Slurred Position: Why Washington Provided Inaccurate Data on Victims of Iraqi Base Attack

For the second time, the US defense department updated the information on the number of victims of an Iranian missile strike on US military facilities in Iraq on January 8. According to the latest Pentagon data, 34 servicemen received traumatic brain injuries of varying severity (11 injuries were reported a week earlier).

Defense Ministry spokesman Jonathan Hoffman said eight of the US military are being treated in the United States, another nine in Germany, and 17 members of the US Army have already returned to their duties in Iraq.

The new data was released after Pentagon chief Marc Esper said on January 23 that he did not have information about the exact number of victims of the Iranian missile attack during a conversation with reporters.

A day earlier, US President Donald Trump, while on a visit to Davos, noted that “he heard that they (the victims. - RT ) have a headache,” and added that “nothing serious” threatens the health of American soldiers.

A number of American media, including The Washington Post, Vox, and The New York Times, criticized the Trump administration’s actions to assess the damage from the Iranian strike, and expressed indignation at the lack of accurate information on the number of victims.

To gallery page

In turn, Pentagon officials said they did not try to hide information about the damage actually caused or to underestimate the numbers. So, Jonathan Hoffman said that the US Secretary of Defense instructed the agency to review the entire process of collecting and providing information - in particular, it was about the facts of injuries by American soldiers.

“Our goal is to ensure transparency and provide the American people and our troops with the most accurate information possible,” said Hoffman.

However, some representatives of the American expert community did not like this excuse from the military leaders. So, on the pages of the political edition of Roll Call, which covers the activities of the US Congress, Cory Shake, the head of the department of foreign and defense policy research at the conservative American Institute of Entrepreneurship, noted that such restrictions on the dissemination of reliable information undermine the confidence of lawmakers in Mark Esper, appointed by Trump.

“This undermines Congressional confidence in the Secretary of Defense. He is either insincere or does a poor job, ”the publication cites the opinion of a political scientist.

Experts say that the significant difference between the initial data on the absence of victims (voiced by the US President) and the gradual emergence of information about more than 30 injured servicemen put the US Department of Defense in an awkward position.

“The first message testified that there were no casualties and injuries, and now it suddenly turns out that over 30 people were hospitalized - this looks rather strange from the point of view of the military department of any civilized country. Such statements are perplexing, therefore, the Pentagon is increasingly criticized by the American expert community and the media, ”Vladimir Batyuk, head of the Center for Military-Political Studies of the Institute of the USA and Canada of the Russian Academy of Sciences, said in an interview with RT.

Multiple versions

Recall that the attack on US military facilities in Iraq was preceded by the assassination of Iranian military commander Kassem Sulemaini, which the American armed forces carried out in early January. Then Donald Trump said that Sulemaini allegedly planned to organize an attack on four US diplomatic missions at once.

• US military in Iraq
• © DoD / Lt. Col. Adrian Weale / Handout via REUTERS

Pentagon chief Marc Esper and Marc Millie, head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, then said that the operation was necessary to prevent attacks on the US military in the Middle East.

Soon, however, the United States Secretary of Defense in an interview with CBS said he did not see any “concrete evidence” that would support Trump’s words about the upcoming attacks on diplomatic missions.

At the same time, Robert O'Brien, the adviser to the President of the United States on national security, was also unable to directly confirm Trump’s words about the four diplomatic missions, but noted that the president’s statement “matches” the data that the American intelligence services had. He added that even with the United States having “excellent intelligence”, it’s difficult “to accurately determine which targets may become targets.”

It is worth recalling that after a wave of criticism in the media regarding the unclear justification of the blow that killed Sulemaini, Trump even said that he “really doesn't matter” whether the Iranian general was preparing an attack on the objects of the United States, since its elimination was justified by his "terrible past."

US military experts note that such steps by the Trump and Pentagon administration negatively affect the level of confidence in the US armed forces and the country's top military leadership.

“During a crisis, it is urgent to bring clear and unambiguous information, not conflicting, misleading information; otherwise, the authenticity of your words will be called into question, ”David Rollan, retired colonel of the Marine Corps, who served as Pentagon spokesman for a long time, quotes Roll Call.

Slurred position

The Pentagon “has never been distinguished by the efficiency and accuracy of the information provided,” especially when it comes to providing it to citizens, said Andrei Koshkin, head of the Department of Political Science and Sociology at Plekhanov Russian Economic University, in a conversation with RT.

“It raises many questions for what reason the military department delayed the dissemination of this information. Most likely, this information-political position could somehow affect the reputation of the United States, or strengthen the success of Iran, ”the political scientist explained.

At the same time, the expert noted that the Pentagon’s conflicting public statements are largely “a reflection of US foreign military policy.”

“The US Congress has repeatedly pointed out earlier to Obama, and now to Trump, that Washington does not have a coherent policy on the Middle East region. Closed and open reports by the Pentagon, intelligence and other government agencies demonstrate that Washington does not have a clear understanding of the paradigm of the world order, with which it would be possible to build its own policy. A slurred position leads to the same slurred informing the world community about their actions, ”Koshkin emphasized.

Vladimir Batyuk also agrees with this assessment, noting that a certain confusion in the Pentagon’s statements was caused by the lack of a clear position as to why the US is not curtailing its presence in the Middle East. Justification for some of Washington’s actions, such as the removal of the Iranian military leader, raises no less questions.

“Obviously, the dissemination of false information is not so much a problem of the American military department as a policy problem that Washington pursues both in the Near and Middle East and in other regions,” the political scientist concluded.