Tag: Biden

Biden, Nonetheless Grieving His Son Beau, Finds That Not Everybody Desires to Hear About It

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Post date September 4, 2021

But of his rocky reception with some families in Dover, Ms. Murray said, “I’m sure he understands the reaction he’s got better than many people.”

In his public meetings with world leaders, doctors, military officials and families, Mr. Biden often shares how his experience of sending his son to Iraq or fighting brain cancer affected his family. Conjuring Beau’s memory amid the violent collapse of Afghanistan, the result of the most politically explosive decision of his presidency to date, provided a rare moment for critics to indulge in a fondness of praising his son.

“Mr. Biden is not a Gold Star father and should stop playing one on television,” wrote William McGurn, a speechwriter for President George W. Bush, in a comment in the Wall Street Journal. Mr. Biden never claimed to be Son died fighting, but he has spoken many times about his son’s overseas assignment and the toll he has taken on his family. Mr Biden’s supporters say military families have a right to their mourning, but the president is entitled to too his.

“The families who grieve are free to feel free to feel like they are,” Fred Guttenberg, whose 14-year-old daughter Jaime was killed in a 2018 mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. and who has received regular calls from Mr Biden, said in an interview. “But for everyone else who may have criticized: The President’s children, the living and the not, they formed the President.”

You have also influenced Mr Biden’s presidency from the start. In January, before Mr. Biden left Delaware for Washington, Mr. Biden told his advisors that he would give a farewell address at the Delaware National Guard headquarters. It’s a building named after his son.

“I have only one regret,” said Mr Biden as he made tearful remarks that day. “That he’s not here because we should introduce him as president.”

As Commander in Chief, Mr. Biden has no critical political advisor whose advice he trusted more than almost anyone else. He talks to his other children, Hunter and Ashley, daily, Helpers said, but he spoke to his eldest up to four times a day, exchanging notes, and discussing next steps.

Tags Beau, Biden, Finds, Grieving, Hear, son

Politics

Biden urges Congress to cross financial payments

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Post date September 4, 2021

President Joe Biden on Friday urged Congress to pass his more than $4 trillion economic agenda in order to boost sluggish job growth.

The president made his case for spending on infrastructure, climate policy and the social safety net after the Labor Department said the country added 235,000 jobs in August. The figure fell well short of the 720,000 jobs economists had expected.

Biden pinned the poor report on the highly contagious delta variant of the coronavirus and the reluctance of many eligible Americans to get a Covid-19 vaccine. He said the U.S. could boost its economy by reining in the virus and passing his two economic plans, which he said would help the middle class and make the country more resilient to the kind of extreme weather that knocked out power in New Orleans and crippled transit in New York City in recent days.

“Our country needs these investments,” Biden said. “I’m not asking for anything other than some fairness being injected into the system.”

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Biden stressed he does not see the investments as a “short-term stimulus” while the country emerges from the pandemic’s shadow. He said the proposals are designed to create “long-term prosperity.”

The president’s push for his economic agenda comes a day after Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.V., complicated his party’s plans to pass it in Congress. Manchin, whose vote Democrats will need to approve an up to $3.5 trillion budget reconciliation bill in the Senate, urged congressional leaders to “pause” consideration of the measure.

The senator, who helped to negotiate the Senate-passed bipartisan infrastructure bill, cited inflation and long-term debt as reasons for a delay. He did not rule out voting for a proposal that costs less than $3.5 trillion.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., has said she will not hold a vote on the infrastructure legislation until the Senate passes the Democrats’ spending plan. After centrists in her caucus threatened to hold up the budget bill, Pelosi made a nonbinding commitment to consider the bipartisan bill by Sept. 27.

In a Thursday Twitter post after Manchin announced his stance, Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., said the fates of the two economic plans are tied.

“No infrastructure bill without the $3.5 trillion reconciliation bill,” the Senate Budget Committee chairman said.

Pelosi and the White House hope to fully offset the spending through tax increases on the wealthy and corporations, among other measures. Democrats could also consider taxes on companies with runaway CEO pay and businesses that repurchase a substantial amount of stock, according to a discussion list circulated among Democratic lawmakers and obtained by CNBC.

Republicans have cited proposed tax hikes, and the overall $3.5 trillion price tag, in opposing the package.

Biden on Friday framed tax increases on the wealthy and corporations as a way to create a fairer economy. He repeated his pledge not to raise taxes on anyone making less than $400,000.

“To those big corporations that don’t want things to change, my message is this: It’s time for working families, the folks who built this country, to have their taxes cut,” Biden said.

“And those corporate interests doing everything they can to find allies in Congress to keep that from happening, let me be, as the old expression goes, perfectly clear: I’m going to take them on.”

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Tags Biden, Bills, Congress, Economic, pass, Urges

Politics

Biden to Tour Hurricane Ida Harm in New Orleans

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Post date September 3, 2021

WASHINGTON – President Biden will fly to New Orleans on Friday to view the damage caused by Hurricane Ida to demonstrate his commitment to the federal government’s storm response, even as his administration remains embroiled in other urgent matters of the coronavirus surge after his departure from Afghanistan.

In guidelines to reporters issued late Thursday evening, White House officials said Mr. Biden would investigate storm damage and meet with government officials from hurricane-hit communities, which the president on Thursday named the fifth largest hurricane in American history .

Mr Biden, speaking at the White House Thursday, said he would meet with Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards, along with mayor presidents and other local officials.

“Governor Edwards encouraged me to come and assured me that the visit will not disrupt the on-site recovery effort,” said Biden. “I wanted to be sure of that. My message to all concerned is: We are all in it together. The nation is here to help. “

Ida stormed Louisiana as a Category 4 hurricane Sunday, leaving at least 12 dead and the power grid in ruins before its remains marched up the east coast, flooding New York and much of the rest of the northeast, killing dozens more.

Despite the withdrawal of the last of the U.S. troops from Afghanistan on Monday, Mr Biden has struggled throughout the week to show his commitment to the assault effort. On Sunday when the storm hit the Gulf Coast, it stopped at the Federal Emergency Management Agency headquarters in Washington to give workers a lift.

Mr Biden said Thursday that he “will be kept informed of progress from FEMA every hour late into the night and that we will work around the clock until the region’s critical needs are fully met”.

Floods in New York

Updated

9/3/2021, 5:00 p.m. ET

Mr. Biden’s itinerary and aggressive public efforts to highlight how his administration prepared for the storm contrast sharply with President George W. Bush’s response to Hurricane Katrina 16 years ago.

Bush drew harsh criticism for the federal government’s slow response to the storm that inundated parts of New Orleans and claimed the deaths of more than 1,800 people. Mr Bush was famously photographed viewing the devastation of the storm from a window on Air Force One, which became a symbol of the state’s distancing from the damage. He later said he regretted the photo and wished he had ended up in Louisiana.

“I should have landed in Baton Rouge, met with the governor and walked out and said, ‘I’m listening,'” Bush said in a 2010 interview. “And then I flew back to Washington. I didn’t do that. And pay a price for it. “

Mr Biden did not mention Mr Bush in his remarks about the hurricane this week. But he has repeatedly promoted government efforts to position electrical workers, medical teams, power generators, and other aid in front of the storm in hopes of bringing relief quickly to those affected.

“As we tackle the core elements of disaster relief, we’re also deploying new tools to expedite this recovery – things that weren’t used very often in previous hurricane responses,” Biden said Thursday. “Working with private companies that own and operate the lifeline infrastructure such as electricity and communications, we’ve used the latest technology to expedite restoration of power and cellular service.”

Mr Biden also used the storm, including the floods in the northeast on Wednesday, to raise awareness of his climate change agenda. Democrats in Congress are looking to pass a multi-trillion dollar spending bill this month that Biden said should include tax incentives for low-carbon energy use along with other measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters Thursday that the hurricane reaffirmed the president’s “commitment to adopt his Build Back Better agenda, which has a big, big focus on addressing the climate crisis.”

Tags Biden, damage, Hurricane, Ida, Orleans, Tour

Politics

Joe Manchin opposes $3.5 trillion Biden Democratic spending invoice

Post author By
Post date September 3, 2021

Senator Joe Manchin, a Democrat from West Virginia, center, speaks to media representatives after meeting with Texas Democrats outside his hideout office in the basement of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, DC on Thursday, July 15, 2021.

Al Drago | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Senator Joe Manchin just made it clear that the Democrats still have a lot to do to get his vote on their sprawling economic plan – and to keep President Joe Biden’s agenda from collapsing.

The West Virginia Democrat called on party leaders Thursday to “pause” their deliberations on a massive $ 3.5 trillion spending bill. The Democrats want to pass the measure, which would invest in climate policy and social programs, in the coming weeks without Republican support.

Manchin voted to pass a $ 3.5 trillion budget decision last month, the first step in the reconciliation process that will allow Democrats to move forward without the GOP. It was then that he and Senator Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz., Signaled that they would oppose the final bill if the price tag was not cut.

Manchin went a step further on Thursday, calling for a “strategic pause” to move the plan forward. In a comment in the Wall Street Journal, the senator cited concerns about inflation and debt.

“For my part, I will not support $ 3.5 trillion or even close to that amount of additional spending without it becoming clear why Congress is ignoring the grave effects of inflation and debt on existing government programs,” wrote Manchin.

The Senator didn’t rule out voting for a smaller bill. He concluded the article by stating that “by strategically pausing this budget proposal, by significantly reducing the scope of a possible law of reconciliation to what America can and must spend, we can and will build a better and stronger nation for all our families.”

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Manchin’s stance complicates the already chaotic efforts of the Democrats to pass their spending plan and a bipartisan $ 1 trillion infrastructure bill. If the Senate majority leader, Chuck Schumer, DN.Y., loses Manchin or any other member of his faction, the legislation will fail.

Meanwhile, efforts to appease Manchin could come into conflict with progressives in the House of Representatives who want their party to spend more than $ 3.5 trillion to fight the climate crisis and strengthen the social safety net. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-California, cannot lose more than three Democratic votes for the plan.

Pelosi has postponed a final vote on the Senate-passed infrastructure bill to keep centrists and liberals on board on both economic proposals. It has undertaken, without obligation, to vote on the infrastructure plan by September 27th.

The Democrats may already be taking steps to address Manchin’s budget concerns. Pelosi has said that she would like the legislation to be paid for in full and has insisted that the House of Representatives will only approve a bill that can get through the Senate.

The Democrats also seem to admit they need to write less than $ 3.5 trillion bill to get it through the Senate. Legislators have stated that, among other things, they want to increase taxes for businesses and the wealthy and increase enforcement of existing tax rates by the IRS to offset expenses.

Manchin’s call for a delay will anger many in his party who have called for long overdue Congressional action to combat climate change. The budget proposal would use subsidies and other incentives to encourage green energy adoption, electrify buildings and homes, and make infrastructure more resilient to extreme weather conditions.

The recent wildfires in the western United States and floods in the southern and northeastern states, exacerbated by climate change, have only compounded Democratic calls for the spending bill to be passed.

Schumer spoke on Thursday from a New York City, where hours earlier rainwater had poured into subway tunnels and paralyzed local public transport, Schumer called it “essential” to pass the infrastructure and climate laws.

“Woe to us if we don’t do something about it quickly, both in building resilient infrastructure and in clean electricity, be it in homes, in electricity, in transportation, to stop global warming, or at least its dire effects on the environment to reduce this land, “he said.

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Tags Biden, Bill, Democratic, Joe, Manchin, opposes, Spending, trillion

World News

Biden addresses finish of the U.S. conflict in Afghanistan

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Post date August 31, 2021

U.S. President Joe Biden gives a speech at the Rehoboth Beach Convention Center in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, United States, on Jan.

Kevin Lemarque | Reuters

WASHINGTON – President Joe Biden will address the U.S. public on Tuesday to mark the end of America’s long war in Afghanistan after the military completed an evacuation mission that brought tens of thousands of people to safety from the Taliban, albeit deadly were when terrorists killed several US soldiers and many Afghan civilians.

Biden’s speech, scheduled for 2:45 p.m. ET, will take place just 11 days before the 20th anniversary of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks that sparked the US intervention in Afghanistan.

On Monday at 3:29 p.m. ET, one minute before midnight, the last C-17 cargo plane carrying US forces left Afghanistan in Kabul, effectively ending America’s 20-year military campaign in the country.

The Taliban, which was ousted by the US shortly after the 9/11 attacks, now control almost the entire country.

The withdrawal of US forces came after a whopping 17-day humanitarian evacuation of 123,000 people desperate to flee Taliban rule. Of the total evacuees flown from Kabul, 6,000 were US citizens.

Marine Corps General Frank McKenzie, the four-star commander of U.S. Central Command, said there had not been any Americans on board the last five flights from Kabul.

“We couldn’t get Americans out, this operation probably ended about 12 hours before we moved out. We’ll continue the operations and would have been ready to get them until the last minute, but none of them made it to the airport,” said McKenzie on Monday via video conference call in Qatar.

McKenzie, who oversees the U.S. military mission in the area, added that there were no evacuees at the airfield when the last C-17 took off. All US soldiers and Afghan troops who helped defend the airport were also blown from the air along with their families on Monday, the general said.

Foreign Secretary Antony Blinken said in a speech on Monday evening that fewer than 200 Americans are still seeking evacuation.

“Our commitment to you and all Americans in Afghanistan and around the world continues. The protection and well-being of Americans abroad remains the most important and long-lasting mission of the State Department,” said the country’s top diplomat on Monday.

“A new chapter of American engagement in Afghanistan has begun. It is one in which we will lead with our diplomacy. The military mission has ended. A new diplomatic mission has begun,” said Blinken.

Blinken added that the US has suspended its diplomatic presence in Kabul and will move those operations to Doha, Qatar.

“Time to End America’s Longest War”

U.S. Marines from 2nd Marine Expeditionary Brigade, RCT 2nd Battalion 8th Marines Echo Co. take cover when a 500 pound bomb explodes on a site after the Marines hosted two days on July 3, 2009 in Main Poshteh, Afghanistan Have taken fire out of position.

Joe Raedle | Getty Images News | Getty Images

During an April speech at the White House, Biden called for US combat troops to be withdrawn from Afghanistan by September 11th.

The removal of approximately 3,000 American soldiers coincides with the 20th anniversary of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks that sparked America’s entry into long wars in the Middle East and Central Asia.

“It is time to end America’s longest war. It is time for the American troops to come home, ”Biden said in his televised address in April from the Treaty Room of the White House, where former President George W. Bush announced military action against al-Qaeda and the Taliban in October 2001.

“I am now the fourth American president to head an American troop presence in Afghanistan. Two Republicans. Two Democrats. I will not hand this responsibility over to a fifth,” said Biden, adding that the US mission will be solely devoted to providing assistance would go to Afghanistan and in support of diplomacy.

During his address, the president cited the military service of his own son – Beau Biden, who served in Iraq for a year and later died of cancer in 2015. He is the first president in 40 years to have a child serve in the US military and in a war zone.

The president said the US achieved its goals a decade ago when it killed Osama bin Laden, the leader of al-Qaeda – the terrorist group that started the 9/11 attacks. Since then, the US’s reasons for staying in Afghanistan have become unclear as the terrorist threat has spread across the globe, Biden said.

“Given the terrorist threat that now rises in many places, it makes little sense to me and our leaders to deploy and concentrate thousands of troops in just one country, which costs billions each year,” said Biden. “We cannot continue the cycle of expanding or expanding our military presence in Afghanistan in order to create ideal conditions for withdrawal and expect a different outcome.”

U.S. Marines from Charlie 1/1 of the 15th MEU (Marine Expeditionary Unit) fill sandbags around their light mortar position at the front of a U.S. Marine Corps base, near a cardboard sign reminding everyone that Taliban forces are everywhere and anywhere in the south could be Afghanistan December 1st, 2001.

Jim Hollander | Reuters

Biden added that his decision to withdraw from Afghanistan was coordinated with allies and coalition partners.

NATO secretary Jens Stoltenberg said from the headquarters of the alliance in Brussels that the withdrawal would be “orderly, coordinated and deliberate.”

“We went to Afghanistan together, we adjusted our stance together and we all agree that we should leave together,” said Stoltenberg.

The NATO mission in Afghanistan was launched after the alliance left after the 9/11 attacks.

The US and NATO launched their military campaign in the center of Afghanistan and the Pentagon in October 2001, weeks after the September 11, 2001 attacks.

Since then, around 2,500 US soldiers have died in the conflict, which also killed more than 100,000 Afghan soldiers, police officers and civilians. The wars in Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria have cost US taxpayers more than $ 1.57 trillion since September 11, 2001, according to a Department of Defense report.

Now the Taliban are back in power.

Breathtaking Taliban advances

Taliban fighters sit over a vehicle on a street in Laghman province on August 15, 2021.

AFP | Getty Images

Shortly after his April address, Biden updated the schedule for the Pentagon’s massive task of removing soldiers and equipment from Afghanistan for August 31.

As the US and coalition forces accelerated their retreat, the Taliban made rapid strides on the battlefield, despite being vastly outnumbered by the Afghan military. In one weekend, the Taliban quickly captured five provincial capitals in Afghanistan, three in one day alone.

The Taliban occupied Bagram Air Force Base on August 15, a development that came less than two months after the US military handed over the once steadfast air base to the Afghan National Security and Defense Force.

In 2012, at its peak, Bagram looked through more than 100,000 U.S. soldiers. It was the largest US military facility in Afghanistan.

As the Taliban approached the capital, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani fled the country and western nations rushed to evacuate embassies amid a deteriorating security situation.

On August 15, the Taliban invaded Kabul and captured the presidential palace, marking the collapse of the US-NATO-backed Afghan government.

After the Taliban came to power, Biden defended his decision to withdraw US forces.

“I stand completely behind my decision. After 20 years I have learned the hard way that there was never a good time to withdraw the US armed forces,” Biden told the Taliban one day after the fall of Afghanistan.

“American troops cannot and should not fight in a war and die in a war that the Afghan armed forces are unwilling to wage for themselves,” Biden said. “We gave them every chance to determine their own future. We couldn’t give them the will to fight for that future,” he added.

Biden ordered thousands of US soldiers to be sent to Kabul to help evacuate US embassy personnel and secure the perimeter of Hamid Karzai International Airport.

Thousands of Afghans rushed to the airport tarmac to flee Taliban rule.

Western forces carried out an immense humanitarian evacuation mission of Afghan nationals and civilians from third countries, a logistical masterpiece that spanned the globe and was pushed to its limits with looming security threats.

On August 26, an ISIS-affiliated suicide bomber detonated an explosive outside the gates of the airport, killing 13 US soldiers and more than 100 Afghans.

The last US casualties

U.S. Soldiers assigned to Joint Task Force-Crisis Response are pallbearers for soldiers killed in operations at Hamid Karzai International Airport, Aug. 27. US soldiers support the State Department in a non-combatant evacuation in Afghanistan.

1st Lt. Mark Andries | U.S. Marine Corps photo

The Pentagon on Saturday released the names of the 13 US soldiers who were killed in the suicide attack on Kabul airport. The attack, which is being investigated, killed 11 Marines, one Marine and one Army soldier.

On Sunday, the President and First Lady Jill Biden traveled to Dover Air Force Base to meet privately with the families of the fallen before watching the graceful handover of American flag-draped coffins from a C-17 military cargo plane to a vehicle .

A dignified transfer is a solemn process in which the remains of fallen soldiers are transported from an airplane to a waiting vehicle. It is carried out for every U.S. soldier killed in action.

The ceremony marked the first time Biden had participated in a worthy transfer since taking office.

Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley also attended the dignified transfer, along with chiefs of service for the US Marine Corps, the Army and the Navy.

The remains of the soldiers were flown from Kabul to Kuwait and then to Germany before arriving in Dover.

The fallen include:

Marine Corps Staff Sgt.Din T. Hoover, 31, from Salt Lake City, Utah

Marine Corps Sgt.Johanny Rosariopichardo, 25, from Lawrence, Massachusetts

Marine Corps Sgt. Nicole L. Gee, 23, from Sacramento, California

Marine Corps Cpl. Hunter Lopez, 22, from Indio, California

Marine Corps Cpl. Daegan W. Page, 23, of Omaha, Nebraska

Marine Corps Cpl. Humberto A. Sanchez, 22, of Logansport, Indiana

Marine Corps Lance Cpl. David L. Espinoza, 20, from Rio Bravo, Texas

Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Jared M. Schmitz, 20, from St. Charles, Missouri

Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Rylee J. McCollum, 20, of Jackson, Wyoming

Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Dylan R. Merola, 20, from Rancho Cucamonga, California

Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Kareem M. Nikoui, 20, of Norco, California

Navy Hospitalman Maxton W. Soviak, 22, from Berlin Heights, Ohio

Army Staff Sgt. Ryan C. Knauss, 23, of Corryton, Tennessee

Tags Addresses, Afghanistan, Biden, War

Politics

Biden pledges an enormous federal response for ‘so long as it takes’

Post author By
Post date August 30, 2021

Dartanian Stovall looks at the house that collapsed with him inside during the peak of Hurricane Ida in New Orleans, Louisiana on August 30, 2021.

Michael DeMocker | USA TODAY network via Reuters

WASHINGTON – The federal government is doing everything in its power to help Louisiana and Mississippi rescue residents and recover from Hurricane Ida, President Joe Biden told the governors of those states on Monday.

“We’re here to help you get back on your feet,” said Biden during a virtual briefing at the White House with Democratic Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards, Republican Mississippi Governor Tate Reeves and others.

The hurricane hit land on Sunday as a strong Category 4 storm that supplied electricity to up to 2 million people in Louisiana and Mississippi. By Monday morning, one death had already been attributed to the storm. Edwards told MSNBC that he expected that number to grow significantly.

The massive federal response to the storm reinforces one of the pillars of Biden’s stance toward the presidency: his belief that the government is uniquely equipped to mobilize aid for millions of people.

“The people of Louisiana and Mississippi are resilient, but at moments like these we can see the power of government to meet people’s needs and serve people when the government is ready to respond. That’s our job, ”said Biden.

Five thousand National Guardsmen have been deployed across the southeast, Biden said, and more than 25,000 electrical crews and linemen from 30 states are “rolling in to assist”.

To assess the damage to electrical lines, Biden said he directed the Federal Aviation Administration to work with electrical companies to deploy surveillance drones in the affected areas.

Biden also authorized the Defense and Homeland Security departments to provide satellite imagery that could help assess the damage.

To help more people access cellular services, Biden said the Federal Communications Commission will enter into a cooperative framework agreement between cellular operators so that people can use each company’s roaming services.

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Biden was attended the briefing by former Louisiana MP Cedric Richmond, who stepped down from the House of Representatives in January to join the Biden administration as director of the White House Public Relations Office.

The president directed the governors to contact Richmond directly if they needed anything from the White House.

Ida first hit land over Port Fourchon, Louisiana, as a Category 4 storm with winds of 250 mph, one of the strongest storms to hit the region since Hurricane Katrina, which hit the area 16 years ago to the day.

Federal Emergency Management Agency Administrator Deanne Criswell was also on-screen at the White House meeting, as was Cynthia Lee Sheng, President of Jefferson Parish, Louisiana.

Reeves and Edwards both thanked Biden for signing pre-landing federal emergency letters for their states, freeing up federal funds and resources to respond to the emergency.

“We have all the help you will need,” said Biden. “We’ll stand by you and the people of the Gulf while it takes you to recover.”

Officials downgraded Ida to a tropical storm on Monday en route inland, where it was expected to bring heavy rainfall, tornadoes and the potential for severe flooding later this week as it migrates up the Tennessee Valley and into the mid-Atlantic.

Rainfall could be 24 inches across parts of southeast Louisiana to the extreme south of Mississippi.

This was Biden’s second meeting in four days with governors of the storm-hit states. On Friday he met virtually with Edwards, Reeve and GOP Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey.

Tags Biden, federal, Long, Pledges, Response, Takes, Vast

Politics

Biden Receives Our bodies of Troopers Killed in Kabul Bombing

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Post date August 30, 2021

The transfers began in the late morning and stretched nearly 40 minutes, finishing after noon. Time and again, service members in varying shades of green fatigues carried flag-draped transfer cases down the ramp of the transport, which faced Air Force One on the runway. First came the Army, then the Marines, then the Navy. The carry teams, as they are called, worked in three-minute cycles, marching before a host of dignitaries including the president, the secretaries of state and defense, and several top military brass. They carried the remains from the transport and lifted them through the back cargo doors of four gray vans.

The president stood with his hand over his heart as they passed by. When sets of Marines returned to the belly of the C-17, hands empty, to retrieve the next set of remains, Mr. Biden widened his stance and clasped his hands by his belt or behind his back. Often he bowed his head with his eyes squeezed shut, as if in prayer.

Across from him sat rows of family members of the fallen, so many of them that the Dover base could not house them all in its rooms built specially for next of kin.

The fallen service members returning Sunday to Dover were Marine Corps Staff Sgt. Darin T. Hoover, 31, of Salt Lake City; Marine Corps Sgt. Johanny Rosario Pichardo, 25, of Lawrence, Mass.; Marine Corps Sgt. Nicole L. Gee, 23, of Sacramento, Calif.; Marine Corps Cpl. Hunter Lopez, 22, of Indio, Calif.; Marine Corps Cpl. Daegan W. Page, 23, of Omaha; Marine Corps Cpl. Humberto A. Sanchez, 22, of Logansport, Ind.; Marine Corps Lance Cpl. David L. Espinoza, 20, of Rio Bravo, Texas; Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Jared M. Schmitz, 20, of St. Charles, Mo.; Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Rylee J. McCollum, 20, of Jackson, Wyo.; Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Dylan R. Merola, 20, of Rancho Cucamonga, Calif.; Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Kareem M. Nikoui, 20, of Norco, Calif.; Navy Hospitalman Maxton W. Soviak, 22, of Berlin Heights, Ohio; and Army Staff Sgt. Ryan C. Knauss, 23, of Corryton, Tenn.

The president and the first lady, Jill Biden, met with the families of those service members midmorning on Sunday. They then participated in 13 transfers — 11 for families who chose to allow the news media to observe the remains of their loved ones returning home, and two for families who chose to keep their transfers private.

Tags Biden, Bodies, bombing, Kabul, Killed, receives, Soldiers

Politics

Biden to Attend Return of US Service Members Killed in Kabul Airport Assault

Post author By
Post date August 29, 2021

DOVER AIR FORCE BASE, Delaware – President Biden landed in Delaware Sunday morning to join the families of the 13 U.S. military personnel who were killed in a bomb attack in Afghanistan last week.

Service members include 11 Marines, one Navy medic, and one Army member. They were killed by an Islamic State Khorasan bomber at the airport in the Afghan capital, Kabul, when they tried to help people flee the country before American troops completed their withdrawal.

The president and first lady, Jill Biden, met with families on Sunday morning. They then participated in 13 transfers – 11 for families who allowed the media to watch the remains of their loved ones returning home, and two for families who kept their transfers private.

The fallen soldiers who returned to Dover on Sunday were: Marine Corps Staff Sgt. Darin T. Hoover, 31, of Salt Lake City; Marine Corps Sgt. Johanny Rosario Pichardo, 25, from Lawrence, Mass .; Marine Corps Sgt. Nicole L. Gee, 23, from Sacramento, California; Marine Corps Cpl. Hunter Lopez, 22, of Indio, California; Marine Corps Cpl. Daegan W. Page, 23, of Omaha; Marine Corps Cpl. Humberto A. Sanchez, 22, of Logansport, Ind .; Marine Corps Lance Cpl. David L. Espinoza, 20, of Rio Bravo, Texas; Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Jared M. Schmitz, 20, of St. Charles, Missouri; Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Rylee J. McCollum, 20, of Jackson, Wyo .; Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Dylan R. Merola, 20, of Rancho Cucamonga, California; Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Kareem M. Nikoui, 20, of Norco, California; Navy Hospitalman Maxton W. Soviak, 22, of Berlin Heights, Ohio; and Army Staff Sgt. Ryan C. Knauss, 23, of Corryton, Tennessee.

Tags airport, Attack, attend, Biden, Kabul, Killed, members, return, Service

Politics

Biden vows to complete Afghanistan evacuation, search out ISIS leaders after Kabul assault

Post author By
Post date August 29, 2021

WASHINGTON – President Joe Biden promised Thursday to complete the evacuation of Americans and their allies from Afghanistan after a deadly terrorist attack near Kabul airport killed more than a dozen US soldiers and many Afghans.

“We will not be deterred by terrorists. We will not let them stop our mission. We will continue the evacuation,” said Biden from the White House. “We’re going to save Americans, we’re going to get our Afghan allies, and the mission will go on. America won’t be intimidated.”

The US has approximately 5,400 military personnel helping with the evacuation effort in Kabul.

The US Central Command confirmed Thursday evening that the death toll had risen to 13 US soldiers and 18 injured after a suicide bomber detonated an explosive.

U.S. Marine General Kenneth McKenzie, commander of U.S. Central Command, said a number of Afghan civilians were also killed in the explosion, but he was unable to provide an exact number. He added that according to the current assessment of the US military, the bomber was an IS fighter.

ISIS has admitted to the attack.

Addressing those responsible for the attack, the president said, “We will not forgive. We will not forget. We will hunt you down and make you pay.”

“I will defend our interests and our people with every measure I command,” said Biden.

“I have also ordered my commanders to develop operational plans to attack ISIS-K facilities, commanders and facilities, indicating that the US had clues about the ISIS leaders who ordered the attack.

“We have reason to believe we know who they are,” Biden said, although he found the US wasn’t sure. “And we’ll find ways of our choosing, without major military operations, to get them wherever they are.”

The president warned on Tuesday that staying in Afghanistan longer than planned poses serious risks to foreign troops and civilians. He said ISIS-K, the Afghanistan-based branch of the terrorist group, posed a growing threat to the airport.

“I have repeatedly said that this mission is extraordinarily dangerous, and that is why I was so determined to limit the duration of this mission,” Biden repeated on Thursday.

All in or All Out? Biden Noticed No Center Floor in Afghanistan

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Post date August 28, 2021

Mr Biden hired Jake Sullivan, his national security advisor, to conduct an inter-agency inquiry into Afghanistan policy, which resulted in 10 departmental meetings, three cabinet-level meetings, and four meetings in the camp room attended by the president.

The Biden team considered other options, including maintaining a small troop presence for counter-terrorism operations or in support of the Afghan security forces, but argued that this was just “magical thinking” and would require more troops than was bearable. They debated whether to renegotiate the Trump deal to make further concessions, but the Taliban made it clear they would not return to the negotiating table and considered the Trump deal binding.

Mr Biden’s advisors also considered extending the withdrawal period until winter, after the traditional fighting season was over, to make the transition less dangerous for the Afghan government. The Afghanistan Study Group, a bipartisan, Congressional chartered body led by General Joseph F. Dunford Jr., a retired chairman of the Joint Chiefs, and which included Ms. O’Sullivan, recommended the deadline for the February May 1st extend out and seek better conditions.

But Mr Biden was warned by security experts that the longer it took for a decision to be announced, the aides said, the more dangerous it would get, so he only extended it until August 31.

Particularly influential on Mr Biden, aides said, were a series of intelligence assessments he had requested of Afghanistan’s neighbors and close neighbors, which revealed that Russia and China wanted the United States to remain stuck in Afghanistan.

At the end of the day, officials said that either option eventually led to one of the two ultimate alternatives – wholly out, as Mr. Trump had agreed, or preparing for a longer and more dangerous gun war with many other troops. Although not everyone in the room preferred Mr. Biden’s path, officials claimed everyone was heard.

“Biden faced basically the same problem as Trump,” said Vali Nasr, a senior adviser to Richard C. Holbrooke, Obama’s special envoy on Afghanistan and Pakistan, “and his answer was the same – we’re not going.” To get back in, you have to we out. “

Tags Afghanistan, Biden, Ground, Middle

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