Sen. Dan Sullivan (R., Alaska), a first-term senator and Marine, accused President Obama’s White House of "diminishing" the service of American troops in the Middle East and elsewhere.
Sullivan made the observation Wednesday when reacting to White House spokesman Josh Earnest’s comments on the Navy SEAL killed in combat by fire from ISIS while advising Kurdish forces in Iraq on Tuesday.
Defense Secretary Ash Carter has described the death of U.S. Navy SEAL Petty Officer 1st Class Charles Keating IV as a "combat death," which Earnest told reporters was accurate but insisted that the serviceman was not on a "combat mission."
Sullivan accused Earnest of peddling fiction.
"My deepest sympathy and respect goes out to the families and friends of the American service members recently killed in action. The White House continues to diminish the service and sacrifice of our troops serving in Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan and elsewhere by peddling the fiction that they are not engaged in combat," Sullivan said.
"Secretary of Defense Ash Carter and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Joseph Dunford have recently and unequivocally said they are. I appreciate their honesty," the senator continued, citing their recent remarks during hearings with the Senate Armed Services Committee, on which Sullivan serves.
Sullivan, who was elected to office in 2014, is an infantry officer and Lieutenant Colonel in the U.S. Marine Corps Reserves. He has served in active duty and the reserves for 21 years.
The Republican senator took particular issue with Earnest’s comment that "the relatively small number of U.S. service members that are involved in these operations are not in combat but are in a dangerous place."
"The president and White House spokesman Josh Earnest need to level with the American people and tell the truth about what our brave troops are doing in the Middle East--they are in combat, it’s not a ‘small number,’ and they are doing their duty trying to keep our country safe," Sullivan stated Wednesday.
Earnest has sought to emphasize that Keating was not on a combat mission when he died, even as Carter has clarified that the Navy SEAL died in combat.
"He was in a firefight and he died in combat, so let me be very very clear about that," Carter told reporters in Germany on Wednesday. "We are participants in this, and I just want to be clear. This young man found himself in combat, and sacrificed for this campaign’s success accordingly."
Carter first disclosed to reporters early Tuesday that an American serviceman had been killed in combat in Iraq. Later, Keating was identified as the Navy SEAL who died during an ISIS attack on Kurdish peshmerga forces near Mosul. Keating was hit by enemy fire from the terrorist group when advising the Kurdish troops.
Keating deployed two times to Iraq in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom and once to Afghanistan to support Operation Enduring Freedom before deploying again to Iraq in support of Operation Inherent Resolve.
The Navy SEAL was the third American serviceman killed in Iraq since the U.S.-led coalition began its operation against ISIS in the Middle East. Master Sgt. Joshua L. Wheeler, a special operations soldier, died during a raid of an ISIS prison last October, and Staff Sgt. Louis F. Cardin, a Marine artilleryman, was killed in an ISIS rocket attack at a newly-established fire base near Makhmour in March.