October 8, 2021
The White House under Donald Trump wanted so much to avoid being pressured by the American public to confront Iran militarily that it pressured the Pentagon to hide the extent of injuries to American troops caused when Iran fired several missiles at a base holding Americans in Iraq in retaliation for the US assassination of Maj. Gen. Qasem Soleymani. Alyssa Farah (photo), who was the Pentagon spokesperson at the time, said she fended off White House pressure to stop issuing repeated updates on how many service personnel had been injured by the missiles, a number that eventually passed 100.
