Vice President Kamala Harris’ statement in the debate with Donald Trump that no US service members are in an active combat zone is profoundly troubling and concerning. It’s not even been two weeks since 7 US soldiers were wounded in a raid in Iraq against Islamic State forces. In January, 3 US soldiers were killed by a drone strike from Iraqi resistance forces. Dozens of US troops and contractors have been wounded over the last year in attacks by Sunni and Shia forces in Iraq, Jordan and Syria. US air and naval forces have been similarly engaged. US aircrews have conducted hundreds of airstrikes in at least Iraq, Syria, Yemen, and in April, American fighter pilots and air defense missiles destroyed scores of Iranian missiles and drones headed for Israel. Meanwhile, The US Navy has been engaged in what the Navy likes to describe as the largest naval battle since WWII in the Red Sea, which is also the most significant US naval defeat since WWII in terms of mission failure. Two sailors drowned in the Gulf of Aden in January while conducting boarding operations in support of sanctions enforcement – what in earlier times was called a blockade, an act of war. 

Worldwide, Brown University’s Costs of War Project reports US forces to have been in combat in at least nine countries and possibly five others in the first three years of the Biden Administration.

The suggestion that Vice President Harris’ comments were meant in a narrow and technical sense is untrue as service members in those areas are operating in officially designated combat zones. It could be considered a regrettable misspeak if Joe Biden had not asserted the same in June. That leads one to understand this as a deliberate statement by the White House to mislead the American people, the sort of misinformation politicians, government officials and journalists have been so breathless about in recent years. 

It is impossible for the United States Vice President to not know of US forces in combat. It’s telling that Donald Trump was unable to correct her, and it is shameful that neither moderator fact-checked Vice President Harris. The malfeasance on the part of the Vice President is alarming and nefarious. The willingness and desire of the US government to keep US wars, their costs and their failures hidden from the US public inform the modern way of American war. This, of course, speaks nothing to Congress’ abdication of its constitutional role and obligation and the disrespect shown to US servicemembers, veterans and their families. Such lying furthers endless and unwindable wars and, most importantly, presents a continuing and grave danger to our democracy.