Biden raises eyebrows after claiming late son Beau, who passed away from brain cancer, died in Iraq
President Joe Biden, 80, once again falsely claimed that his son Beau Biden was killed while serving in Iraq while visiting with United States troops stationed in Japan Monday.
'My son was a major in the US Army. We lost him in Iraq,' Biden told the troops in Iwakuni on Thursday.
Beau Biden, who served as Delaware's attorney general and in the Delaware Army National Guard in the Iraq War, died at age 46 in 2015 from brain cancer at the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland.
His death may have been linked to burn pits he encountered while serving in Iraq, although Beau did not die while fighting in the Middle East.
The president was speaking while visiting with troops on his way to the G7 Summit in Hiroshima, according to the New York Post.
It was at least the third time America's oldest living president - gearing up for a run for a second term in 2024 - spoke misleadingly about his eldest son's death in public.
President Joe Biden, 80, repeated the false anecdote that his son Beau Biden was killed while serving in Iraq yet again while visiting with United States troops stationed in Japan Monday
In October 2022, Biden said that Beau died in Iraq while speaking at Camp Hale in Colorado.
'Just imagine - I mean it sincerely - I say this as a father of a man who won the Bronze Star, the Conspicuous Service Medal, and lost his life in Iraq. Imagine the courage, the daring, and the genuine sacrifice - genuine sacrifice they all made,' Biden said then.
He also said that Beau had died in Iraq during a speech in Florida in November, right after confusing the War in Ukraine with the War in Iraq.
'Inflation is a worldwide problem right now,' the president said. 'There's a war in Iraq and the impact on oil and what Russia's doing. Excuse me, the war in Ukraine.'
'I'm thinking Iraq, because that's where my son died - because he died,' Biden then explained.
The president has long linked his service, and the military's use of burn pits, to Beau's brain cancer diagnosis.
'In my view, I can't prove it yet, he came back with stage 4 glioblastoma. Eighteen months he lived, knowing he was going to die,' Biden said in 2019.
The younger Biden had deployed to Iraq in 2009 and earned a Bronze Star medal for his service there as part of the Army.
'My son was a major in the US Army. We lost him in Iraq,' Biden told the troops in Iwakuni on Thursday
The younger Biden had deployed to Iraq in 2009 and earned a Bronze Star medal for his service there. President Biden said in 2019 he thought his son had gotten cancer due to 'exposure to burn pits' during his deployment
The younger Biden had deployed to Iraq in 2009 and earned a Bronze Star medal for his service there
President Biden first claimed his late son Beau 'lost his life in Iraq,' seemingly convinced the former military reservist died as a result of the brain cancer he came down with after exposure to burn pits, in October 2022
President Joe Biden again said that his son Beau Biden died in Iraq, while catching himself calling the war in Ukraine the Iraq war, while delivering remarks in Fort Lauderdale, Florida in November of 2022
Biden has campaigned for legislation to back legislation to improve healthcare for veterans exposed to toxic burn pits, and frequently brings up his late son in speeches.
The president has also faced criticism for invoking his son Beau in military speeches in the past.
William McGurn, a speechwriter for George W. Bush, wrote for the Wall Street Journal in 2019 that Biden should stop invoking Beau as a way of deflecting criticism of his handling of the withdrawal from Afghanistan.
'Mr. Biden is not a Gold Star father and should stop playing one on TV,' he wrote.
Source: Daily Mail
