President Donald Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth at dignified transfer of US soldiers' remains
A survivor of the Iranian drone attack on a U.S. military facility in Kuwait, where six Americans were killed, has revealed that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth lied about the incident.
In comments to CBS News, the whistleblower backs up previous reporting about the vulnerabilities of the facility, which run contrary to Hegseth’s statement that the attack got past fortifications.
The survivor, who remains anonymous to avoid possible retaliation from the administration, told CBS that he believes that the deaths were “absolutely” preventable.
In a press conference after the attack, Hegseth told reporters that the drone attack was a “squirter” that hit a “fortified” tactical operations center. But the whistleblower says this isn’t true.
When asked by CBS what fortifications were in place, he replied, “I would put it in the ‘none’ category, from a drone defense capability … none.”
One of the injured surviving soldiers also denied that the operations center was fortified.
“I want people to know the unit … was unprepared to provide any defense for itself. It was not a fortified position,” the soldier told CBS.
The account backs up previous reporting about inadequate protection at the facility. The area hit by the drone was not in compliance with the Army’s counter-drone manual, which requires steel reinforcements to protect against drone attacks.
Meanwhile, in his efforts to sell the American public on the Iran war, Hegseth has spent far more time complaining about reporters than addressing safety concerns. He has repeatedly claimed that U.S. forces hold the upper hand, minimizing the severity of Iran’s responses. But officials have explained that Hegseth is painting a far rosier picture than the reality on the ground.
For instance, Hegseth claimed that Iran had “no air defenses.” Several days later, a U.S. jet was shot down, and the pilot had to be rescued.
In another episode, he insisted that families of fallen servicemembers urged him to “not stop until the job is done.” But Charles Simmons, the father of slain Tech Sgt. Tyler H. Simmons, told NBC News that did not happen.
The whistleblower’s allegations are further evidence undermining the disastrous war, which the Trump administration has still failed to justify.
Reprinted with permission from Daily Kos
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