One Particular Bogus Line From Joe Biden's Afghanistan Speech Deserves a Fact Check

Yesterday, numerous news outlets reported that President Joe Biden was expected to formally announce later this week his plan to withdraw U.S. troops from Afghanistan.

That announcement came earlier today during a speech Biden gave from the White House Treaty Room, which the media have been quick to point out was the same room former President George W. Bush announced the official start of the global war on terror back in October 2001.

In the speech, Biden said it was time to “end the forever war” that started after the September 11, 2001, attacks on American soil, and stated he planned to have U.S. troops out of the country prior to the 20th anniversary of the attacks.

“So, in keeping with that [previous diplomatic] agreement [between the U.S. and the Taliban] and with our national interests, the United States will begin our final withdrawal — begin it on May 1 of this year,” Biden stated.

But while much will be debated in the coming weeks amongst war hawks, doves, and everyone in-between as to whether or not Biden is making the right call, one line in particular from his speech deserves an immediate fact check because it’s a claim Biden has often made that simply is not true.

Here’s the line in question:

I said, among — with others, we’d follow Osama bin Laden to the gates of hell if need be. That’s exactly what we did, and we got him. It took us close to 10 years to put President Obama’s commitment to — into form. And that’s exactly what happened; Osama bin Laden was gone.

Except then-Vice President Joe Biden did not, in fact, support the raid that killed OBL:

Biden today: “I said, along with others, that we’d follow Osama bin Laden to the gates of hell if need be. That’s exactly what we did, and we got him.”

Biden actually opposed the Osama bin Laden raid.

👉https://t.co/LLtHMCSBxA

👉https://t.co/w2CjE4tATt pic.twitter.com/zlX0hM6KKe

— Jerry Dunleavy (@JerryDunleavy) April 14, 2021

President Obama greenlighting the daring special operations raid that killed Osama bin Laden was probably the most universally praised decision he made as Commander-in-Chief, and then-VP (& now President) Joe Biden opposed it (tho he has tried to change the story since then).

— Jerry Dunleavy (@JerryDunleavy) April 14, 2021

Not only that, but the “gates of hell” line did not come from Biden. It came from the late Sen. John McCain:

It was John McCain who said follow Bin Laden to the gates of hell. https://t.co/7zDzhHjvIY pic.twitter.com/vu1cSt5A4r

— Stephen L. Miller (@redsteeze) April 14, 2021

Not that it’s a shock that Biden would lift someone else’s lines and claim them as his own (his political history is littered with examples of him plagiarizing others), but it’s maddening that he continues to say this, even though some notoriously left-leaning fact-checkers have in the past pointed out his shifting stories on what his position was at the time.

But, as per the norm, this is the unquestionable advantage of being a privileged Democrat. You can say whatever lie you want, whenever you want, no matter how often, and will still only be met with the most tepid of pushback from those in journalism who love to remind you how it’s their responsibility to keep our public officials accountable (but who in reality only apply their “standards” to one side).

It stinks, but that’s the political world we live in.