US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth accused a US congressman of spreading “falsehoods” regarding the fortification of US bases in Kuwait during the US’s Operation Epic Fury against Iran, at a US Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on Thursday.
Representative Patrick Ryan of New York scrutinized Hegseth regarding an Iranian drone attack that killed six US Army Reserve soldiers in early March, stating that before the attack, US military personnel knew that they were in a vulnerable position.
According to Ryan, the base had “no counter-drone capabilities, no counter-rocket systems, no counter-mortar or counter-artillery.”
Ryan quoted a survivor of the attack who stated that the targeted base was “unprepared to provide any defense for itself.” Another survivor stated that “the building's protection was about as weak as one gets.”
Hegseth claims thousands of troops moved from potential targets
Hegseth countered, claiming that before the initiation of Operation Epic Fury, US bases in the region were “put in maximum defensive posture,” a statement Ryan decried as a direct contradiction to the testimonies of US troops present at the time of the attack.
Hegseth interrupted Ryan, asking, “Can I speak, or are you just going to monologue falsehoods all over the place?” He then asserted that, based on intelligence, 7,500 troops were moved off bases that were at risk of being targeted by Iranian retaliatory attacks.
“There's a much larger picture at play here that included integrated air defenses, bunkers…. We moved those troops, and all across the theater, thousands of troops off the X, off of their bases, because we knew what Iran was going to try to strike,” Hegseth continued, describing the deadly strike as a “tragic moment” and the “consequence of conflict.”
Ryan encouraged Hegseth to take responsibility for the incident. “Telling the truth is important, and we're not going to learn from these mistakes if we pretend these mistakes didn't happen,” he quoted another survivor of the attack as stating.
Ryan concluded his speaking time by pushing Hegseth to take accountability for the incident and “resign immediately.”