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Andrew Feinberg
White House correspondent
Donald Trump is facing backlash for downplaying the traumatic brain injuries suffered by 109 US service members after an Iranian ballistic missile attack in 2020.
The Republican presidential nominee made the comments at a campaign press conference on Tuesday after a reporter asked him if he should have been “tougher” on Iran during his time in the White House in the wake of the attack that injured soldiers.
“First, wounded. What does wounded mean?” Trump replied. “You mean because they had headaches? Because the bombs never reached the fort.”
More than a dozen missiles struck Al-Asad Air Base in Iraq on January 8, 2020. No U.S. service members were killed but approximately 109 were diagnosed with traumatic brain injuries. Twenty-nine of the injured soldiers received Purple Hearts following the attack.
at that time, Trump tweeted: “Everything is fine!” – Apparently against the advice of his officials.
On Tuesday, Alyssa Farrah Griffin, a Pentagon spokeswoman during the Trump administration, said: Written on X The Department of Defense advised the White House in January 2020 to avoid saying that there were no casualties because “initial assessments are often wrong.” Later, US officials revealed that more than 100 soldiers had suffered brain injuries.
But Trump still repeated that claim on Tuesday, saying “no one was tougher on Iraq” than him — and appearing to conflate Iraq with Iran.
Lawmakers and veterans criticized the comments.
“This is Donald Trump: the man who called fallen American soldiers “suckers” and “losers,” the Arizona senator. mark kelly, navy veteran, He said. “A man who just rejected the sacrifices of injured service members when he was commander in chief. A man who should never have to bear that responsibility again.
During the vice presidential debate, Democratic candidate Tim Walz, an Army National Guard veteran, accused Trump of being a “volatile” leader.
“When Iranian missiles fell near American forces and they suffered brain injuries, Donald Trump saw it as a headache,” Walz said.
A former congressional candidate in Kentucky and a Marine Corps veteran Amy McGrath wrote on X: “Trump is of course criticizing Vice President Harris in some way over the recent Iranian attacks. But let us remember that Iran shot down an American drone in 2019, and what did Trump do? Send a tweet. When Iran attacked our forces and caused brain injuries, Trump described it as a “headache.”
Veterans called for Harris Trump’s comment, “One of the worst comments Trump has ever made.”
“As the words and actions of the Abbeygate Gold Star families demonstrate, President Trump’s record of supporting military service members, veterans and their families stands in stark contrast to the dangerous support for military service members, veterans and their families,” Brian Hughes, a senior adviser to the Trump campaign, said in a statement. Liberal and weak record for Kamala.
“President Trump has rebuilt our military and expanded support for our veterans to have a strong position in the world and the peace and stability that comes with that strength, and he is the only candidate who will put veterans and military families first in a second term.”
He claimed that Harris and Biden’s “weakness” had “led to war in the Middle East and Ukraine,” “the brink of war in Asia” and “more war in the rest of Europe.”
Editor’s Note: This article has been updated to include a response from the Trump campaign
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