Joe Biden goofs up again, mistakes Iran for Iraq while condemning Trump's move to assassinate Soleimani
Democratic presidential hopeful for this year's election Joe Biden is known for his oratorical goof-ups and on Tuesday, January 7, there was another such instance.
The former vice president was speaking at an event in New York City where he touched upon the current hot topic both in the US and outside — the killing of Iran’s top military leader Qassem Soleimani in an air attack outside the airport in Baghdad last week.
Soleimani, a charismatic leader of the Middle Eastern power, was in the Iraqi capital for negotiation talks with regional foes Saudi Arabia when he was eliminated by American forces, along with many others, including Iraqi leaders.
At one point in his speech, Biden mistook Iraq as Iran. This was the second major controversial step that Trump took in three months. Last October, he drastically pulled out troops from northern Syria, leaving regional allies Kurds exposed against the resurgence of the Islamic State (IS) and their enemy Turkey.
The decisions saw either the American forces left defending themselves or pulling out of their bastions. After Soleimani's death, the parliament of Iraq even saw the passing of a resolution calling for the expelling of US-led coalition forces stationed there.
Criticizing Trump's foreign policy move in Iran, Biden said it has affected America's allies and given the IS to regather itself.
"Our allies and our partners who have troops in harm's way that are, in fact, impacted by this decision. Our forces in Iraq and Syria are now focused on protecting themselves, preparing to leave, putting the counter-ISIS mission on hold and allowing a deadly terrorist organization room to regroup and reactivate," said Biden, who was a key member of the Barack Obama administration that had sought a nuclear deal with Tehran to prevent it from possessing the bomb.
But then came the 77-year-old's blunder. While referring to Iraq's parliamentary move to push American coalitions out of the country, Biden said: "The Iran Parliament."
"The Iran parliament voted to reject all Americans coalition forces in the country, and however you may feel about American military presence in the Middle East, there's a right way and a wrong way to draw down our troops," he added.
He said getting "unceremoniously kicked out is unequivocally the wrong way" of the US troops' withdrawal.
The American establishment was in for more embarrassment as its military sent a letter telling Baghdad of an imminent troop withdrawal though top officials including Secretary of Defense Mark Esper and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley denied it, saying there was no plan to remove troops from Iraq, where they have remained stuck since the 2003 war against the then Saddam Hussein regime.