U.S. Troops Were Harmed by Iranian Attack. (We Still Shouldn't Go to War With Iran.)
Plus: encryption battles, the Nordic equality myth, and more...
U.S. troops were injured in Iranian missile attack. The Pentagon is now reporting that 11 members of the American military were harmed when Iran retaliated for the killing of Qassem Soleimani. They suffered concussions and were sent to hospitals in Kuwait and Germany to be screened for traumatic brain injury.
It was initially reported that the strike—on two Iraqi military bases that house U.S. troops—did not harm any Americans, though four Iraqi soldiers were wounded.
"No Americans were harmed in last night's attack by the Iranian regime," said President Donald Trump on January 8, the morning after the attack."We suffered no casualties—all our soldiers are safe and only minimal damage was sustained at our military bases."
That turns out to have been false.
"While no U.S. service members were killed in the Jan. 8 Iranian attack on Al Asad Air base, several were treated for concussion symptoms from the blast and are still being assessed," said Navy Capt. Bill Urban of U.S. Central Command in a January 16 statement. "As a standard procedure, all personnel in the vicinity of a blast are screened for traumatic brain injury, and if deemed appropriate, are transported to a higher level of care."
Unlike the Trump administration's claims about foiling an "imminent attack" (which grows more and more dubious by the day), there's nothing so far to suggest a deliberate discrepancy between Trump's initial assessment of harm and the Pentagon's new report. Alas, some people are taking it as a cue to call for war.
Strikes me the crux of the Iraq injuries story is not the pentagon mislead. These injuries emerged only after the fact. But that the Iranian missile strike was a nearer miss than advertised.
This raises two Q's: did Iran really mean to miss? Was the US right not to respond?
— Jim Sciutto (@jimsciutto) January 17, 2020
FREE MINDS
https://twitter.com/mmasnick/status/1217897487320485888
FREE MARKETS
"Minding the Nordic Inequality Gap." The Nordic countries are widely seen as feminist utopias. People are perpetually ranking Sweden, Norway, Denmark, and Finland as the best place for women and/or for gender equality, and a new survey from U.S. News & World Report finds this unchanged. But perception and reality differ. "Although Nordic nations lead the rest of the world in qualitative, perception-based metrics, the reality in many of these labor markets is that men often dominate management and STEM professions while women find themselves isolated to support roles," writes Andrew Soergel.
"Sweden is a very gendered labor market," Anneli Häyrén of Sweden's Centre for Gender Research at Uppsala University told U.S. News.
QUICK HITS
- The Women's March has lost its luster.
- "A Memphis police officer will receive $3,600 a month for the rest of his life, even though he had a sexual relationship with a woman he was investigating in a murder case," reports Reason's Zuri Davis.
- Jay-Z is fighting for better treatment for Mississippi prisoners.
- A bill to decriminalize prostitution has been introduced in Vermont.
I can't say enough about how exciting it is to see @RepPressley stand up for vulnerable people. It takes courage. This stance came from what happens when you have the strength to truly listen - we should all be so lucky to have a Rep like this. https://t.co/qSFG8goDK2
— Kate (@KateDAdamo) December 18, 2019
- Trump gets chastised by the Government Accountability Office over his withholding of military aid from Ukraine.
- A new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention "confirms that black markets, not 'vaping,'" caused an outbreak of illnesses last year, writes Michelle Minton of the Competitive Enterprise Institute.
- Trump's trade war brings more bad news for U.S. wine makers.
- Missouri lawmakers go after librarians.
- Michael Bloomberg, in his own words.
- Watch Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D–Hawaii) win a pushup contest:
One of those memorable New Hampshire Primary moments: @TulsiGabbard challenged to a push-up contest at a Manchester Town Hall. She wins. #nhpolitics #fitn #wmur pic.twitter.com/bW2i7p28Ty
— Jean Mackin (@JeanWMUR) January 17, 2020
