The father of a U.S. Marine killed during the terrorist attack at the Kabul airport in Afghanistan two years ago savaged Joe Biden on Capitol Hill Tuesday, calling him a “disgrace to this nation” with “more American blood” on his hands “than any president in U.S. history.”
Marine Lance Cpl. Jared Schmitz was one of the 13 U.S. service members killed in a suicide bombing on Aug. 26, 2021, during the military evacuation at the Kabul airport.
His still grieving father, Mark Schmitz, bitterly recounted his encounter with Biden during a roundtable discussion with other Gold Star family members before the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
“Not a single person has been held accountable,” Schmitz lamented. “Our so-called leader can’t seem to even utter their names in public, not even once.”
Schmitz ridiculed Biden’s longtime campaign claim of being a dedicated “family man.”
“Well I’ve got news for you sir, he said with disdain. “The curtain has been lifting and that campaign slogan will never work again. We have seen what is going on in your family, and even worse, we’ve been seeing how you’ve been treating us, the Gold Star families and there couldn’t be anything more disgusting and cowardly than the way that you’ve treated us.”
He continued: “You are a disgrace to this nation. You have no business having ultimate command over our military, and I regret not saying that to your face when I had the opportunity in Dover. I felt it more important to bite my tongue, but I also had more important things on my mind at that time, like receiving my son’s lifeless body stateside.”
By all accounts, Biden’s meeting with Gold Star families at Dover Air Force Base on August 29, 2021, did not go smoothly and the parents tore into him almost immediately afterward in media interviews and on social media.
Biden angered grieving parents when he repeatedly invoked his own son, Beau, who died six years ago of cancer, while trying to console them.
The anger of the families was intensified when they saw the “commander-in-chief ” appearing to impatiently check his watch during the dignified transfer of the deceased service members.
Saying he was “done biting my tongue,” Schmitz did not hold back his disgust with Biden as he described “the so-called leader’s” demeanor at Dover Air Force Base that day.
“While I stood there on the tarmac watching you check your watch over and over again, all I wanted to do was shout out, ‘It’s 2 f-cking 30, asshole.’ But out of respect of the other grieving families, I bit my tongue once again. Well, as you can probably tell by now, I’m done biting my tongue. You, sir, stole their lives, their futures, their dreams and have ripped apart 13 families. You cannot even man up and admit that.”
Schmitz accused the regime of “intentional negligence” and said that after two years of Biden’s failed foreign and domestic policies—including the wide open border—Biden likely has “more American blood” on his hands “than any president in U.S. history.”
He called for investigations into Biden, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and Secretary of State Antony Blinken “for their involvement in intentionally leaving Bagram [Air Base] and all of its assets by knowingly aiding known terrorists, all while abandoning U.S. civilians and allied partners.”
The father also blasted the Biden regime’s insistence that the botched military withdrawal from Afghanistan was an “extraordinary success” despite the loss of life, and the stranding of hundreds of American citizens, thousands of Afghan allies, and close to 50 service dogs behind enemy lines.
On August 16, the second anniversary of the botched withdrawal, Biden doubled down, thundering angrily: “Name me a single objective we’ve ever set out to accomplish that we’ve failed on! Name me one!”
“In closing, Mr. Biden, Secretary Austin, Secretary Blinken, if trusting and supporting our military is too difficult for you, then I suggest you pack your shit and enjoy your retirement,” he said. “Because from where I sit on my perch, the noose around your doubled-down notion that this was an extraordinary success looks like it’s tightening a little bit more each and every day.”
"While I stood there on the tarmac watching you check your watch over and over again, all I wanted to do was shout out, 'It's two-f***ing-thirty, a**hole,'" says one Gold Star dad.
"As you can probably tell by now, I'm done biting my tongue."pic.twitter.com/gAgRThpSb6
— Jake Schneider (@jacobkschneider) August 29, 2023
Other Gold Star family members at Tuesday’s hearing slammed the regime for its fatally flawed decisions regarding the Afghanistan withdrawal and for what they claimed was incomplete or incorrect information given to them.
Just ahead of the hearing, General Mark Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff who was in charge of the withdrawal, released a statement saying the U.S. owes Gold Star families “everything.”
“We owe them transparency, we owe them honesty, we owe them accountability. We owe them the truth about what happened to their loved ones,” Milley said in a statement to Fox News.
Milley addressed some of the claims from Gold Star families about incorrect information in his statement.
“I trust the Army, Navy and Marine Corps did the best they could in briefing the families who had loved ones killed at Abbey Gate. I believe the briefers gave every piece of information that they could. If there was issues with that, we need to take whatever corrective action is necessary,” he said. “And our hearts go out to those families.”
He continued, “This is a personal thing for all of us in uniform. We don’t like what happened in Afghanistan. We don’t like the outcome of Afghanistan. We owe it to the families to take care of them. Their sacrifices were not in vain.”
Milley said that for those who served in the mission “the cost in blood was high, but every single one of us who served in Afghanistan should hold our heads high.”
“Each served with skill, dedication and honor. For two decades our nation was not attacked from Afghanistan – that was our mission, and each one can be rightly proud of their service,” he wrote.
The Pentagon also released a statement expressing “our deepest condolences to the Gold Star Families who lost loved ones during the tragic bombing at Abbey Gate.”
“We are forever grateful for their service, sacrifice, and committed efforts during the evacuation operations. We also commend the historic and monumental efforts of all our service men and women who served honorably during the withdrawal period from Afghanistan,” the statement reads.
The Pentagon claimed that U.S. Central Command conducted a “comprehensive, credible and definitive” investigation into the attack.
“As then CENTCOM commander Gen. McKenzie highlighted, ‘The volume of evidence collected, the testimony of more than 100 people, the analysis of experts, the findings of fact, and the conclusions of the team based upon evidence gives a compelling and truthful examination of the event.’ U.S. military commanders on the ground in Afghanistan made the best decisions and provided their best military advice based off what was known at the time and leaders took appropriate action in response to reported threat streams. From the investigation at the tactical level, the Abbey Gate attack was not preventable without degrading the mission to maximize the number of evacuees, and the leaders on the ground followed the proper measures and procedures.”
Prayers for this man and all the families of the 13 that were killed in Afghanistan.
We are witnessing the decline of America. A leader who is being controlled by the CCP and other material interests which have nothing to do with leading a nation. Those in the lower ranks in the military are all victims of the wreckless authorities that occupy the White House.
We need to get control of our country. Things are going to get much worse and it’s hard to believe after the Afghanistan debacle that two years later, we have not seen any improvement.