Comment: First the Pentagon said there were 'zero casualties'. Then early reports about some 200 injured US troops being flown to Israel for treatment were retracted as 'fake news'. Then they admitted 11 casualties. Now, just over weeks later, the Pentagon has increased that number to '34', and 'promises to review how it reports injuries'...
Comment: In other words, they themselves realize how dodgy this all is.
Eight of the troops diagnosed with traumatic brain injury as a result of the attack have been transported to the United States where they will receive treatment as outpatients at either their home stations or at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Maryland, said Jonathan Hoffman, the Pentagon's chief spokesman. Seventeen of the 34 have returned to duty at al Asad since their diagnoses, he said.
The Pentagon's announcement Friday marked at least the third official adjustment to the number of troops injured when Iran launched 11 ballistic missiles into al Asad as retaliation for the U.S. drone strike Jan. 3 in Baghdad on Iran's most powerful military official, Maj. Gen. Qassem Soleimani, the commander of its elite Quds Force. The base in western Iraq's Anbar province hosts the largest American force in that country - some 1,500 U.S. and allied troops.
Comment: In short, it's a cover-up.
A couple of possible reasons for it: reporting injuries up front would have made it politically difficult for the US to 'de-escalate' and instead have fueled demand for retaliation.
Alternatively, the US sought to downplay the effectiveness of the Iranian military by presenting its airstrikes as a 'miss', and thus preserving perception of American 'invincibility'.
Either way, military casualties is a REALLY sensitive topic in the US...
Here's a reminder of what at least some US personnel saw up close that night: