Parents of U.S. military personnel who were killed in a suicide attack nearly two years ago in Kabul airport, Afghanistan, spoke at Darrel ISSA’s (R-CA) town hall meeting in California on Monday. The remarks of the parents were heartbreaking and infuriating. But they brought home to the public the cost they pay each day, as Christy Shamblin stated because they cannot make new memories with their kids.
Issa then closed the meeting for the day and referred to some of the disturbing questions that families had asked him in the wake of the attacks. One mother stated that they have waited for two years to get answers, and they have complied with Pentagon requests and shown patience, but still, these questions are not answered.
Issa said:
The families of those who have fallen can now close their statements. I said today because their story can’t end today. George Washington appointed the first Congressional inquiry into a failed war in 1792. There are always going to be mistakes made in the military. It’s not new. It is a tradition, however, that investigations do not end until all questions have been answered. We could have spent more than an hour with these families today and still not heard their questions.
Other people have said that they found a bullet inside their loved ones when we were told the bomb was there. They have proof. Some have said, “I received my son’s cell phone, but it was missing the SIM card that contained those selfies and pictures.” We will answer the many unanswered questions that were asked today.
Why would the Pentagon require the SIM card of a victim’s phone? They may want to access photos taken on that day in order to find clues. However, they don’t need to keep the SIM card. They can access those photos, or even the text messages and emails they sent and received. There’s no need to keep the SIM card.
Bullets found in the bodies of the dead would pose a serious problem for the Pentagon. General Kenneth F. McKenzie Jr. Commander of the U.S. Central Command and other officials gave a press conference on February 4, 2022, to announce the results of his investigation. During his introduction, McKenzie said:
I would like to say that at this point, the investigation is different from what we believed on the day of the attack. The best information available at the time indicated that the attack was a combination of a suicide bomber as well as ISIS-K gunmen.
Now we know that the ball bearings fired explosively caused wounds that looked like gunshots. When combined with a few warning shots, this led many to believe that there had been a complex attack.
Brigadier General Lance Curtis is the investigator’s lead.
We’re going show you today why this wasn’t a complex attack. The attack was not complex. It was just a single explosion. A series of crossfires in front of the soldiers on the ground created the illusion of a complex attack. But it was not. No gunshot wounds were reported. There is a universal agreement between the Armed Forces Medical Examiner’s Office and the medical providers on the ground. There were no gunshot injuries.
This is the official line. It’s possible that the Pentagon will dismiss what Issa has said, claiming that a ball bearing was found instead of a bullet. Issa is likely to have read the Pentagon report, which was published 18 months ago. Knowing that Issa doesn’t want to look stupid by calling a ball-bearing found in the body of a servicemember a bullet.
Below you can read Issa’s comments.
