Vice President Joe Biden misstated the number of troops wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan by 47,000 at a Veterans Day event today at Arlington National Cemetary. Here’s audio of his remarks:
“Every day for the last six years, I ask my staff early in the morning to contact the Department of Defense to get a detailed report of the number of troops deployed, the number wounded, and the number killed. Not a general number; the exact number every day,” said the vice president. “Because for every one of those warriors there’s an entire family, extended family, back in America that has bled or is bleeding.”
Biden continued, “As of this morning, U.S. troops died in Iraq and Afghanistan: 6,703; troops wounded in Iraq or Afghanistan: 5,168.”
The vice president is correct to say 6,703 troops have died in Iraq and Aghanistan, according to Department of Defense numbers.
But the second in command misstates the number wounded by 47,000. In fact, 52,168 troops have been wounded in these wars.
Biden’s remarks today at Arlington National Cemetary were to mark Veterans Day.
Daniel Halper is author of Clinton, Inc.: The Audacious Rebuilding of a Political Machine.
