Murphy takes fight against Iran war to Middle East 

Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), this past week took his fight against the Iran war to the Middle East, seeking to expose damages caused by the conflict that he has repeatedly accused the Trump administration of trying to cover up. 

Murphy, who sits on the powerful Senate Foreign Relations and Appropriations committees, traveled to Qatar and Saudi Arabia, where he met with high-level officials and saw firsthand the “extraordinary” damage to the U.S. embassy in Riyadh caused by a drone attack in early March, he told reporters in a call Thursday.

But there was one place he said he was barred from entering during his Congressional Delegation trip: Al Udeid Air Base, Qatar, the largest U.S. military installation in the region that houses up to 10,000 troops. Iran has repeatedly attacked the base since the Trump administration began its war on Iran on Feb. 28. 

Murphy, an outspoken critic of the Iran war, says the Pentagon has barred him and other lawmakers from accessing the base or even meeting with defense officials in the region in a deliberate attempt to hide the true toll of the nearly eight-month conflict.

“They are using every tool they can, including withholding information about damages, slow-walking the pace of reports about casualties and denying us access to see the damage as part of a campaign of cover-up, so as to mask the true cost of the war,” said Murphy, who asked to access the base with a formal written request as well as speaking personally with U.S. Central Command head Adm. Brad Cooper prior to the trip. 

The rejection is notable as he said it marked the first time in Murphy’s 20-year career on Capitol Hill that he was barred from accessing a military base to conduct oversight. He pointed to his travels to Iraq and Afghanistan at the height of each war in both countries as a stark contrast. 

“I was flown by the military to a forward operating base in Afghanistan at the very moment that base was under attack by the Taliban. Why? Because it’s Congress that decides whether to fund a war or whether to defund a war, whether to authorize a war, and we........

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