Susan Collins and Graham Platner spar over Iraq War claims

U.S. Sen. Susan Collins on Thursday pushed back on Graham Platner’s claims that she sent him to fight in Iraq, saying “he was not drafted” and chose to enlist after the war had already begun.

Collins’ response quickly went viral on social media. And Platner, the presumptive Democratic nominee to challenge her this fall, described her comment as “a disgusting slap in the face” to those who died in the conflict.

The back-and-forth comes as Platner faces criticism for a social media post made seven years ago about how a wounded soldier who received a Purple Heart in the war didn’t “deserve to live.”

The battle over the wars in the Middle East and Platner’s service could have a lasting impact on the race, given Maine’s large population of veterans. The Pine Tree State ranks fifth in the nation for veterans per capita, according to U.S. News and World Report.

While in Auburn on Thursday, Collins was asked to respond to Platner’s repeated claims that “Susan Collins sent me to war.”

Collins noted that Platner enlisted to serve in the Iraq War two years after the conflict was authorized by Congress in a bipartisan vote.

“I respect anyone who steps forward to serve their country,” she told reporters after a ground breaking ceremony for a new public safety building. “But the fact is, that was Platner’s decision to serve. He was not drafted.”

Platner has said he wanted to be a soldier since he was very young. After protesting the war before it began, he enlisted in the U.S. Marines in 2004. He later joined the U.S. Army to fight in Afghanistan, a country he returned to years later to work briefly as a security contractor.

In Reddit posts deleted ahead of his senate campaign, Plater wrote about joining the military to “have an adventure and kill some people.” He called combat “an excellent experience.”

Platner has since dismissed his many controversial online posts, which have been lightning rods for criticism, saying he was struggling with PTSD and depression at the time and they no longer reflect who he is.

In a video response posted Thursday to the social media site X, Platner did not repeat his claims that Collins sent him to the war. Instead, he highlighted her votes to authorize and fund the war, while opposing efforts to withdraw the troops.

“Now all these years later, instead of acknowledging that she was wrong, she’s decided that she’s gonna blame those of us, who in our late teens and early 20s, signed up to serve our country,” Platner said.

“That somehow, it’s our fault that she, and establishment politicians like her, wanted to abuse our willingness to serve — to go send us off to fight in stupid wars that did nothing but make some people very, very rich at the expense of American taxpayer dollars.”

The dispute comes as Platner has taken heat for comments he made on Reddit in 2019 about a soldier wounded in a Taliban ambush. That comment resurfaced last week, as Republicans have ramped up their attacks on the presumptive nominee.

“This video never gets old,” Platner wrote in the online forum. “Dumb mother(expletive) didn’t deserve to live. At least his stupidity and fat ass wheezing are available for all future infantrymen to witness and hold in contempt. Poor marksmanship on the Taliban’s part is the only reason this mouthbreather made it home, he managed to make every possible shit decision possible when it comes to small unit combat.”

That soldier, Ted Daniels was awarded a Purple Heart after being shot four times while fighting in Afghanistan in 2012. Last week, he called Platner “a coward” and “scumbag” on Fox News.

In a Wall Street Journal op-ed published Thursday, Daniels attacked Platner’s background — his father is an attorney; his mother owns a restaurant; his grandfather was a nouned architect and designer; and Platner briefly attended a private school in Connecticut. He said Platner “cheered my death from behind a keyboard.”

Collins also criticized Platner for that post while in Auburn, saying she’s heard from many veterans upset by his remarks. She said Daniels “took bullets” to save his platoon.

“This offends me deeply,” said Collins, noting her father earned two Purple Hearts in World War II. “These are men and women who are risking their lives for our country, and for him to ridicule this soldier, and saying that he doesn’t deserve to live, is just appalling.”

Platner has not directly addressed his comments about Daniels.

When approached by Fox News, he noted his four tours in Iraq and Afghanistan and said “any attempt to say that I disrespect veterans is slanderous and offensive.”

A campaign spokesperson responded similarly when asked to respond to Daniels’ op-ed.

“The only tactic Susan Collins and the GOP have is to turn this election into a personal referendum on someone who served four combat tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, leading infantrymen in combat both as a machine gunner and a rifle squad leader,” the spokesperson said. “Graham knows the true costs of those wars. Susan Collins only voted for them while her donors have profited from the bloodshed.”