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<\/a>Ain al-Asad airbase following Iranian missile strike<\/p><\/div>\n
CNN initially reported that there were only casualties among Iraqi personnel but then quickly dropped the story altogether, initially\u00a0stating \u201cAfter days of anticipation, Tehran\u2019s zero-casualty retaliation came as a relief to many. (1) At the time, Iranian officials\u00a0maintained that the US had suffered least 80 dead and perhaps 200 wounded in the attack.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n That story is slowly unwinding to indicate something very different, with various Middle East media reporting multiple casualties,\u00a0and statements from the US Central Command directly contradicting Trump\u2019s comments.<\/span><\/p>\n First, Al-Qabas, a leading Arabic-language newspaper in Kuwait reported that after the attack 16 US servicemen had been flown in\u00a0secrecy and \u201cunder tight security\u201d to a US military hospital at Camp Arjifan in Ahmed Al-Jaber Air Base in Kuwait, and that the men\u00a0were clearly suffering from severe burns and shrapnel wounds. Al-Qabas further reported that all had undergone surgery but\u00a0remained in the ICU at the hospital (2) (3).<\/span><\/p>\n The paper later reported that another 8 casualties had been flown to Germany for treatment, with more to Camp Arjifan, and that\u00a0many others with more minor injuries were being treated in Iraq. These flights were confirmed by the Pentagon, stating the\u00a0soldiers had been flown to Germany and Kuwait for screening of \u201cpotential concussion injuries\u201d and \u201cpossible brain injuries\u201d and\u00a0suffered in the attack.<\/span><\/p>\n But then it seemed that every week the casualty list enlarged, now at 50 and still counting.<\/strong> In keeping with the US government\u2019s\u00a0war on truth, the US Central Command said, \u201cit is possible additional injuries may be identified in the future\u201d, apparently\u00a0committing themselves to the political safety of drip-feeding fatalities and injuries on the pretense of them being unrelated.<\/span><\/p>\n Nevertheless, the US continues to inflate the number of troops diagnosed with \u201ctraumatic brain injuries\u201d caused by Iranian missile\u00a0strikes.<\/span><\/p>\n It seems perhaps politically expedient but humanly bizarre for Trump to have claimed, \u201cI heard that they had headaches and a\u00a0couple of other things, but I would say and I can report it is not very serious\u201d, adding that he didn\u2019t \u201cconsider them serious injuries\u00a0relative to other injuries I\u2019ve seen.\u201d (4)<\/span><\/p>\n Then, Brigadier General Ali Hajizadeh, a senior commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard, stated in a press conference that\u00a0although Iran was not directly seeking to kill American soldiers, \u201cat the very least, many tens of US troops have likely been killed\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n He said if deaths had been his intention, Iran\u2019s missiles could have killed at least 5,000. He went on to document that the\u00a0casualties from that attack \u201cwere transferred to Israel and Jordan on 9 sorties of C-130 flights\u201d. The C-130 Hercules is a huge\u00a0aircraft that can carry 100 passengers or 75 fully-equipped troops, so 9 flights would represent at least several hundred casualties.<\/span><\/p>\n Nevertheless, that military operation was described as merely \u201ca slap in the face\u201d to the US, and that \u201ca harsher revenge\u201d would\u00a0soon come. (5)<\/span><\/p>\n Ali Hajizadeh also claimed that Iran had identified more than 100 critical US locations across the entire region, should the US\u00a0\u201cmake any mistake again\u201d. Reports are that Iran targeted the Ayn Al-Assad air base because it holds the highest number of US\u00a0troops in Iraq, but also because that is the base location of the American Reaper drones.<\/span><\/p>\n It is interesting that the casualties were experienced on a major American airbase equipped with the Patriot missile defense\u00a0system, and that the Americans received ample warning (more than 6 hours) of the impending attack from several sources<\/strong> \u2013 the\u00a0Danes, the Swiss authorities, and the Iraqi government. Danish soldiers said on Danish TV that they were give a 6-hour warning of\u00a0the attack by the Iranians and shared this information. (6) (7)<\/span><\/p>\n In spite of what one writer termed \u201calmost ideal conditions from the point of view of defense\u201d, the Americans appear to have\u00a0miserably failed in their ability to protect themselves. It isn\u2019t clear how or why American soldiers would have incurred so many\u00a0casualties, and especially brain damage from an attack they knew was coming. (8)<\/span><\/p>\n After the Saudi Aramco attacks, and after failing to even identify much less intercept the Iranian missiles in Iraq, it appears that\u00a0the Patriot missiles are indeed what Foreign Policy termed \u201ca lemon of a missile defense system\u201d. 9Reports are that not even one\u00a0Patriot missile was fired in defense against the 15 incoming missiles.<\/span><\/p>\n Researchers at the Defense and Arms Control Studies Program at MIT performed a detailed study of all available video evidence of\u00a0the use and effectiveness of the American Patriot missile system and stated there was \u201cno unambiguous evidence\u201d that Patriot\u00a0missiles destroyed even one incoming missile. It stated that \u201cThe videos instead contain substantial evidence that Patriot\u2019s\u00a0success rate was very low, possibly even zero\u201d. (9)<\/span><\/p>\n Several troops to whom CNN spoke, said the event had shifted their view of warcraft: the US military is rarely on the receiving end\u00a0of sophisticated weaponry, despite launching the most advanced attacks in the world. \u201cYou looked around at each other and you\u00a0think: Where are we going to run? How are you going to get away from that?\u201d said Ferguson. \u201cI don\u2019t wish anyone to have that\u00a0level of fear,\u201d he said. \u201cNo one in the world should ever have to feel something like that.\u201d (1)<\/span><\/p>\n On January 13, 2020, the Pentagon replied to a FOIA request from US Congressman B. G. Thompson on the casualties and damage\u00a0sustained by the US in the Iranian missile attack.<\/strong> You can read his reply in the attached photo, but he stated the US military had\u00a0incurred 139 deceased, 146 injured, and \u201cextensive damage to 15 helicopters, 2 cargo aircraft and 3 MQ-1 Predator drones\u201d. He\u00a0further outlined \u201cextensive damage\u201d to the base command center, hangars and barracks, the aircraft control tower and the runways.<\/span><\/p>\n He said further that \u201cinitial assessments indicate mentioned damages will cause \u201ctotal impairment\u201d \u2026 of air base activities for at\u00a0least 3 weeks.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n I want to make a request here. I don\u2019t mean to tease you, but this is a trick question. Please read the above paragraph again, and\u00a0identify what is to you the most important point.<\/span><\/p>\n * An elected US Congressman \u2013 the US Government in fact \u2013 had to resort to a\u00a0Freedom of Information Request to learn the facts of a critical adventure experienced by his own military \u2013 a request that could\u00a0easily have been refused on grounds of \u2018national security\u2019.<\/span><\/p>\n Thompson is not only an elected Congressman but the Chairman of the\u00a0Department of Homeland Security, not a trivial position by any measure, and yet his personal requests for information must have\u00a0been refused if he were forced to resort to FOIA for an answer.<\/strong> Who is the servant and whom the master? On this one metric\u00a0alone, on what grounds can you rebut the double assertions that (1) the US government is not in control of the US and, (2)\u00a0democracy in America is a dead corpse wearing a Disneyland shroud?<\/span><\/p>\n When the Taliban in Afghanistan claimed to have shot down an American military aircraft in Ghazni, Afghanistan, the US initially\u00a0denied the event, then, after clear and graphic images were posted publicly, admitted the loss of a Bombardier E-11A plane. The\u00a0US at first disclaimed knowledge of the number or identity of the crew or passengers, then claimed only two occupants, later\u00a0revised to 6 after more photos emerged. Russian intelligence sources almost immediately claimed that American Michael D\u2019Andrea\u00a0was killed in that crash, the aircraft apparently serving as his mobile command post in Afghanistan. (10)<\/span><\/p>\n D\u2019Andrea was a prominent figure, the head of Iran operations for the CIA, and the man who orchestrated the assassination of\u00a0Iranian General Qassem Soleimani as well as other targeted murders. The New York Times claimed D\u2019Andrea had overseen\u00a0hundreds of drone strikes which \u201ckilled thousands of Islamist militants and hundreds of civilians\u201d. The US government has officially\u00a0denied his death and has refused requests to display him in public, which almost certainly means the claims of his death are\u00a0accurate.<\/span><\/p>\n It was also speculated that Iran organised the downing of that aircraft, having previously provided considerable anti-aircraft\u00a0hardware and training to the Taliban, and not being without intelligence sources of their own. Several Iranian journalists posted\u00a0comments on social media that \u201cthe name of Iran will emerge in this case\u201d, and \u201cWe are attacking them on the same level as they\u00a0are attacking us.\u201d An Italian reporter, Fabio Giuseppe Carlo Carisio, first published in Italy the news of D\u2019Andrea having been killed,\u00a0stating \u201cThe news is so big that we have to write it running the risk of a denial\u201d. (11)<\/span><\/p>\n *<\/span><\/p>\n Forward this article to your email lists. Crosspost on your blog site, internet forums. etc.<\/span><\/p>\n Larry Romanoff<\/em><\/strong> is a retired management consultant and businessman. He has held senior executive positions in international\u00a0consulting firms, and owned an international import-export business. He has been a visiting professor at Shanghai\u2019s Fudan\u00a0University, presenting case studies in international affairs to senior EMBA classes. Mr. Romanoff lives in Shanghai and is currently\u00a0writing a series of ten books generally related to China and the West. He can be contacted at: 2186604556@qq.com<\/a>. He is a frequent contributor to Global Research.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n Video: Trump Calls Upon Iran: \u201cWe Should Work Together\u201d<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n Notes<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n (1) https:\/\/edition.cnn.com\/2020\/01\/13\/middleeast\/iran-strike-al-asad-base-iraq-exclusive-intl\/index.html<\/a><\/p>\n (2) https:\/\/www.middleeastmonitor.com\/20200120-16-us-soldiers-flown-to-kuwait-hospital-after-iran-strike\/<\/a><\/p>\n (3) \u0661\u0666 \u062c\u0646\u062f\u064a \u0623\u0645\u0631\u064a\u0643\u064a \u064a\u0639\u0627\u0644\u062c\u0648\u0646 \u0641\u064a \u0623\u062d\u062f \u0627\u0644\u0645\u0633\u062a\u0634\u0641\u064a\u0627\u062a \u0628\u0627\u0644\u0643\u0648\u064a\u062a \u0645\u0646 \u0623\u0635\u0627\u0628\u0627\u062a \u062e\u0637\u064a\u0631\u0629 \u0648\u062d\u0631\u0648\u0642 \u0634\u062f\u064a\u062f\u0629 \u0646\u062a\u064a\u062c\u0629 \u0627\u0644\u0647\u062c\u0648\u0645 \u0639\u0644\u0649 \u0642\u0627\u0639\u062f\u0629 \u0639\u064a\u0646 \u0627\u0644\u0623\u0633\u062f\u060c \u0648\u062a\u0631\u0627\u0645\u0628 \u064a\u0642\u0648\u0644 \u0644\u0645 \u064a\u0635\u0628 \u0623\u062d\u062f\u060c \u0648\u0645\u0627 \u062e\u0641\u064a \u0623\u0639\u0638\u0645 pic.twitter.com\/w2JnUp1ZgZ; \u2014 \u062f. \u0635\u0644\u0627\u062d \u0627\u0644\u0641\u0636\u0644\u064a (@salahfadly) January 19, 2020<\/p>\n (4)https:\/\/t.co\/anmIdCHO6a pic.twitter.com\/boSjvDujCS<\/p>\n (5) https:\/\/www.middleeastmonitor.com\/20200124-the-truth-about-us-casualties-in-the-iran-attack-is-slowly-coming-out\/<\/a><\/p>\n (6) https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/article\/us-iraq-security-denmark\/denmark-had-six-hours-warning-of-iranian-attack-on-iraqi-bases-tv-idUSKBN1Z91O1<\/a><\/p>\n (7) https:\/\/edition.cnn.com\/2020\/01\/13\/middleeast\/iran-strike-al-asad-base-iraq-exclusive-intl\/index.html<\/a><\/p>\n (8) https:\/\/www.unz.com\/tsaker\/u-s-in-the-middle-east-preparing-for-disaster\/<\/a><\/p>\n (9) https:\/\/foreignpolicy.com\/2018\/03\/28\/patriot-missiles-are-made-in-america-and-fail-everywhere\/<\/a><\/p>\n (10) https:\/\/www.middleeastmonitor.com\/20200128-cia-chief-behind-soleimanis-assassination-killed-in-downed-plane-in-afghanistan\/<\/a><\/p>\n (11) pic.twitter.com\/7Da2jmkHug; Veterans Today, January 28, 2020<\/p>\nIran Retaliates in Afghanistan<\/strong><\/h2>\n