A man who served in the military with Democrat vice presidential nominee Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz says that Walz was aware his unit would deploy to Iraq before he decided to retire in 2005 despite some claiming that he had no idea about the upcoming deployment.
Allan Bonnifield, who supports the Democrat vice presidential pick, has told multiple reporters that Walz’s decision to retire weighed heavily on him because he knew his unit was going to deploy.
According to MPR News, Bonnifield, who met Walz in 1999, said in a 2018 interview that Walz debated focusing on a run for Congress or staying in the National Guard.
MPR News reported:
“He weighed that decision to run for Congress very, very heavy,” Bonnifield said. “He loved the military, he loved the Guard, he loved the soldiers that he worked with, and making that decision was very tough for him. Especially knowing that we were going on another deployment to Iraq. He didn’t take that decision lightly at all.” [Emphasis added]
Bonnifield also told a News Nation reporter on Thursday that accusations that Walz retired to avoid a deployment were “bullshit” but then confirmed that Walz knew an upcoming deployment for the unit was an “inevitability”:
Bonnifield says the entire unit was convinced it was an inevitability that they WOULD be deployed to Iraq soon. They hadn’t been given the orders to deploy yet. But Bonnifield says they, Walz included, assumed it was coming:
“He told us that he wanted to run for Congress, and he was in a tough spot, because he was pretty sure we were going to Iraq. We didn’t have orders. We didn’t have any kind of orders at all. At this time, he was pretty sure we were going, and he was in a position that pretty sure meant we were going.”
4/8 Here’s where it gets more nuanced. Bonnifield says the entire unit was convinced it was an inevitability that they WOULD be deployed to Iraq soon. They hadn’t been given their orders to deploy yet. But…