On Wednesday’s broadcast of Bloomberg’s “Balance of Power,” Rep. Jake Auchincloss (D-MA), who is an Afghanistan veteran, said that Secretary of State Antony Blinken and President Joe Biden take “personally the withdrawal and those who did not come home” from Afghanistan “And, for that reason, Secretary Blinken has been cooperating” with Congress “to understand what happened with that withdrawal, and to examine each decision made.”
Co-host Joe Mathieu asked, [relevant exchange begins around 17:40] “I want to ask you about Mark Schmitz, he’s the father of Marine Lance Corporal Jared Schmitz, who died in the blast at Abbey Gate two years ago. Mark Schmitz testified — if I can use that term while Congress was out of session — on Capitol Hill yesterday. It was a roundtable that was put forth by the House Foreign Affairs Committee. And he had some very difficult words for President Biden. He used expletives, it was an emotional statement, and it was one that we were all glued to here. He went out of his way to say — he talked about meeting the President at Dover when his son’s remains came back to this country and said, ‘Our so-called leader cannot [seem to even] utter their names in public.’ This is very difficult stuff, Congressman, what would you say to the parent or a family member of a Marine who died that day?”
Auchincloss answered, “It’s a tragedy, and my heart breaks for the Gold Star families, both for those on that day and for those over the last 20 years in Afghanistan and Iraq as their sons and daughters fought for American freedom and democracy. I know that the Secretary of State, I know that the President takes personally the withdrawal and those who did not come home. And, for that reason, Secretary Blinken has been cooperating with Chairman Rep. Michael McCaul (R-TX) on the House Foreign Affairs Committee to understand what happened with that withdrawal, and to examine each decision made. It’s a very typical after-action review that the military conducts for missions big and small. And we need to do that for the full 20 years of decision-making. Because the American people are owed an accountable and transparent set of facts about who knew what, when, and why over the last 20 years of really failed national security decision-making about Afghanistan. This President ensured that no more Marines or soldiers would die in the years ahead of us, because…he had the courage to finally tell the American people the truth about this war.”
Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett
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