Comment: UPDATE January 31

We're losing track of how many times the number has been revised. It seems American troops keep getting injured by that Iranian attack.

What were the Iranians using, time bombs?

Here's the latest revision:
The U.S. military has once again raised the number of U.S. service members who suffered traumatic brain injuries in Iran's missile strike on an Iraqi base earlier this month.

Pentagon spokesman Thomas Campbell said that as of January 30, "a total of 64 U.S. service members have been diagnosed with mild traumatic brain injury, or TBI."

In remarks that have angered many U.S. veterans groups, President Donald Trump initially claimed that no Americans were harmed in Iran's January 8 attack on the Ain al-Asad air base in western Iraq.

The military later said that 11 troops had suffered injuries, then raised it to 34 before saying on January 28 that 50 personnel had been injured.

Trump has downplayed the injuries, saying he "heard that they had headaches and a couple of other things."
This is the FIFTH time the Pentagon has revised its casualty estimate upwards since the airstrikes on January 8th...


al-asad airbase iraq iran airstrikes
© AP
The Pentagon said on Tuesday 50 US service members were now diagnosed with traumatic brain injury after missile strikes by Iran on a base in Iraq earlier this month, 16 more than the military had previously announced.

Donald Trump and other top officials initially said Iran's 8 January attack had not killed or injured any US service members.

"As of today, 50 US service members have been diagnosed" with traumatic brain injury, the Pentagon spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Thomas Campbell said in a statement about injuries in the attack on the Ain al-Asad airbase in western Iraq.

Symptoms of concussive injuries include headaches, dizziness, sensitivity to light and nausea.


Comment: "As of today..."

Who knows what tomorrow will bring? The situation is always... fluid. Dynamic narratives are always... shifting.

The inability of the top authorities in the NATO sphere to speak plainly about even the smallest things is why conspiracy theories, paranoia, hysteria and chaos in general are proliferating across the West.


Thirty-one of the 50 were treated in Iraq and returned to duty, including 15 of those diagnosed most recently, Campbell said.


Comment: Granted, that makes the injuries sound innocuous, but then why lie about it?


Eighteen of the total have been sent to Germany for further evaluation and treatment, and one was sent to Kuwait and has since returned to duty, he said.

"This is a snapshot in time and numbers can change," Campbell said.


Comment: See what we mean?

"Technically, we're not lying, because who really knows what is true from one moment to the next? My truth isn't necessarily your truth. Hey man, it's all relative!.."

And Western critics wonder why subjectivity reigns.


In its previous update on Friday, the Pentagon had put the number of those injured at 34.

Trump last week appeared to play down the injuries, saying he "heard that they had headaches and a couple of other things".


Comment: Bullshitter-in-Chief! Then again, he's just believing the Pentagon like everyone else.


That prompted criticism from a US war veterans group. William Schmitz, the national commander of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, said on Friday the group "expects an apology from the president to our service men and women for his misguided remarks."

According to Pentagon data, about 408,000 service members have been diagnosed with traumatic brain injury since 2000.


Comment: That is its own horror story, and we can only imagine that their social impact as they reintegrate (or try to) into normal life has amplified or 'anchored' the hysteria and paranoia spread top-down in the US.


Iran fired missiles at Ain al-Asad in retaliation for the US killing of Qassem Suleimani, a top Revolutionary Guards general, in a drone strike at Baghdad airport on 3 January.

The missile attacks capped a spiral of violence that had started in late December, and both sides have refrained from further military escalation.