Critics offer fact-checks on this Vice President Kamala Harris’ He claims that the US “does not have a single American military member on active duty” in a combat zone “for the first time this century,” indicating that the statement is misleading.
Harris made this claim in a debate with former President Trump on Tuesday. Although her words leave room for interpretation, it is clear that American soldiers around the world are at risk.
“Today, not a single member of the United States military is on active duty in any combat zone around the world, for the first time this century,” Harris said during a presidential debate on ABC.
The Pentagon He told the Fox News digital service that members have been deployed to a variety of dangerous locations, but he also said these deployments have been made by the executive branch and not because of wars declared by Congress.
“One aspect of military service includes serving in locations where hostile action may occur,” a defense official said. “Those locations are designated by executive order and/or the Secretary of Defense.”
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“However, it is important to note that just because a military personnel is in one of these locations does not necessarily mean he or she is engaged in combat,” the official said. “The United States is not currently engaged in any wars and does not have troops fighting in active combat zones anywhere in the world.”
Vice President Kamala Harris’s response to a question about how prices would be lowered, in an interview with Philadelphia’s 6 ABC anchor Brian Taff, went viral. (Screenshot/6 ABC Philadelphia)
Mark Montgomery, senior director of the Cyber and Tech Innovation Center at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, told Fox News Digital that the US has “quietly stopped designating cybercriminals.” War Zone over the last couple of years.”
“I would ask: Is anyone getting paid for combat-related hazardous duty?” Montgomery said. “The answer is yes,” and cited Syria as an example.
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The Pentagon did not comment on whether troops stationed in countries such as Syria, Jordan or Iraq, or at other bases in the Middle East, have received hazardous duty pay over the past 10 months because of Iran’s support for proxy groups such as the Houthis and Hezbollah.
A transfer case is lowered during a dignified transfer ceremony at Dover Air Force Base in Dover, Delaware, for the remains of three U.S. service members killed in a drone strike on a U.S. military outpost in Jordan, February 2, 2024. (ROBERTO SCHMIDT/AFP via Getty Images)
Hazardous duty pay is distributed at a monthly rate of $225 and is payable to a member who, while performing duty in a hostile fire area, is subjected to hostile fire, the explosion of hostile mines or other hostile action, is exposed to an incident of hostile fire or is killed, wounded or injured by hostile fire or explosion, According to Military.com,
Military members serving in Lebanon have been eligible for hazardous duty pay since 1983, while military members serving in Syria have been eligible for land and air combat pay since 2003 and 2014, respectively. Iraq has remained an eligible territory since 1990.
Robert Greenway, former senior director of the National Security Council (NSC) during the Trump administration, said the US has “continuously” deployed troops to war zones since the 1991 Gulf War.
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“This claim is particularly egregious, as she is the current vice president and she should know we recently conducted a raid in Syria that killed a senior ISIS commander, multiple US troops had to be medically evacuated after another raid against ISIS in Syria,” Greenway told Fox News Digital. “Less than a month ago when Al Asad Airbase was attacked by Iranian-sponsored militants, multiple troops were injured in Iraq, and our ships in the Red Sea are under attack almost every day.”
This photo taken on January 4, 2024 shows a view of the headquarters of Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) paramilitary forces in Baghdad, which was targeted by a US attack on the same day. (Ahmed Al-Rubay/AFP via Getty Images)
“It is a dereliction of duty for the current vice president to be unaware of our ongoing military operations abroad,” Greenway said.
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The US has about 2,500 troops in Iraq alone, although Iraqi officials revealed this week that they have drawn up a tentative plan to withdraw most of the US troops by 2025 and leave the remaining troops there. The Washington Post reported,
“The first phase will begin this year and continue until 2025, while the second phase will end in 2026,” Iraqi Defense Minister Thabit al-Abbasi said on television.
