Friday, January 24, 2020

Pentagon Says 34 Troops Diagnosed With Traumatic Brain Injury After Iran Missile Strike



The Guardian: Pentagon says 34 US soldiers suffered traumatic brain injury in Iran strike

Thirty-four US soldiers have been diagnosed with concussion or traumatic brain injury from an 8 January Iranian missile attack on their base in Iraq, the Pentagon has revealed.

The Pentagon spokesman, Jonathan Hoffman, said on Friday that eight service members who had been previously transported to Germany had been moved to the United States.

Donald Trump had previously said that the US “suffered no casualties” from the attack, which was a reprisal for the US drone strike assassination of the Iranian general Qassem Suleimani.

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More News On The Pentagon Now Saying That 34 Troops Have Been Diagnosed With Traumatic Brain Injury After Iran Missile Strike

34 U.S. soldiers suffered traumatic head injuries in the Iranian missile strike on American bases in retaliation for killing Soleimani - as Trump brushes it off as 'just headaches' -- Daily Mail
Pentagon: 34 US troops had brain injuries from Iran’s strike -- AP
Dozens of US troops suffered traumatic brain injuries after Iran missile strikes -- The Hill
U.S. says 34 troops diagnosed with traumatic brain injury after Iran strike -- Reuters
Iran raid left '34 US troops with traumatic brain injuries' -- BBC
34 US troops suffered traumatic brain injuries after Iran strike -- Al Jazeera
34 US troops suffered brain injury in Iran’s revenge strike for Soleimani’s killing – Pentagon -- RT

14 comments:

RussInSoCal said...

There are 4 types of traumatic brain injuries; concussion, contusion (bruise), penetrating and anoxic (lack of oxygen).

These are likely concussions, which are not unserious. I've had one. But they are not major injuries.

Why is it that I'm getting the distinct odor of another political hit on Trump - for killing QS - then of course be at fault for the actions of the Iranians and the injuries to our soldiers. Just like the shooting down of the Ukrainian airliner - Trump's fault there too.

Get the soldiers their medical care. They will recover. If the injuries are serious, we will likely see one or more of them on US Media describing his trauma.

My feeling is that these soldiers do not blame the president and are eager to get this behind them and get on with their lives. Not to be used a pawn to attack President Trump.

Anonymous said...

Concussive injuries during war, never heard of it.

Roger Smith said...


This situation is clouded by contradictory reporting so far. As usual.

Anonymous said...

The biggest reason it's contradictory is reporters trying to use it for a narrative.

B.Poster said...

Russ,

You're essentially spot on about concussions. I've had one of these too. It's definitely serious but a full recovery would generally be expected. In fact, 17 of them have already returned to duty in Iraq. Essentially Iran lost a key general, key brain, and integral part of the government in Salami. This isn't the type of trade they can afford to repeatedly make.

Anonymous said...

This sounds like an average Sunday in the NFL..

fazman said...

The thing is Trump needs to keep his mouth shut and not promise retaliation etc if u. S personal or property is hit.

Bob Huntley said...

,,,

B.Poster said...

The appropriate responses will come in time. Iran lost an integral part of their government and military. Iran cannot afford this type of trade in a confrontation. Trump is very patient and cunning. On top of this Iran's leadership faces internal problems that we have nothing to do with.

I'd also point out that criticism of America for this action has been very muted compared to what it could be. Additionally Iran's chief allies of Russia and China could've done much to hurt us in the wake of this action. Thus far they haven't. All we've really seen is some tepid critiscsm.

I think many are coming to the reality that as long as Trump is POTUS. Iran isn't going to get nuclear weapons. They are adjusting to this reality and behaving accordingly.

Bob Huntley said...

Poster

It could be that China and Russia have influenced Iran to cool its typical response, especially the inflammatory rhetoric pending some thing.

Perhaps it is to await the outcome of the impeachment activities, or, the upcoming 2020 election.

It could be that Trump is now so toxic in practically every country on the planet (except Russia, Saudi Arabia, Israel, and maybe Turkey) that it is time to be cool and let the negatives play out.

Something that perhaps might help such as the disastrous tariffs Trump has been threatening European countries with. Rather than negotiate, Trump chooses to threaten a trade war. Never mind that the tariffs would be against allies and lead to a trade war.

As we have seen, Trump sees only one option, give in to him of face the tariffs and a possible trade war, because he can’t see any other option.

That’s a sure sign of an ignorant perhaps deranged person especially one that heads a prowerful country.

B.Poster said...

I've thought about your take on this. Very respectfully I disagree. As I am busy with family matters now and will be busy wirh this for the rest of this evening and much of tomorrow I will be unable to address this tonight.

Will try and address it fully tomorrow sometime. Suffice it to say if the democrats and western Europeans are running the template you lay out, I think the the democrats will lose badly in the next US election.

For now, Japanese leadership is seeking closer relations with Anetica specifically Trump. This hardly seems toxic. I'll try and address further tomorrow.

B.Poster said...

Bob,

Paragraph 1: I don't think so. Russia and China have typically been the best in the world at using the media. As their ally, Iran has bgg enefited from this. Now they can't even get their messaging right regarding the downed Ukrainian plane or even what they were trying to accomplish with the attack on Iraq. It's as though they're flailing about. This is uncharacteristic of them. It's almost as though the Russians and Chinese have abandoned them. Factually Russia has been distancing themselves from Iran for sometime. I'm sure you recall Russia's failure to sell Iran the S400. Iran is even having trouble hiding it's TRUE genocidal nature. The media simply isn't pushing the Iranian narrative to the extent they used to or still could. So, I don't think this is a case of Iran's allies telling them to cool their rhetoric unless they are now enemies of them.

Paragraph 2: Judging by the actions of the world's most powerful people they aren't expecting Trump to be impeached. If they expected impeachment, they'd have told him to stay away. If they expected him to lose in 2020, they'd have invited him but with a less prominent role. The fact that he was front and center with a leading role suggests the world's most powerful people expect his reelection. Additionally the editor's contacts in China tell him the leadership is reconciled to Trump's reelection. This is corroborated by their signing of phase 1 of the trade deal. If they're not expecting his reelection, they don't sign anything now.

Then we have the stock market. In response to impeachment it has steadily climbed. If they expected impeachment, it'd tank. If they thought he might not be reelected, they'd be holding tight. The fact that the gains have been unabated in response tells me they are expecting his reelection. As such, the policies of tax cuts and regulatory reforms are expected to continue. I could go on with this. I will try and address the rest later.

RussInSoCal said...

Good post, B. Can't add much.

Bob Huntley said...

Poster

Thank you for you interesting response. Sorry for taking so long to respond.

What you have said is basically the flip side of my comments. By now all and sundry know that whatever I say can often be refuted with logic. I stand by my comments that were inspired by the following.

In the couple of days following the downing of the passenger plane, for numerous reasons Iran initially stonewalled their responsibility. That was because initially they really didn't know or believe the specifics of what happened. Eventually the truth was released. Such a circumstance could happen anywhere and would receive the same kind of non information release in the early days following.

Nevertheless the resultant announcement and give and take posturering was totally unlike previous Iranian positions. Something caused them to react in that manner. If they had issued press releases as they normally do, threatening all and sundry, perhaps there would be a hot war right now. Ergo, I believe they got and heeded advice from other major countries, as did Trump who normally reacts badly to anything.

At this point Trump has been impeached (as in indicted) but is probably immune from the job loss part of the equation, due mainly to the already and publicly stated predisposition of certain members of the Senate to disregard the letter and spirit of the Oath they are required to take. Such bragging in the face of a very serious charge and pending "trial" by members of the court without consequence, provides even more evidence that the USA from Constitutional and law abiding perspectives is on a downward slide. How will that affect other nations? Well they know if Trump gets off they will just have to hunker down and wait out a second term before, and hopefully after someone with a sense of justice and integrity become President. If you haven't noticed the key nations of the world are laughing at him.

Trump deals with other countries in a mob mafioso manner imposing punishing trade embargoes and imposed tariffs on other countries with absolutly no consideration for the impact it has, such as creating trade wars, and/or could have on the citizens of America. Accordingly no country leader in his/her right mind would "like" that kind of treatment or in this case President of the USA. Trump is not an admired leader of a world power and will be treated accordingly if he continues to distance America from the rest of the world.

So China, a country that generally plans for the long term finally signed a document covering stuff agreed upon a year and a half ago but delayed for whatever reasons they could come up with. A document that is subject to ratification. China is currently up to its neck in medical issues right now and will likely put off, with all manner of expressions of regret, ratification and implimentation of the deal for a couple/few months and rightly so. Then maybe if Trump is elected more negotiations will likely have to take place, and on and on.

The illusive stock market that was climbing, (perhaps on the hope of Trump becoming impeached?) is really the realm of the super wealthy, the wealthy, and lots of wannabee hopefuls in the US and is currently, for whatever reason(s), in the process of tanking. Obviously it is being blamed on the health conditions in the world but maybe it is because the investors have finally realized that Trump might not be impeached and are therefore bailing.