Survivors of the deadly attack by Iran in Kuwait are disputing the Pentagon’s description of the events, saying that their unit was left dangerously exposed when six service members were killed and more than 20 wounded on March 1.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth had described the lethal drone as a “squirter” — in that it squirted through the defenses of a fortified unit inside Kuwait.
“Painting a picture that ‘one squeaked through’ is a falsehood,” one of the injured soldiers told CBS News. “I want people to know the unit … was unprepared to provide any defense for itself. It was not a fortified position.”
That service member spoke on the condition of anonymity because of rigid media restrictions.
About a week before the launch of Operation Epic Fury, most service members in Kuwait were relocated to other positions in Saudi Arabia and Jordan, further out of Iranian missile range.
But for several dozen members of the Army’s 103rd Sustainment Command at a major U.S. base south of Kuwait City, there were a different set of orders: pack up everything and relocate to Port of Shuaiba, a small outpost off Kuwait’s southern coast.
Several soldiers said they questioned why they were stationed so close to Iran. One soldier said they saw intelligence showing the post was on a list of potential Iranian targets.
The Attack:
In the hours before the attack, incoming missile alarms had signaled to a crew of about 60 troops to take cover in a cement bunker while a ballistic missile flew overhead. But around 9:15 a.m., an all-clear alert sounded. Officers removed their helmets and returned to their desks in the wood and tin workspace, about the width of three trailers.
About 30 minutes later, everything shook. One soldier said, “Your ears are ringing. Everything’s fuzzy. Your vision is blurry. You’re dizzy. There’s dust and smoke everywhere.”
“Head wounds, heavy bleeding, lots of perforated eardrums, and then just shrapnel all over, so folks are bleeding from their abdomen, bleeding from arms, bleeding from legs.”
It was a direct hit on the building, which was erected before modern drone warfare, with steel reinforced sides built to resist shrapnel or the blast of a mortar, but nothing to protect it from an aerial attack.
“It was chaos,” another injured soldier described.
Several soldiers disagreed with Hegseth’s portrayal of the events.
“It’s not my intent to diminish morale or to disparage the Army or the Department of War more holistically, but I do think that telling the truth is important and we’re not going to learn from these mistakes if we pretend these mistakes didn’t happen,” one soldier said.
Asked if this attack was preventable, the soldier added: “In my opinion, absolutely, yes.”