The official transcript of Joe Biden’s State of the Union address captures in black and white the moment a Gold Star father harassed the president and was thrown out of the House chamber.
‘MR. NIKOUI: Think Abbey Gate,” it reads, referring to the site of the Kabul airport attack that killed 13 Americans as Biden withdrew troops from Afghanistan.
‘THE PRESIDENT: Thirty percent, they went up —
‘MR. NIKOUI: US Marines! Kareem Mae ‘Lee Nikoui!’
What it doesn’t portray is the heartbreak of the family, two sons cut short in their prime, eventually leading the father of a dead Marine to be handcuffed by Capitol Police and charged with “crowding, obstruction, or incommoding.” .
Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Kareem M. Nikoui, 20, of Norco, California – one of 13 soldiers killed during the disastrous 2021 withdrawal from Afghanistan
On August 26, 2021, Steven Nikoui’s life was turned upside down. That was the day his son Lance Cpl. Kareem Nikoui was killed by a suicide bomber who targeted US troops during the chaotic withdrawal ordered by Biden.
He was twenty years old, born the same year the war in Afghanistan began. And he died with twelve comrades as the last victims of America’s longest war.
He was only two years removed from high school.
“They sent my son there as a paper pusher and left the Taliban outside to provide security,” Nikoui said at the time.
“I blame my own military leaders…Biden turned his back. That is it.’
Biden ignored the advice of generals and blind allies to continue the evacuation.
The assumption that the internationally recognized government would survive proved wrong and they suffered defeat after defeat as the Taliban realized their supporters were leaving.
It meant Taliban gunmen closed down the capital Kabul before the US could escape.
As a result, American officers had to rely on the militants they had fought for twenty years to create a security cordon around the airport, a cordon that ultimately failed to prevent a lone bomber from detonating his bomb at Abbey Gate, one of the busy entry points.
In this distribution photo provided by the U.S. Air Force, a U.S. Marine Corps transport team transfers the remains of Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Kareem M. Nikoui of Norco, California, August 29, 2021 at Dover Air Force Base
Gold Star father Steve Nikoui was removed from President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address for shouting about his son’s death in Afghanistan
The 51-year-old was quickly removed from the public gallery and placed in handcuffs
Dakota Halverson (right) with his mother Shana Chappell
More than 160 Afghans also died.
Biden traveled to Dover Air Force Base for a ceremony known as a “dignified transfer” as the American remains were returned home.
And Norco, California, held a ceremony for his fallen son.
A procession of horses and cars followed the flag-draped coffin to a public funeral.
But his mother later described how, while the rest of the world moved on, one of his brothers was still struggling.
Dakota Halverson was eight years older than his brother, but they had a strong bond, Shana Chappell told CNNa year after Nikoui’s death.
“He started saying that Kareem is really not here anymore, that he just wanted to be with him. And how much he misses him and loves him,” she said, describing how he sometimes slept next to his brother’s grave.
“He would say it bothers him that Kareem is here alone.”
In 2021, some thirteen US service members were killed in a suicide bombing at the Abbey Gate of Hamid Karzai International Airport. A new book reveals that the US had two chances to disrupt the terrorist group behind the attack, but was thwarted by the need to deal with the Taliban in the final chaotic days of the withdrawal from Afghanistan
The blast took place outside the Baron Hotel, at the Abbey Gate of Kabul Airport. Westerners stayed at the hotel prior to their evacuation flights
The Americans killed in the blast were: (from left to right, starting with top row) Cpl. Daegan W. Page – Sergeant. Johanny Rosario Pichardo – Staff Sgt. Darin T. Hoover – Lance Cpl. David L. Espinoza – Lance Cpl. Rylee J. McCollum – Lance Cpl. Kareem M. Nikoui – Cpl. Hunter Lopez – Lance Cpl. Jared M. Schmitz – Staff Sgt. Ryan C. Knauss – Cpl. Humberto A. Sanchez – Marine Corpsman Maxton W. Soviak – Lance Cpl. Dylan R. Merola – Sergeant. Nicole L. Gee
He took his own life as the one-year anniversary approached. His body was found in the city’s Pikes Peak Park, where he played with his brother as a child, and across the street from the memorial to the fallen Marine.
“Dakota Halverson was a loving son, brother and friend,” his family wrote in a GoFundme appeal. “The loss of his brother almost a year ago has proven too difficult.”
On Thursday, Nikoui was the guest of Rep. Brian Mast at the State of the Union, part of a Republican push to pressure Biden for a full account of what went wrong in Afghanistan.
He listened to 50 minutes of Biden’s speech before it all became too much to bear.
Nikoui makes his stance shortly after the president said, “To state the obvious, all Americans deserve the freedom to be safe.”
Biden did not mention Afghanistan in his speech.