In response to Joe Biden’s exaggerations about being “shot at” in Iraq and having his helicopter forced down in Afghanistan, the McCain campaign released this statement by Michael J. Durant, the Black Hawk helicopter pilot who was shot down in Mogadishu in 1993 and held captive:
“Senator Biden claimed at a debate last year that he’d been ‘shot at’ while visiting Iraq. And he has claimed repeatedly, most recently last week, that his helicopter was ‘forced down’ in Afghanistan — leaving his audience with the impression that it was fire from the Taliban which had grounded the aircraft. Neither of these stories appears to be true, and Senator Biden has never accounted for the discrepancies. “I’ve been on a helicopter that was ‘forced down’ by enemy fire, and I’ve been ‘shot at.’ Neither is easily confused with being caught in a snow storm or awakened by a loud bang in the night. Senator Biden has a responsibility to come clean on what actually happened, and explain why he would ever say such things to the American people. And with the Vice Presidential Debate coming up on Thursday, it is incumbent on the news media to ask Senator Biden the tough questions — as they have so far failed to do — and examine his responses closely for inconsistencies of the kind we’ve witnessed in recent months. “The American people expect and deserve leaders who tell the truth about their record and their experiences, and a news media that holds all candidates — no matter their party — to the same standard.”
