DroptheMIC #NoMoreWar #VetsAgainstWar pic.twitter.com/M7iGZa7DOs
— About Face: Veterans Against the War (@VetsAboutFace) March 4, 2020
He goes on to emphasize that Biden enabled the war and also awarded the “man who caused the war.” He is referring to the Veterans Day ceremony of 2018, when Biden presented President George W. Bush with the Liberty Medal for his “support of veterans,” according to About Face: Veterans Against the War.
“Their blood is on your hands. You are disqualified sir, you are disqualified,” the man, who said on video he is accompanied by an Army veteran, said on the video. “My friends are dead because of your policies.”
Biden responds, saying that his son also served in Iraq for a year. Beau Biden, Biden’s late son who died in 2015 after battling brain cancer, was deployed to Iraq for a year in 2008, where he served in an administrative post with the 261st Signal Brigade, according to CNN. “You don’t think it matters to me. It matters to me,” Biden said.
The man affirms that he is not going after his son, and Biden is ushered away. “My brothers and sisters died in Iraq and Afghanistan,” the man says. “No way he can be president,” he continues, “They are dead. Millions are dead in Iraq! He will not be allowed to be President! Trump is more anti-war than Joe Biden!” (RELATED: Another Day, Another Gaffe: Joe Biden Mixes Up Iraq And Iran In A Campaign Speech)
“We actually fought in your damn wars,” the man yells at Biden, who has walked out of the frame. “You sent us to hurt civilians!”
Joe Biden, former Democratic Delaware senator, voted in favor of invading Iraq in 2002.