Biden says his son ‘lost his life in Iraq’
US President Joe Biden told an audience in Colorado on Wednesday that his son Beau “lost his life in Iraq.”
After lauding the bravery of soldiers from the US 10th Mountain Division during World War II while unveiling a monument, Biden urged the audience to imagine the character it takes to be in the military.
“Just imagine – and I mean this 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,” he mused.
Beau Biden served in the Delaware Army National Guard and was awarded the Bronze Star Medal for his year-long service in Iraq, where he was deployed in 2008. He died in 2015 after losing a battle with brain cancer.
Since at least 2016, Joe Biden has publicly linked his son’s disease with the exposure to burn pits during his time at US military bases, both as a service member in Iraq and earlier as a civilian consultant in Kosovo. The open-air burning of US military waste can produce large amounts of airborne toxins and has been linked to health issues.
In his capacity as president, Biden also mentioned his son's death during his state of the union speech in March.
“I don’t know for sure if the burn pit that he lived near – that his hooch was near in Iraq and, earlier than that, in Kosovo is the cause of his brain cancer and the disease of so many other troops. But I’m committed to find out everything we can,” Biden said.
Beau Biden had a background in law and served as the Delaware attorney general until months before his death. He went to Kosovo to train judges and prosecutors after NATO’s bombing campaign against Serbia helped the region split from Belgrade.
President Biden was in Colorado to designate Camp Hale as a national monument for its role in training the 10th Mountain Division. The designation prohibits oil and gas exploration in the 50,000+ acres around the military installation.
Political observers called it an election-year gift to Democratic Senator Michael Bennet, as he faces a tough race against Republican candidate Joe O’Dea. Bennet, who made the preservation of public land a key policy, took part in the ceremony alongside Biden.
