Fact checker fact-checks Kamala Harris’s active duty military in combat zone claim

| September 12, 2024

During the debate between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris, the latter made a claim about military deployment. Harris claimed that there were no active duty service members in a combat zone. Perhaps she meant that there were no US service members engaging in major combat operations such as what occurred in Iraq and in Afghanistan. However, those who are familiar with combat zones and the associated impact on tax liability would see things differently.

From PolitiFact:

A Defense Department spokesperson told PolitiFact that the U.S. is neither engaged in a war, nor has service members fighting in active war zones anywhere in the world.

“An aspect of military service includes serving in locations where hostile actions may occur,” the Defense Department official said in a statement to PolitiFact. “Those locations are designated by executive order and/or the Secretary of Defense. However, it’s important to note that just because a service member is in one of these locations does not mean they are engaged in war.”

But Harris’ inclusion of “combat zone” in that statement is misleading and experts said it significantly underplays the broader landscape of active duty military service abroad.

The Internal Revenue Service tracks combat zones for tax purposes. The term generally refers to “hostile areas where (the) military may serve, (including) actual combat areas, direct combat support areas and qualified hazardous duty areas,” the IRS said on a webpage last reviewed and updated Aug. 19.

Citing the Defense Department, the IRS said that as of August, recognized combat zones included the Sinai Peninsula, and the Afghanistan, Kosovo and Arabian Peninsula areas.

Melanie Sisson, a foreign policy fellow at the Brookings Institution, a think tank, said some of these combat zone designations, such as the one over Kosovo, are “holdovers” from previous U.S. military operations. But the combat zones do include areas in which U.S. service members are now deployed, she said.

Additional Reading:

Swann, S. (2024, September 11). Why Harris’ debate remarks about US military in combat zones is misleading. PolitiFact. Link.

Category: 2024 Election, Kamala Harris, Military issues, Terror War

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Fyrfighter

So you’re saying that Kamala said some dumb, inaccurate shit because she has no clue what she’s talking about, and is in way over her head??

I looked for a shocked face, but can’t find one at the moment…

BlueCord Dad

Mine’s on a sabbatical due to overuse. It’s expected back the first week in November…

KoB

The shocked face supply is as barren as that other, more famous, barren field.

Just another lie from a lying whore. Tell that to the troops we lost just a few weeks ago in that ME missile attack. I guess their injuries came from slipping on soap in the shower.

SFC D

I keep telling you to sell that field, KoB. Nothing’s ever gonna grow there. Except maybe taters. Plant taters, get taters.

Veritas Omnia Vincit

Shocked Face…

MYSHOCKEDFACE
QMC

Hack activists David Muir and Linsey Davis were good ABC Democrat employees and covered for her every time.

Pravda couldn’t have done a better job “moderating” that debate for the CCP candidate.

jeff LPH 3 63-66

Off Topic Read your reply to me yesterday about Capt. Hatton. During Sunday drills on L 2 he was always checking out what kind of locks were on windows in different apartment buildings which most were in H type buildings, didn’t put up with getto mentality, kept his helmet flaps down over his ears during a “Job” used to tell us to take the pack off and use it as a boogie board to ride a collapsing floor that your on depending on what type of collapst it is. A little different back then when he was with us in 1986 for a number of years untill moving to Manhatten. Lot more but got to go .

Mason

This happened all of two weeks ago.

https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/us-centcom-says-it-conducted-raid-iraq-15-islamic-state-operatives-dead-2024-08-31/

Of her lies, this would be the easiest to dismiss out of hand as wrong. You don’t even need to research it.

jeff LPH 3 63-66

Forgot to mention FDNY still riding R 1 & 2

jeff LPH 3 63-66

Still riding on youtube

5JC

When she said that I immediately thought of all of our Navy and Marine brothers and sisters cruising around the Middle East right now. That and I was thinking how stupid she is, but already was thinking that anyway.

Last edited 2 months ago by 5JC
MarineDad61

5JC,
Including, until recently, the son of MarineDad61.

5JC

I’m sure you are relieved to have him out of there. I’m proud my son is serving too but I do worry.

Green Thumb

I wonder if these are combat zones that Phil Monkress was in?

SFC D

They are not the combat zones that Tim “No-Ballz” Walz was in.

BlueCord Dad

Hi Timmy…

IMG_0969
KoB

comment image

E. Conboy

Do I see a tampon in his mouth?

Odie

Light Fuze, run away.

E. Conboy

Like dat.

MarineDad61

Kamala got caught lying 5-6 times with blatant bullshit, and worse,
she KNEW she was doing it, as are her current DNC and PAC TV ads.
Most of us have seen these by now.
Project 2025. IVF. Federal abortion ban. And more.

That said,
Trump is not off the hook, either.

From the SAME PolitiFact website…
Pants on Fire…
Over this….
—> Trump repeats baseless claims that Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, are eating pets
https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2024/sep/11/donald-trump/trump-repeats-baseless-claims-that-haitian-immigra/

MarineDad61

SFC,
Trouble is,
that goose pic thebesig used 3 days ago
was taken 50 miles away in Columbus, Ohio.
And, the guy who took and posted that pic
disowns all the Springfield stories
and anyone (else, like thebesig) hijacking his pic.

— Lesson for everyone —

Just because Musk says it,
or Trump says it,
or thebesig says it,
doesn’t automatically make it truth and gospel.

Haitians helping themselves to park wildlife-Pets reportedly not safe

thebesig | September 9, 2024 | 117 Comments

Last edited 2 months ago by MarineDad61
SFC D

Read the article.
Listen to the audio.
I made no mention of the pic you’re talking about.
I made no mention of pets.
I made no mention of thebesig’s earlier post.
Just because you say it,
Doesn’t automatically make it the truth and gospel.

KoB

Whether these invaders are eating wildlife or domestic critters is really not the issue to look at. Dropping 20K parasites into a city of 58K should be a concern of everyone.

https://www.foxnews.com/media/springfield-ohio-resident-details-dystopian-nightmare-haitian-migrants-overrun-town-breaks-my-heart

Anonymous

Federal grant $$$, NGOs and local bureacrats making deals– follow the money is right. Everybody’s making out except for local residents who’re just getting screwed.

KoB

And while we’re high jacking threads…another look at why there are 20K invaders in this town…and many other towns…

https://bayourenaissanceman.blogspot.com/2024/09/is-american-job-market-being.html

5JC

We’ve got several thousand here. The jobs they are taking nobody really wants like working at the chicken factory, hotel maids and picking cabbage. A lot of them stand in front of convenience stores with hands in their pockets but 70-80% are working.

Most Hispanics in our area have moved on into skilled labor or now work as contractors. The ones fresh off the boat are still laying tile, yard maintenance and swinging hammers but everyone wants to run their own company now. They start their own yard service or contracting firm and in a few years they are clearing well North of $150k. But they hustle too, often working 60-70 hours a week.

So around here, essentially the Haitians are taking the jobs that the Hispanics no longer want.

RCAF-CHAIRBORNE

As many as 20% of Haitians are HIV positive.
Once they get tired of cooking kitties, they will start raping underage ones

Anonymous

There’re middlemen/NGOs/politicians getting something out of all the “migrants” being there, one way or another, at (clearly) local folk’s and their pets’ expense.
https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1832295691605180713.html#google_vignette

Here’s the webpage one those middlemen doing well from ‘fugees and Migrant Support Grant program $$$:
https://www.switchboardta.org/blog/the-workforce-system-and-american-job-centers-valuable-resources-for-refugee-resettlement/

Cha-ching, baby!

Last edited 2 months ago by Anonymous
Anonymous
Odie

Saw that too.

Odie

50 mile, 5 miles, 5 blocks or 5 feet away, Springfield or Columbus, does it make it less true because the wrong city was named?

MarineDad61

Odie,
Wilmington is not Philadelphia
is not Reading
is not Harrisburg
is not York
is not Baltimore
is not Washington, D.C.

Things happening in 1 are more than likely not happening in most if not all of the other close nearby cities.

MarineDad61

thebesig,
IF you are
believing PolitiFact on Harris debate lies
(yes, she lied),
then you have no choice but to be
believing PolitiFact on Trump debate lies
(yes, he also lied).

You can’t have it both ways.
You know… quoting and linking 1,
while ignoring the other.

So, I provided the other PolitiFact link above,
and now everyone has both.

MarineDad61

thebesig,
Selective belief of fact checking articles from the same website?
In this case, right now, PolitiFact?

Accept when 1 goes your way?
Reject when 1 doesn’t?

That’s more than rich. That’s gold.

Are you also in selective belief
with some of the others?
Like Snopes? FactCheck?
LeadStories? RealClearPolitics?

Good luck with all that.

Odie

Found a pic of local police in Springfield OH when asked about Haitians stealing and eating pets.

comment image

SFC D

If you could kindly provide a list of approved sources, that’d be awesome.

MarineDad61

SFC D,
The source of all this Springfield cat
and pet eating BS has been found.
She admits it’s “fourth hand” rumor,
with zero basis and zero proof.

Between faked up photo(s) based on a goose pic from 50 miles away,
and now the source of the whacko viral claims having nothing to prove any of it….

It’s now DOUBLE DEBUNKED.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/ohio-migrant-pet-eating-conspiracys-patient-zero-heard-it-fourth-hand

SFC D

Cool story. Now debunk the story I posted. You know, the recorded call to the county sheriff. You’re laboring under the assumption that if one report is false, all reports are false. Interesting way to live.

Anonymous
Last edited 2 months ago by Anonymous
Odie

How many times has Trump uttered stuff where people laughed or said WTF. How many of those came to pass, or ended up getting out as truth?

Anonymous

More often than not, to put it mildly.

Odie
Odie

There’s also this.. 1st video if I did it right. I’ve had trouble linking from this site before

https://ninetymilesfromtyranny.blogspot.com/2024/09/visage-trois-2407.html

MarineDad61

Go ahead, and click the thumbs down,
and rack up the red minus number.

Look above, it’s all now DOUBLE DEBUNKED.

Anyone, from online social media types,
to Musk,
to Trump,
to thebesig,
who believed any of it,
and worse, those who spread it,
now all look like complete idiots.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/ohio-migrant-pet-eating-conspiracys-patient-zero-heard-it-fourth-hand

MarineDad61

UPDATE – Now TRIPLE DEBUNKED.

1st was the person who took the goose photo (in Columbus).
2nd was the very person who put up the first social media claim
(Erika Lee), who is quoted in detail in this new article.
3rd, now, in this same article, is the neighbor (Newton).

I put a long comment, with the news link,
on the original VG article….
New story title – [[ ‘It just exploded’: Springfield woman claims she never meant to spark false rumors about HaitiansThe woman behind an early Facebook post that helped spark baseless rumors about Haitians eating pets told NBC News that she feels for the immigrant community.]]

Find it all here….
Haitians helping themselves to park wildlife-Pets reportedly not safe
thebesig | September 9, 2024 | 124 Comments

fm2176

“If I die in a combat zone,
box me up and ship me home
Tell my mom I done my best
Bury me in the leaning rest”

As KoB already pointed out, they’re “combat zones” for good reason. We don’t have to be actively engaged in war or fighting in war zones to have our troops in imminent danger of death or injury.

We’ll see how things turn out in two months. If Harris “wins”, I expect we’ll be engaged in full-scale conflict on a few fronts within a year. Meanwhile, us CONUS-dwelling private citizens will be facing rampant crime and ever-increasing numbers of illegals, all while our local police are defunded and we’re systematically disarmed.

But don’t worry, the Feds will get new funding to increase their “law enforcement” capacity, as well as additional protection for those in power, likely using the attempt on Trump as the reason so they can show some “bipartisan” respect for the former President once he’s no longer a threat to them.

We had a retired Secret Service agent working here briefly. He came in a while back and is back at work for the USSS, basically just flying between coasts to provide security at certain private residences in the First State and the Golden State. I have another good reference, at least, if I decide to apply for a .gov position.

David

Believe it was Mr. Heinlein who observed that a corpse from a police action for three days smelled pretty much the same as a three day old corpse from a war.

5JC

A few other lies Harris passed off unchallenged:

– Trump and 2025 with follow up lies about it
– Not Taking Guns away, she is a total supporter of the AWB renewal
– The unemployment rate was 6.1% when Trump left office in January. While not great it wasn’t the worst since the Depression either. And of course Covid, duh.
– The Taliban never went to Camp David. It was correct to invite them too, to work out a peace process.
– The trade deficit which wasn’t the highest in post WWII history, that was Bush, and Biden/ Harris has been higher than EVERYBODY.
– The big increase in oil production took place under Trump, not Biden. Unless you count Biden cutting production and then increasing it again? It is kind of like pouring out a basket of freshly picked tomatoes on the ground and then picking them up again to show how hard you work.

Probably more, that is all could come up with off the top of my head.

5JC

She also said that people died at “the attack on the Capitol”.

I’m just happy it wasn’t a “peaceful protest”. The Capitol was completely unharmed during the attack but they burned down half of Minneapolis during a peaceful protest. Lucky Kamala was there to bail them out.

Last edited 2 months ago by 5JC
rgr769

Actually, what she said was that 140 officers were injured in the attack and that some of them died, implying officers died of their injuries. Which is also a lie; no officers died as a result of J6. For the benefit of the Progs, Sicknick died on Jan. 7 of blood clots in the two major arteries that feed the base of the brain, a double stroke. Per the autopsy, his body did not have a single mark or bruise on it. His lungs did not show signs of having been shot with bear spray. Surveillance videos show he was also not hit with a fire extinguisher or shot or sprayed with anything. Two protestors did die of the actions of the cops.

5JC

Correct.

One officer was injured and later died, but he didn’t die from his injuries. Most of those who died that day were protesters. Some of whom likely hadn’t been off the couch since the last century and keeled over from heart attacks. Also a meth overdose. Then one got shot when she tried to climb into the area down the hall from where Pence was hiding.

Anonymous

Most obnoxious thing protestors actually did there was the guy in a bison costume hollering “Freedom!”
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Last edited 2 months ago by Anonymous
5JC

The trade deficit is worse under Biden. Not saying it was great under Trump, just worse now.

rgr769

She also wants to confiscate all “assault weapons” via some kind of federal buy back scheme she thinks she can do by executive order within the first 100 days of her presidency.

Stacy0311

Every service member in Iraq, Syria and Jordan heard this and immediately thought “Bitch please”

SFC D

This retired service member in Arizona heard this and immediately thought “Bitch please”.

NHSparky

Throw in the gun ownership one as well.

$10 will get you $20 she couldn’t tell you the make, model, or caliber.

Personally, I find it more believable she worked at McDonald’s.

5JC

I know people who “own guns” that can’t tell you what kind of “bullets” to put in them so I tend to believe her claims about that. Besides, the rules are different for her, she is special.

Odie

Short bus special.

KoB

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SFC D

I understand those teeth fold back, with the right incentive.

Odie

They probably came out for the shot at this prize.

5JC

If you have electoral votes she’s open for business.

Sgtm

The Botox is strong in this one.

Anonymous

Dudes getting fired upon in Syria, Iraq and off the coast of Yemen might beg to differ.

SFC D

Popcorn stock going higher higher, invest now!

https://twitchy.com/samj/2024/09/12/whoa-abc-questions-n2400877

Anonymous

Inflation 20% under current admin– vote Democrat for more!
https://x.com/DogRightGirl/status/1834233127604048348

ANCRN

Wait…just last week 7 US troops were injured fighting ISIS in Iraq. I think DOD is confused.

rgr769

Naw, Kirby just lies and obfuscates.

SFC D

That’s an interesting way to say “Kirby sucks dick”.

Hack Stone

Just remember when Donald Trump made Joe Biden’s day in the June debates, he said no US troops died on his watch. What he meant to say is that no US troops died while he looking at his watch while at Dover AFB during the undignified transfer of the service members who were killed at Abby Gate.

SFC D
rgr769

And Twitchy suspects the bus riders are getting paid. Well, you can’t have people riding busses all over the country for hours and not have them expect some per diem pay. They gotta eat.

Skivvy Stacker

Isn’t the DMZ in Korea considered a POTENTIAL combat zone? Or is it a combat zone because we are technically still at war with the North Koreans?