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U.S. says 50 troops now diagnosed with traumatic brain injury after Iran strike


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U.S. says 50 troops now diagnosed with traumatic brain injury after Iran strike

 

2020-01-29T010834Z_1_LYNXMPEG0S02P_RTROPTP_4_IRAQ-SECURITY.JPG

FILE PHOTO: U.S. soldiers inspect the site where an Iranian missile hit at Ain al-Asad air base, January 13, 2020. REUTERS/John Davison

 

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Pentagon said on Tuesday 50 U.S. 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.

 

President Donald Trump and other top officials initially said Iran's Jan. 8 attack had not killed or injured any U.S. service members.

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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.

 

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."

 

That prompted criticism from a U.S. war veterans group. William Schmitz, 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.

 

Iran fired missiles at Ain al-Asad in retaliation for the U.S. killing of a top Revolutionary Guard general, Qassem Soleimani, in a drone strike at Baghdad airport on Jan. 3.

 

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

(Reporting by Idrees Ali; Writing by Mohammad Zargham; Editing by Sonya Hepinstall)

 

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-- © Copyright Reuters 2020-01-29
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1 hour ago, Dcheech said:

This is Trumps MO. He started it, but the real costs and blowback yet to happen, he wants nothing to do with. He will ignore it, deny it, downplay it, or claim its nothing but fake news. Say what you will, this works, when you have a news./media outlet working in tandem to shape and massage the propaganda. 

 

"No one in this world, so far as I know — and I have searched the records for years, and employed agents to help me — has ever lost money by underestimating the intelligence of the great masses of the plain people. Nor has anyone ever lost public office thereby."

                                                            H L Mencken

 

 

Edited by Enoon
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Now these could be real and significant injuries.  However, I have to wonder how many have spoken to lawyers, especially after learning that the attack was known in advance and most people were moved out of direct blast harms way, but few if any were really told or warned about the imminent attack.  Sure during world war 2 there were many instances of troops not warned of impending attacks in order to keep the intelligence sources secret.  But that was during a full scale declared war.   I can foresee many lawsuits coming out of this.  I add I am ex US Air Force so I would like to side with the troops, but the numbers here seem unusual.  I was never shot at but I did get hazardous duty pay for working around live missiles, ordnance, propellants (hydrazine and nitrogen tetroxid, solid rocke motors, etc.)

Edited by gk10002000
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2 minutes ago, bristolboy said:

How low can you go? Innuendos of ambulance chasing? Really? Currently, members of the armed services can't even sue the military for medical malpractice. You seriously think that they can sue for injuries sustained during combat?  Can they even sue for injuries suffered because of friendly fire?

I am just posing the question.  So many "injuries" coming after the fact and in this day and age... You might be surprised about what legal options could be out there.  They were not in combat. 

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3 hours ago, sucit said:

I wonder how bad it is going to get when their actual retaliation arrives. 

That could happen in months or years to come probably no doubt to Trump or a member of his family in some way. The Iranian mind can harbour decade long grudges and a blood for blood revenge code of honour. Or they may consider it now closed and a show of their strength. It certainly put the Donald back in his cage after threatening 52 sites should they do anything. They did , he didn't. 

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10 minutes ago, gk10002000 said:

I am just posing the question.  So many "injuries" coming after the fact and in this day and age... You might be surprised about what legal options could be out there.  They were not in combat. 

So go ahead and surprise me with some actual evidence that soldiers can be sued for injuries suffered in combat. Good luck with that. And in the meantime you can feel really good about yourself for baselessly sliming US military troops in order to absolve Donald Trump of another instance of his dishonesty.

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4 hours ago, URMySunshine said:

That could happen in months or years to come probably no doubt to Trump or a member of his family in some way. The Iranian mind can harbour decade long grudges and a blood for blood revenge code of honour. Or they may consider it now closed and a show of their strength. It certainly put the Donald back in his cage after threatening 52 sites should they do anything. They did , he didn't. 

Of course. We have no idea of the world shaping blowback and death tolls that assassination may have caused at this point. 

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10 hours ago, bristolboy said:

So go ahead and surprise me with some actual evidence that soldiers can be sued for injuries suffered in combat. Good luck with that. And in the meantime you can feel really good about yourself for baselessly sliming US military troops in order to absolve Donald Trump of another instance of his dishonesty.

Hold your horses nit.  don't ever try to assert or assume what I am feeling.  I did not baselessly slime or imply anything about any US military troops nor did I mention nor imply anything about Donald Trump.  Those are your words and you are the one that clearly is running off on tangents.    As I said these troops were not in combat.  And as for troops suing for injuries, uh yeah, it happens quite often.  Ever hear of Agent Orange?  Defective gear or supplies that the military knew about but did not warn or instruct the troops, etc.  I suggest you do some research, Feres doctrine for example and the issue of negligence.  And the troops can bring action against DOD and other agencies such as the VA.  So don't be surprised if some of these troops are going out of their way to document or allege injury. 

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6 hours ago, IAMHERE said:

Wonder if this casualty count is to molify the Persians so they don't feel the need to fire off more missiles ?  

Many things are possible and nobody here has the real numbers or detailed information about the people or cases involved.   bristolboy thinks he knows all the answers.  I just pose questions just as you did.

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I think it’s the prudent course of action on the part of the troops to get it on record Incase they have problems later that beeing said I do worry about their careers if trump feels they embarrassed him in any way we all know how vindictive he is

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Drip, drip, drip, drip

 

That is how everything is done by this administration.  Make a false claim, get caught then change the claim, get caught lying and change it once again, keep it up until no one remember that the count went from zero, to 38, then to 50, wonder if it will hit 100 ?

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 1/30/2020 at 7:35 AM, Langsuan Man said:

Drip, drip, drip, drip

 

That is how everything is done by this administration.  Make a false claim, get caught then change the claim, get caught lying and change it once again, keep it up until no one remember that the count went from zero, to 38, then to 50, wonder if it will hit 100 ?

Well that didn't take long to go over my predicted number: 

 

Trump.png.7f8f472a775308425e3d196e96d022a4.png

 

 

Quote

A total of 109 US service members have been diagnosed with mild traumatic brain injuries since the Iranian missile attack on US forces in Iraq in early January.

President Donald Trump previously characterized the injuries as “not very serious,” prompting criticism from a leading veterans group that demanded an apology.

In an interview with Fox Business on Monday, the president doubled down, saying he wouldn’t change his mind.

The truth, you can't handle the truth Mr. President  

 

source: https://www.tvtnews.com/trump-says-he-wont-be-changing-his-mind-on-troop-brain-injuries/

 

 

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