The White House cited the personal tragedies experienced by President Joe Biden when asked about his response to a drone strike in Afghanistan that killed 10 civilians and declined to say if anyone in the line of command should be held responsible for the wandering attack.
“As a human being, as president, as someone who has overseen the loss in various scenarios, both as a leader and personally, his reaction is that it is a tragedy,” said Monday. press secretary Jen Psaki to reporters. The Defense Department confirmed on Friday that the strike killed 10 civilians, including seven children and an aid worker, rather than a terrorist threatening the Americans. Biden was briefed Friday morning before the Pentagon announcement.
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When asked if a military officer should be held accountable, Psaki declined to answer and instead highlighted the investigation and the circumstances under which the strike occurred.
“The Minister of Defense and [Gen. Kenneth McKenzie] came forward and made it clear that they wanted to learn from what had happened, ”Psaki said, adding that at the time of the strike, US troops in Afghanistan faced“ direct threats ”from the part of the militants of the Islamic State-K.
“Obviously, it was done in error. Obviously, there was a horrible tragedy that happened, ”she continued. “But I’m not going to go into what the impact will be.”
Biden and those who know him have often cited his personal losses as markers of the president’s empathy.
Earlier this year, alluding to the deaths of the president’s first wife, Neilia, and her daughter Naomi, in a car crash in 1972, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said Biden had his “personal reasons for being feel very deeply ”about a case involving a teenage motorcyclist killed by a suspected CIA agent driving on the wrong side of the road in England.
Families of U.S. servicemen who died in a suicide bombing in Kabul last month and who subsequently met Biden said the president mentioned the death of his military veteran son Beau, at times offending them.
The father of Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Jared Schmitz, Mark, reported a tense exchange with Biden at Dover Air Force Base after agreeing to meet with the president after his son died in the attack.
In an interview with NPR, Schmitz said he told Biden, who was looking at a photo of his son, “‘It’s Jared, it’s Jared Schmitz. Never forget that name, and don’t forget the names of 12 others.
Biden “barked at him,” Schmitz said, saying, “I know their stories.”
“My first thought was, ‘It’s literally impossible. Why are you arguing with me, ”Schmitz recounted. “And then, of course, he mentions his son again.”
Another relative of a Marine killed in Kabul relayed a similar story. Shana Chappell, mother of Lance Cpl. Kareem Nikoui said Biden “rolled his eyes” at a meeting in Dover after discussing the death of his son Beau.
“Remember I was the one who stood five inches from your face and let you know that I could never kiss my son again, hear his laughter and then you tried to interrupt me and tell me your own story. sob and I had to tell you ‘it’s not about you so don’t do it for you !!!’ “Chappell wrote on Instagram.
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“You then said you just wanted me to know that you know how I feel and I let you know that you don’t know how I feel and that you don’t have the right to tell me that you know what I feel. I feel ! You then rolled your fucking eyes in your head like you were pissed off at me …. then I kept telling you how you took my son from me and how I could never hug him, l ‘kiss, laugh with him again etc … you turned to walk away and I let you know that my son’s blood was on your hands and you threw your hand behind you as you were’ away from me, ”Chappell wrote.
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Key words: News, White House, Biden Administration, Joe Biden, Beau Biden, Drones, Afghanistan
Original author: Catherine doyle
Original location: Psaki cites Biden family tragedies in response to drone strike that killed 10 civilians
