Two veterans who confronted former Vice President Joe Biden about his voting record on the Iraq and Afghanistan wars believe the Democrat should be disqualified from the race.
Air Force veteran Michael Thurman and another Army veteran told Biden he "enabled" the Iraq War, which began in March 2003, during a confrontation at the Buttercup Diner in Oakland on Super Tuesday.
"We are just wondering why we should vote for someone who voted for a war and enabled a war that killed thousands of our brothers and sisters and countless Iraqi civilians," said Thurman, a conscientious objector. "You enabled that war. And you also gave a medal to the man who enabled that war and caused that war. Their blood is on your hands, as well. You are disqualified, sir. You are disqualified."
Biden shot back at Thurman, saying his son Beau Biden was dead too before turning his back on the men and walking away as they continued to admonish the former senator for his voting record.
"My brothers and sisters died in Iraq and Afghanistan. He enabled that to happen," Thurman said. "He is disqualified. No way he can be president. They are dead. Millions are dead in Iraq. He will not be allowed. Trump is more anti-war than Joe Biden."
The crowd inside the diner began to chant Biden's name as the Army veteran behind the camera yelled, "We actually fought in your damn wars!"
Biden's son Beau, a former Delaware attorney general, died in 2015 at the age of 46. He did not die during his service in the war, but rather after losing a fight with brain cancer.
Though Biden has said he was opposed to the war from "the moment" it began, he voted in the Senate to authorize military force in Iraq in 2002. In 2018, Biden presented former President George W. Bush with the Liberty Medal for his "support of veterans." More than 4,500 American troops and 200,000 Iraqi civilians have died in Iraq since the war began.
The veterans are part of the post-9/11 anti-war grassroots organization About Face: Veterans Against The War, whose stated mission is to "mobilize the military community against militarism at home & abroad." A representative for the group confirmed the identity of Thurman to the Washington Examiner and said the Army veteran who was behind the camera asked to remain anonymous.
A 2019 Pew Research poll found that 64% of veterans believe the Iraq War was "not worth fighting considering the costs versus the benefits to the United States." Fifty-eight percent agreed to the same statement on Afghanistan.
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