Did Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz give a 9/11 anniversary speech in which he claimed that while serving in the National Guard he "stood one night in the dark of night at Bagram Air Base in Iraq", seemingly unaware Bagram is in Afghanistan? No, that's not true: Video of his speech shows Walz only said he was at "Bagram," not "Bagram Air Base in Iraq" and did not claim he was deployed at the time. The social media post criticizing Walz relied on a flawed transcript of remarks Walz made at a 20-year memorial event on September 11, 2021. Walz made the trip in 2008, two years after he was elected to Congress, according to a press release by a veterans organization.
The claim appeared in a post (archived here) where it was published on X, formerly known as Twitter, on August 11, 2024. It opened:
Here's Tim Walz giving a 9/11 anniversary speech where he claimed to have "stood one night in the dark of night at Bagram Air Base in Iraq" and watched an American soldier's body be loaded onto a plane.
Bagram is in Afghanistan, not Iraq. Walz didn't deploy to either.
Source: Official Minnesota Government website: https://lrl.mn.gov/docs/2023/mandated/231447.pdf
This is what the post looked like on X at the time of writing:
(Source: X screenshot taken on Mon Aug 12 15:17:26 2024 UTC)
The error arises from a transcript found on a Minnesota museum's website.
The flawed transcript (archived here) is part of a 424-page PDF published by the Minnesota Military and Veterans Museum titled, "Minnesota In The Global War On Terrorism -- Post 91/1 Profiles." It includes a transcript of the speech Walz gave at the Minnesota 9/11 20th Anniversary Commemoration on September 11, 2021.
Page 394 of the PDF carries what appears to be a transcript of Walz's 2021 speech at the Minnesota State Capitol, including this excerpt:
In the years after that classroom, I had the privilege of serving in this state's national guard. I stood one night in the dark of night on the tarmac at Bagram Air Base in Iraq and watched a military ramp ceremony-a soldier's body being loaded onto a plane to be returned home. And if you've seen it, you don't leave the same. It makes you wonder, what are we doing? What are we trying to get to? And then watching as all of you have been, the confusing last few weeks with the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan.
(Source: Minnesota Governor's office website screenshot taken on Mon Aug 12 15:24:11 2024 UTC)
There is no indication with the transcript of the speech that it is an official version from the governor's office.
The tape tells the tale
Video of Walz's remarks was posted to the Minnesota Military & Veterans Museum YouTube page on January 17, 2022, and he did not say he was at "Bagram Air Base in Iraq."
At 1:37:22 in Walz's speech he is talking about the September 11, 2001 attacks and he says, "I stood one night in the dark of night on the tarmac at Bagram," not, "I stood one night in the dark of night on the tarmac at Bagram Air Base in Iraq and watched a military ramp ceremony" as the other excerpt has him saying:
As we get further from events our memories fade both individually and collectively and becomes harder to tell that story, and then the years that happened after that classroom I had the privilege of serving in this state's national guard and when I left I had a two-year-old when I came home I had a three-year-old. But as I listened to Jill and Mariah, the guilt I came home and my daughter went on and when you're two and three she knew no difference. That's not true for some, they can't do that.And over the preceding years of watching us and as our nation changed and as our political systems became more more difficult for all of us to understand, I stood one night in the dark of night on the tarmac at Bagram and watched a military ramp ceremony. And if you've seen it, which these folks many have unfortunately, you don't leave the same and it makes you wonder what are we doing? What are we trying to get to?
A news release (archived here) from the Veterans for Common Sense organization in January 2008 reported he was at Bagram Airfield in Afghanistan on Wednesday, January 9, 2008, and witnessed a Fallen Comrade Ceremony as this screenshot shows:
(Source: Veterans for Common Sense website screenshot taken on Mon Aug 12 15:30:34 2024 UTC)
Lead Stories reached out to Walz's office for comment and will update this report, as appropriate, when one is received.
