WASHINGTON — Former President Donald Trump’s defense secretary, Mark Esper, on Wednesday pushed back on Trump’s claims that the dozens of U.S. troops who sustained traumatic brain injuries in a 2020 ballistic missile strike in Iran just had “headaches.”
“That’s obviously not accurate,” Esper said flatly in a CNN interview.
The former defense secretary recalled the events of the attack, which took place on Jan. 8, 2020, when Trump was president. At least 109 U.S. soldiers were injured after Iran dropped missiles on the Al-Asad Airbase in Iraq.
“Our troops defended extraordinarily well,” said Esper. “But over time we came to learn, as troops did self-reporting … that we had I think dozens, over 100 cases reported, and several were very serious traumatic brain injuries.”
His comments come a day after Trump scoffed at the idea that any American troops were injured in the 2020 attack. The Republican presidential nominee was asked about it during a campaign event in Wisconsin, in light of Iran launching missiles at Israel earlier Tuesday.
“So, first of all, ‘injured.’ What does injured mean? Injured means, you mean, because they had a headache?” Trump said to a reporter. “Because the bombs never hit the fort.”
After claiming “there was never anybody tougher on Iraq” than him — and mixing up Iraq with Iran — Trump appeared ruffled by the idea that he wasn’t “tough enough” on Iran at the time and boasted that none of Iran’s missiles hit the fort that day.
“They all hit outside, and there was nobody hurt other than the sound was loud, and some people said that hurt, and I accept that,” he added.
Trump similarly dismissed how badly U.S. troops were injured in the weeks after the Jan. 2020 attack, saying the Americans hurt that day “just had headaches.”
A traumatic brain injury, which is caused by an outside force like a powerful bump or blow to the head, is nothing like a regular headache. Some types can lead to short-term problems with brain function, like how a person thinks, acts or communicates. More serious cases can lead to severe disabilities and even death.
Esper said Wednesday that traumatic brain injuries are “a new harm” the U.S. military has come to understand better from the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. He recalled visiting a soldier at a military hospital a couple months after the Iranian attack and listening to his experience, calling it “quite a traumatic night.”
“Large blasts, much like were experienced in the ballistic missile attack in Al-Assad, can create traumatic brain injuries,” he said. “They’re unseen, if you will, casualties of war.”
