‘The war is not over’: Parents of Marine killed in Afghanistan in 2011 say Biden has ‘blood on his hands’ after Kabul bombing and tells families of 13 troops killed that they were ‘heroes’ who ‘died fighting for freedom’
- Marine Corporal Paul W Zanowick II, 23, was shot by a sniper and killed on June 3, 2011 while deployed in Afghanistan
- His parents, Paul and Nanette Zanowick, said the suicide bombings in Kabul ‘evoked raw and intense emotions’
- ‘Hell yes,’ Paul said when asked if he blames the Biden administration for the death of 13 US troops in Kabul
- Paul said to the parents grieving like the Zanowicks did nearly a decade ago: ‘They have to know that their children died for a cause bigger than themselves’
Parents of a Marine killed in Afghanistan in 2011 were ‘incensed’ after hearing 13 US troops were killed in suicide bombings in Kabul, saying they were mad because of Joe Biden’s ‘incredibly stupid move’ to pull out of Afghanistan.
‘It evoked raw and intense emotions we hadn’t felt in a long long time,’ they said.
Paul and Nanette Zanowick’s only son Marine Corporal Paul W Zanowick II, 23, was shot by a sniper and killed on June 3, 2011 during Operation Enduring Freedom.
He enlisted after the terrorist attacks on 9/11 and did two tours in Afghanistan between 2008 and his death two years later.
Marine Corporal Paul W Zanowick II, 23, was shot by a sniper and killed on June 3, 2011 during Operation Enduring Freedom
Zanowick enlisted after the terrorist attacks on 9/11 and did two tours in Afghanistan between 2008 and his death two years later
Paul and Nanette Zanowick (pictured right and left at their son’s grave) were ‘incensed’ after hearing 13 US troops were killed in suicide bombings in Kabul
The Zanowicks said the recent deaths of American military members in Kabul ‘struck home to us because they were Marines’. There were 12 of them. They were on a fire team in the Marine Corps and our son was on a fire team the day he died in an ambush in Afghanistan,’ Paul said.
Paul blamed the president and his ‘incompetent’ Afghanistan exit for the deaths of the 13 American troops and 170 Afghans lost in the bombing at Kabul airport.
When asked if he believes Joe Biden has blood on his hands, he replied: ‘Hell yes, hell yes.’
Paul, who describes himself as a ‘freedom-loving… libertarian’ that votes Republican, dismissed any suggestion his anger came from political allegiance but from frustration at Biden’s choices.
The Zanowicks said the recent deaths of American military members in Kabul ‘struck home to us because they were Marines’
The fallen Marine’s parents said they were mad because of Joe Biden’s ‘incredibly stupid move’ to pull out of Afghanistan
Rocky pictured with his wife and son Uriah, who was born on August 19, 2009
‘I don’t care who he was, if he would’ve made the decision they made I would’ve been equally upset. I am mad because it was an incompetent behavior on moves,’ he added.
‘I am mad because it was an incompetent behavior on moves. Anybody who knows anything – or can actually just think logic – would understand that this move was incredibly stupid.
‘And if you know anything about the military – if you know anything about the facts at hand – then it’s even worse,’ Paul said.
Paul, who describes himself as a ‘freedom-loving… libertarian’ that votes Republican, dismissed any suggestion his anger came from political allegiance but from frustration at Biden’s choices.
‘I don’t care who he was, if he would’ve made the decision they made I would’ve been equally upset. I am mad because it was an incompetent behavior on moves,’ he added.
‘I am mad because it was an incompetent behavior on moves. Anybody who knows anything – or can actually just think logic – would understand that this move was incredibly stupid.
‘And if you know anything about the military – if you know anything about the facts at hand – then it’s even worse,’ Paul said.
Rocky and his son Uriah were pictured in March 2011 just prior to his last deployment
In 1998 Rocky was a Boy Scout
From left to right: Rocky, his mother Nanette and his sister Nicole pictured in 2003
He blamed former President Obama for his son’s death when he was in office in 2011 because of rules of engagement that prevented Marines from defending themselves against Taliban members without guns in their hands.
‘When our son’s unit came across Taliban, the Taliban guys would put their guns down, put their hands in the air and say: “Oh, we’re just farmers, we’re just farmers.” And our son – the Marines – had to let them go,’ Paul explained.
Another rule of engagement was called a battle damage assessment. ‘Every time our guys shot their guns they had to justify the expenditure of ammunition…so any time there was a firefight our son had to go into this really bad earlier where the fight was earlier in the day,’ he said.
‘Our son’s unit had to go back in there to do the battle damage assessment and was shot by a sniper. The reason why I say I blame Obama is because if they didn’t have those stupid kinds of processes our son would be alive,’ Paul added.
The father attributed his opinions to ‘the fact that the Taliban are not stupid people’.
‘They know – they figure out – what our methods of operation are. What our habits are,’ he said.
Cpl Zanowick was killed by a sniper while on his second seven-month deployment in Afghanistan
Marines carried Cpl Zanowick’s casket was carried into Our Lady of Good Hope Catholic Church in Miamisburg, Ohio
Marine personnel comfort the family of Marine Cpl Paul ‘Rocky’ Zanowick II as they wait
Loved ones gathered for a funeral mass on Saturday, June 11, 2011 to honor Cpl Zanowick
In light of the recent suicide bombings in Kabul, Cpl Zanowick’s parents do not believe their son’s death was in vein but admitted the question does cross their minds. ‘I believe they (the US military) have been let down. I have aa serious loss of trust in the leadership,’ Paul said.
To the parents who are experiencing as much grief as the Zanowick’s experienced nearly a decade ago, Paul said: ‘They have to know that their children – their sons and daughters, their husbands and wives – died for a cause bigger than themselves.
‘They died for the cause of freedom and they are heroes.’
Cpl Zanowick’s mother Nanette does not believe time heals all wounds ‘but time allows us to speak more freely’ and encouraged the families of the recently-fallen soldiers in Kabul to talk about their loved ones in efforts to make sure they are never forgotten.
‘It’s one more reason someone knows his name so he’s not forgotten,’ Paul added.
The couple agreed that the death of US troops ‘can destroy more than the lives of those lost.’
Left to right: Marine Corps Staff Sgt Darin T Hoover, Army Staff Sgt Ryan C. Knauss, Marine Corps Sgt Nicole L Gee, Marine Corps Sgt Johanny Rosario Pichardo
Marines Corps Corporals left to right: Daegan W Page, Hunter Lopez, Humberto A Sanchez
Marine Corps Lance Corporals left to right: Kareem M Nikoui, Dylan R Merola, Rylee J McCollum, Jared M Schmitz
Marine Corps Lance Cpl David L Espinoza (left) and Navy Hospitalman Maxton W Soviak (right)
Paul said: ‘Our lost military are at peace with God – or wherever in the universe – and they are home. But the ones left behind…there’s no way to explain it.
‘It’s going to be an incredible journey – horrific journey – for them and the only other thing I can say to that is please please get help and get support. Talk about it, don’t bottle it up.
‘Most people go back to their day-to-day life and don’t realize that there is a true cost for this freedom that we have. The cost is these 13 lost military. They’re our sons and daughters.’
Killed on Thursday were Navy corpsman Max Soviak, Army Staff Sergeant Ryan Knauss, and Marines Hunter Lopez, Rylee McCollum, David Lee Espinoza, Kareem Nikoui, Jared Schmitz, Daegan Page, Taylor Hoover, Humberto Sanchez, Johanny Rosario, Dylan Merola and Nicole Gee.
The Zanowicks warned: ‘Nine-eleven happened and 20 years in Afghanistan but guess what, the war’s not over because we want it to be over. The Taliban said otherwise. The Taliban said the war’s not over, we’re going to kill some of your people and we’re going to continue to do so.
‘My point in saying this is that we need to be diligent and we need to keep our heads in this. We’ll know when the war is over. We’ll know but it’s not today.’
Since the suicide bombings in Kabul President Biden has said that another attack on the Kabul airport could be imminent, while vowing that his revenge strike for an ISIS-K attack that killed 13 US troops is ‘not the last’.
‘The situation on the ground continues to be extremely dangerous, and the threat of terrorist attacks on the airport remains high. Our commanders informed me that an attack is highly likely in the next 24-36 hours,’ Biden said in a statement on Saturday.
US Central Command confirmed late on Friday that a drone strike had eliminated the suspected architect of the airport attack, an ISIS-K member in Nangahar province
As the US military rushes into the final evacuation of Kabul airport ahead of Biden’s Tuesday deadline for withdrawal from Afghanistan, the president defended his drone strike, which the Pentagon said killed two ISIS-K ‘planners and facilitators’ in response to the deadly suicide bomb attack.
Moving forward the Pentagon’s policy is to return America’s fallen troops to their loved ones as quickly as possible.
Once the aircraft lands at Dover AFB, service-specific carry teams remove the transfer cases individually from the aircraft and move them to an awaiting transfer vehicle, according to information from Dover’s office of Air Force Mortuary Affairs Operations.
The vehicles then transport the fallen to the mortuary facility at Dover for positive identification by the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System and preparation for transport to their final resting place.
The transfer event, which the military does not consider a ceremony but rather a ‘a solemn movement of the transfer case’, can be open to the press for photography and video at the discretion of the fallen troop’s family.
It was not immediately clear whether the families of the troops killed in Afghanistan would sanction press access to the transfers.
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