Members of the U.S. military and international media survey the damage of Iranian missile attacks at Al Asad Air Base, Iraq, Jan. 13, 2020. Alaska Air National Guardsmen of 211th Rescue Squadron evacuated many squadron members during the Jan. 7 and 8 attack. (Photo courtesy of the U.S. Department of Defense)

WASHINGTON — Former President Donald Trump said Tuesday that U.S. troops who suffered traumatic brain injuries after Iranian rocket fire in Iraq in 2020 only experienced a “headache,” dismissing the experiences of dozens of American soldiers who were later awarded the Purple Heart.

Trump’s comments came after a reporter in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, asked whether he should “have been tougher on Iran” after that nation launched ballistic missiles on Al-Asad Air Base in western Iraq in January 2020, during Trump’s presidency. A couple thousand U.S. troops remain on an anti-ISIS mission at the Iraqi air base, one of the largest during the U.S. invasion.

“First of all, injured, what does injured mean? Injured means, you mean, because they had a headache because the bombs never hit the fort?” Trump responded.

“If you were a truthful reporter, which you’re not, you would tell the following: None of those very accurate missiles hit our fort. 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,” Trump continued.

Trump added that Iran did “a very nice thing” by missing the military base. Photographs taken after the attack show extensive damage on the base.

U.S. troops at the base, that housed roughly 2,000 soldiers at the time, were given notice to shelter in bunkers. The missiles carried warheads weighing well over 1,000 pounds, leaving impact craters that spanned several feet wide, according to CBS News’ “60 Minutes” and The Washington Post.

While no troops were killed in the attack, hundreds were exposed to blast waves, and many were evacuated to Germany for medical care. Weeks later, more than 100 troops were diagnosed with traumatic brain injuries. Dozens were eventually awarded the Purple Heart, including one retired major interviewed by States Newsroom in May.

Soldiers described lasting effects from those injuries as including chronic migraines, vertigo, short-term memory issues and vision impairment.

Trump’s comments Tuesday came as he took questions from the press after delivering wide-ranging remarks at a campaign event at the Discovery World Science Museum on the city’s lakefront.

The reporter did not identify herself before asking her question. Trump’s remarks were recorded in full by the local Fox affiliate and live streamed by the Trump-focused YouTube channel “Right Side Broadcasting Network.”

Details of attack

This is not the first time Trump has downplayed the soldiers’ experiences and injuries stemming from that specific attack.

Iran fired 16 ballistic missiles at the air base and another Iraqi military site between Jan. 7 and 8, 2020. Roughly a dozen landed, according to reports. The attack was in retaliation for a U.S. strike days earlier in Baghdad that killed top Iranian commander Qassem Soleimani.

The 2020 attack on the base has been well documented. Images taken by photographers with National Public Radio and The Washington Post showed damaged buildings on the base. The New York Times and The Associated Press compiled video footage and compared satellite images before and after the attack.

CBS News’ “60 Minutes” aired drone footage of the attack and first-hand accounts from troops who described the experience in a nearly 14-minute news package for the television magazine program.

The National Institutes of Health collected medical data from nearly 40 soldiers for months after the attack and found persistent symptoms following concussions.

Military installations that still house U.S. troops in Iraq have been the target of Iranian attacks following the outbreak of violence on Oct. 7 when the Hamas militant group, one of Iran’s allies, launched a deadly surprise incursion into southern Israel, sparking a year-long war that has also drawn in Iranian-backed Hezbollah militants, according to the Pentagon.

Former Green Bay Packers quarterback Brett Favre, seen here in an NFL photo from 2006, announced in congressional testimony that he has Parkinson's disease, possibly related to his many concussions. He was discussing a scandal in Mississippi involving the transfer of millions of dollars in funds meant for poor families to help pay for a volleyball stadium that was a pet project of Favre. Getty Images photo. (Mark Konezny | NFLPhotoLibrary)

In a moment that sent shockwaves through the sports world, Hall of Fame quarterback – and Green Bay Packers legend – Brett Favre revealed that he was suffering from the neurological disease known as Parkinson’s. In front of a U.S. congressional committee, Favre was testifying about a business scandal that has dealt his reputation a major blow in recent years. Favre had been the top investor in a drug company called Prevacus. The shady firm was handed $2 million in welfare funds from the state of Mississippi. In July, Prevacus’ founder Jacob VanLandingham confessed to using this welfare money to pay his gambling debts and pled guilty to wire fraud. Favre has been blamed for also profiting from this theft, a charge he strongly denies.

Favre’s congressional testimony produced emotional whiplash as, within his opening remarks about this grubby caper, he revealed his shattering diagnosis. “Sadly, I also lost an investment in a company that I believed was developing a breakthrough concussion drug I thought would help others,” Favre said. “And I’m sure you’ll understand why it’s too late for me, because I’ve recently been diagnosed with Parkinson’s. This is also a cause dear to my heart.”

The announcement, while tragic and shocking, was also not surprising. Parkinson’s disease can be spurred by excessive blows to the head, traumatic brain injuries, or repeated concussions. Perhaps the most prominent sufferer of Parkinson’s was the boxer who late in his career took punches like no other: Muhammad Ali. Favre played football like the older Ali: repeatedly pummeled yet always coming back for more. No one is close to Favre’s record 297 games started in a row. That’s not just a number for quarterbacks: that’s all players. In Favre’s time, unlike today, shots to the QB’s head or driving him into the turf was legal and lauded. In a 2018 Today Show interview, Favre says that while playing, he was diagnosed with “only” three or four concussions but also commented, “When you have ringing of the ears, seeing stars, that’s a concussion. And if that is a concussion, I’ve had hundreds, maybe thousands, throughout my career, which is frightening.”

There will be apologists for the game who will no doubt say that one cannot “blame football” for Favre’s condition. They sound like the tobacco company executives disavowing any connection between smoking and lung cancer. In a wide-ranging survey produced by Boston University, the forefront institution on concussion research, people who suffered traumatic brain injuries were 61% more likely to develop Parkinson’s. That is staggering. The National Football League and their feckless commissioner Roger Goodell would be wise to get in front of this, to not play the role of clueless tobacco executive, and speak to the league’s funding efforts to find new treatments. They should articulate how they are trying to make the game safer. They should take accountability for the fact that their sport can have horrific outcomes.

This announcement could also mark an inflection point for Favre. For even his most die-hard fans — and he has legions — it has been exhausting to laud this person as any kind of athletic hero. He has, under a bright public eye, displayed myriad flaws. There were the pill addictions, the attempted infidelities, and now most shamefully, accusations that Mississippi’s favorite son was stealing funds meant for the state’s poorest residents. But Favre always kept a loyal following from people – particularly in Wisconsin – who will always appreciate how he laid it all on the line week after week with a boyish, daredevil grin. They adore the player more than the man, but when these categories inevitably spill over, they are fine with the contradictions because he has their hearts: his flaws are just part of what makes him human. 

Now Favre gets to be the suffering saint of football: a great quarterback brought down by the game he played like a little kid in the backyard. He can be a receiver of sympathy instead of a source of shame. Favre will undoubtedly be offered support from all corners. If there is one thing we have learned about Parkinson’s, even with new treatments being developed, he is truly going to need it. 

This commentary is published as a joint project of the Wisconsin Examiner and The Progressive magazine.