The Pentagon has disclosed that 34 U.S. service members have been diagnosed with traumatic brain injuries due to the Iranian missile strike on U.S. forces in Iraq in early January. That's more than triple the number acknowledged earlier this week. On Wednesday morning, Donald Trump dismissed those injuries as "headaches and a couple of other things." He said he didn't "consider them serious injuries relative to other injuries I've seen."
That makes Trump's initial statement, given the morning after the airstrikes, particularly curious. "I’m pleased to inform you: The American people should be extremely grateful and happy no Americans were harmed in last night’s attack by the Iranian regime," he said then. "We suffered no casualties, all of our soldiers are safe, and only minimal damage was sustained at our military bases." So first it was zero, then it was 11, and now it's 34.
Among those with what Trump considers just minor injuries, CNN reports, nine are still being treated in Germany. Eight of them had to be evacuated to the U.S., where they're now being treated at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center or at their home base hospitals.