Graham Platner, the leading Democrat for the Senate race in Maine, fired back at Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) on Thursday after she said it was solely his decision to serve in the Iraq War.Platner said Collins sent him to fight in the war through her past votes, and she denied the implication.“He not only enlisted twice after the war was started, but he also went to work for a security company, a controversial one named Blackwater, after his term in the service was over,” Collins told the Maine Wire.
“I respect anyone who steps forward to serve their country, but the fact is that was Platner’s decision to serve,” she said. “He was not drafted.”
In response, Platner called her statement a “slap in the face” to the families of U.S. service members.
“There hasn’t been a draft in over 50 years. Every single one of the 7,000 young men and women Susan Collins sent to die in Iraq and Afghanistan enlisted,” the Marine Corps veteran posted on X. “What a disgusting slap in the face to their families and a callous disregard for their sacrifice.”
In a video message hours earlier, Platner explained Collins voted to support starting the Iraq War that began in 2003 and later voted against withdrawing troops three different times. He also said she voted twice to fund the war.
