February 28, 2020
The Pasdaran are boasting that they killed 109 American troops in their January missile attack on Iraq, alleging that the 109 soldiers and airmen the US says were injured are actually dead.
“The word ‘dead’ in the US lexicon has been changed to ‘traumatic brain injury,’” said Brig. Gen. Ramezan Sharif, a spokesman for the Pasdaran.
Sharif said the Pentagon’s assessments “conceal their damages and toll of our attack” January 8 on Ain al-Asad Air Base in western Iraq. Iran targeted the base in retaliation for the assassination of Maj. Gen. Qassem Soleymani.
Sharif’s statement February 11 is the latest iteration in a series of conflicting claims by the Pasdaran. It first claimed to have killed 80 Americans in briefings just after announcing the missile attack. Later, it said it didn’t kill anyone and hadn’t intended to kill anyone, although how one could fire 15 missiles into a military base with the intent of not killing anyone was left unexplained.
Over the weeks, Pasdar officers have alternated between claiming to have inflicted great bloodshed and proudly asserting they were not interested in killing anyone.
Some think the fluctuating statements reflect uncertainty among officials over whether Iran has responded strongly enough to the killing of Soleymani. Some Pasdar generals have said the missile attack was Iran’s response; others have said it was just the start of Iran’s response.
Sharif asserted that Iran would continue to exact revenge from the US and its ally Israel for killing Soleymani. (There is no evidence that Israel was involved.)
“Rest assured that the assassination of General Soleymani will make the US and Israel leave the region,” Sharif said.
The day before Sharif spoke, the US Defense Department announced the number of US troops in Iraq who suffered from concussions or TBI had increased to 109. Of those, 76 have returned to duty, indicating their injuries were perceived as minor. But 33 remain under treatment one month after the attack. Subsequently, one more was added to the list bringing the total to 110.
Army Gen. Mark Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, in a press conference January 30 said that the injuries so far have all been classified as “not serious,” and “mild TBI,” both the least severe rating of injury in military practice. He noted the department’s increased efforts to highlight the effect of brain injuries over the last decade and said the soldiers affected by the January 7 strike would be monitored for treatment for the rest of their lives.
The brain injuries are concussions caused by the warheads of the missiles exploding near the bunkers where the US troops were housed and causing air pressure to rise suddenly.
As to Ramazan’s claim that the injured are actually dead, that is simply not possible. Unlike most countries, including Iran, the Pentagon announces the names, not just the numbers, of US military dead—both combat and non-combat—in a weekly release that gives hometowns. Names are widely published in local media. If families saw a dead loved one’s name was not reported, there would be a scandal. The US military has released the names of the dead ever since the Civil War, 160 years ago.