Former President Donald Trump doesn’t appear concerned he might have been too easy on Iran after they injured dozens of U.S. military members with rockets fire under his watch.
While his Vice Presidential candidate was mid-debate on Tuesday, Trump was giving a press conference at which he was asked to reflect on the current conflict in the Middle East, and if he thought he’d he should have been harder on Iran after Tehran-launched rockets bombarded over 100 troops stationed in Iraq over a three-hour period in 2020.
After the attack, the Pentagon said 109 soldiers were treated for traumatic brain injuries. Trump, then commander-in-chief, downplayed those injuries as nothing more than headaches, and on Wednesday he doubled down.
“So, first of all — injured — what does injured mean? Injured means, you mean, because they had a headache? Because the bombs never hit the fort. So, just so you understand, there was nobody ever tougher in Iraq,” the 45th President said.
The 2020 attack came after Trump’s unilateral decision to assassinate Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani. According to the former president, Iran’s attack was something they had to do in response to the killing of their general. The Iranians warned Trump of the attack he said.
“None of those very accurate missiles hit our fort, they all hit outside and there was nobody hurt other than the sound was loud. Some people said that hurt, and I accept that. But they told us that they were going to do this and that they weren’t going to hurt,” Trump said.
Trump said Iran chose to miss U.S. forces, and indicated it was “nice” of the Islamic Republic.
“Of the 18 rockets that were launched, six of them self-destructed, 12 of them — approximately 12 of them — arrived. And when they arrived, very accurate rockets, missiles, and when they arrived they missed the fort. But they had to do that, and I thought it was a very nice thing, because they didn’t want us to retaliate again. But I was the one that started that. Okay?” Trump said.
According to the 45 President’s former Secretary of Defense, Mark Esper, it was not “nice” of Iran to cause so many serious injuries to U.S. troops.
“That’s obviously not accurate,” Esper told CNN.
Immediately following the attack, Esper said it seemed as if U.S. forces had escaped unharmed, but that over time service members self-reported as casualties. Esper described those troops as “the unseen casualties of war.”
“We had dozens, I think over 100, cases reported, and several were very serious traumatic brain injuries,” Esper said.
“It was quite a traumatic night,” he said.
The Harris-Walz campaign said Trump’s repeated “headache” assertion is just further proof he should not be allowed to lead the U.S. military.
“As U.S. troops are in the Middle East supporting Israel in the face of Iran’s attacks, Donald Trump is insulting injured service members. He is unfit to be Commander-in-Chief,” Harris-Walz 2024 National Security Spokesperson Morgan Finkelstein said in a statement.
