A Minnesota military reservist who heeded the call to fight the war in Iraq said in 2006 that Tim Walz, now the Democrat candidate for vice president, had “disappointed” his peers by “misleading” people into believing he served in Iraq.
“Walz is leaving the impression that he served in the combat zones of the current conflict. The truth is that he served in Italy,” Tom Hagen wrote in a letter published in the Winona Daily News on November 1, 2006. “There is a significant difference between Walz’s garrison service in Italy and the extreme danger young men and women are facing in the combat zones of Iraq and Afghanistan.”
According to Hagen, it was “even more disturbing” that “Walz quickly retired after learning that his unit…would be sent to Iraq.”
“For Tim Walz to misleadingly give the impression that he served in a combat zone is bad enough,” Hagen wrote. “For Tim Walz to abandon his fellow soldiers and quit when they needed experienced leadership is most disheartening. It dishonors those brave American men and women who did answer their nation’s call and who continue to serve, fight and unfortunately die in harm’s way for us.”
Walz responded to Hagen in a letter to the Daily News in which he implied Hagen lacked “honor.”
“There’s a code of honor among those who’ve served, and normally this type of partisan political attack only comes from one who’s never worn a uniform,” Walz wrote.
Hagen deployed twice to Iraq, and since 2013 has worked as a lawyer fighting to secure federal benefits for veterans wounded in combat. Since joining the Democratic ticket, Walz has come under fire for misrepresenting his military record. Walz has repeatedly suggested that he saw active duty during his time in the Minnesota National Guard, a claim that has been debunked by veterans and fact-checked by CNN.
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Walz has long made such misleading claims, saying during his 2018 gubernatorial campaign that he was a “citizen soldier” who “honed leadership in uniform.” The Harris campaign has also suggested that Walz saw combat as part of an effort to attract blue-collar, moderate voters. Harris’ campaign on Tuesday shared a video of Walz promoting gun control, wherein the governor says, “We can make sure that those weapons of war, that I carried in war, is the only place where those weapons are at.”
Gov. @Tim_Walz: I spent 25 years in the Army and I hunt. I’ve been voting for common sense legislation that protects the Second Amendment, but we can do background checks. We can research the impacts of gun violence. We can make sure those weapons of war, that I carried in war,… pic.twitter.com/3IVaXi2RP2
— Kamala HQ (@KamalaHQ) August 6, 2024
In tapping Walz as her running mate, Harris has opened herself up to attacks from her opponents. Trump campaign senior advisor Chris LaCivita worked in 2004 with Swift Boat Veterans For Truth, which publicized the fact that then-Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry had misrepresented his military record. The campaign is often credited with Kerry’s defeat.
