Two years after the deadly terrorist attack that killed 13 U.S. troops during President Joe Biden’s disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan, Gold Star families demanded accountability, including one father of a fallen Marine who called President Joe Biden an “a–hole” and a “disgrace.”
Mark Schmitz, father of fallen U.S. Marine Lance Cpl. Jared Schmitz, slammed Biden and other officials for their response to the deadly attack.
“Not a single person has been held accountable. Our so-called leader can’t even seem to even utter their names in public. Not even once. Mr. Biden has run his entire political campaign for 50 years as the family man. Well, I’ve got news for you, sir: the curtain has been lifting, and that campaign slogan will never work again. We have seen what’s going on in your family, and even worse, we’ve seen how you’ve been treating us as Gold Star families,” Schmitz said.
“There couldn’t be anything more disgusting and cowardly than the way you have treated us. You are a disgrace to this nation. You have no business having ultimate command over our military. I regret not saying that to your face when I had the opportunity in Dover,” he continued. “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.”
“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-cking 30, a–hole.’ But out of respect to the other grieving families, I bit my tongue once again. As you can probably tell by now, I’m done biting my tongue,” the Gold Star father added. “You, sir, stole their lives, their futures, their dreams. You have ripped apart 13 families. You cannot even man up and admit that. You, sir, gave us all the title Gold Star family. You, sir, discredit honor and integrity.”
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Schmitz said Biden has “more American blood” on his hands “than any president in U.S. history” and demanded officials investigate the president, Defense Secretary 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.”
“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 sh-t 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.”
Prior to the hearing, Milley told Fox News in a statement that the United States owes families of the fallen “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.
Among the 13 killed were 11 U.S. Marines, 1 U.S. Army soldier and 1 Navy corpsman, the Pentagon revealed shortly after the attack. The troops were identified as Navy corpsman Maxton Soviak, and Marines Kareem Nikoui, David Espinoza, Rylee McCollum, Jared Schmitz, Hunter Lopez, Taylor Hoover, Daegan William-Tyeler Page, Nicole Gee, Humberto Sanchez, Dylan Merola, Johanny Rosario Pichardo and Army soldier Ryan Knauss.
