(Headline USA) The parents of one of the U.S. troops killed in Jordan by a drone strike over the weekend said Tuesday morning that President Joe Biden had not yet called them.
Army specialist Kennedy Ladon Sanders, 24, of Georgia, was killed along with two others in the attack near the Syrian border.
Her parents, Oneida and Shawn Sanders, told Fox News that they were mourning their loss and refrained from openly criticizing Biden. However, they did say that they’d been waiting for a phone call from the president and had not yet received one.
“I have heard from some other government officials,” Oneida Sanders said.
“Also, the governor of Georgia, [Republican] Gov. Brian Kemp, has put in a call to us,” she added. “Some of our congressmen who represent our area have called us.”
She noted that they were hoping to hear from the president later that day but were first expected to fill out forms, echoing the tone-deaf treatment that gold-star families received after a 2021 suicide bombing during the failed Afghanistan withdrawal left 13 U.S. service members dead.
“We are having an appointment this afternoon with the casualty assistance officer, who told us that we had to complete certain paperwork in order for the president to be released to call us,” Oneida Sanders said. “So we are expecting a call from President Biden.”
When asked whether they thought Biden’s response to the tragedy over the weekend had been appropriate, and what they’d like to see him do moving forward, the bereaved mother said the administration’s response couldn’t bring back their daughter.
“As a grieving parent, I would not want to see any other parent go through what we’re going through right now, but given the circumstances, our child and the others who lost their lives are considered heroes in this situation,” she said. “However the president of the United States decides to respond, it won’t change our situation at all.”
Thus far, the Biden administration has been vague about how it intends to respond to the provocation from an Iran-backed terrorist group.
Oneida Sanders signaled her confidence that the 81-year-old commander-in-chief and recently AWOL Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin would rise to the occasion, while acting in the best interest of national security.
“Whatever is decided, I trust that it’ll be a good decision that keeps everyone in the safest position,” she said.
Another report this week revealed Biden may skip a ceremony honoring Sanders and the two other U.S. Army reservists killed in Jordan: specialist Breonna Alexsondria Moffett and Sgt. William Jerome Rivers.
National Security Council spokesman John Kirby was asked on Monday whether Biden planned to attend the ceremony, to which Kirby replied that he did not “have anything on [the president’s] schedule to speak to.”
