Recall that Donald Trump initially announced that no troops had been hurt in the Iranian bombing on January 8th in retaliation for the assassination of Iranian terrorist Suleimani. Later reports indicated troops did suffer injuries, but Trump minimized them as “headaches,” and said that the injuries were not severe. Severe injuries were things like lost arms and legs.

The Pentagon clarified today that a total of 34 U.S. troops have been diagnosed with traumatic brain injury suffered during the Iranian missle strike. Half of those troops have returned to their military duties, with 17 still under medical care and observation.

The update was provided by Pentagon chief spokesman Jonathon Hoffman. It certainly was not provided by Donald Trump.

Hoffman said that of the 34 with TBI, 18 were evacuated from Iraq to U.S. medical facilities in Germany and Kuwait, and 16 stayed in Iraq. Seventeen of the 18 evacuees were sent to Germany, and nine remain there; the other eight have been transported to the United States for continued observation or treatment.

God bless them.

The fact that eight have been transferred to the United States for observation and treatment evidences that these heroes suffered far more than the “headache” minimized off-handedly by the Commander in Chief.

Trump’s goal in the initial annoncement must have been to emphasize that he could assassinate Suleimani without consequences to the United States, that Trump’s action wasn’t reckless, nor a dangerous attempt to wag the dog.

The decision to take out Suleimani may or may not have been the right one. But it certainly did come with a cost, no matter how badly Trump wants us to think differently. We owe our heroes the acknowledgment of their sacrifice, not a flip of the hand.

****

Peace, y’all

Jason

[email protected] and on Twitter @MiciakZoom