Pete Hegseth Halted US Efforts to Limit Civilian Deaths Ahead of Iran War |
Truthout is a vital news source and a living history of political struggle. If you think our work is valuable, support us with a donation of any size.
Iranian authorities say the U.S. and Israel killed more than 1,300 civilians, striking over 10,000 civilian sites during the first 12 days of the war. This comes as Israel escalates attacks on Lebanon, killing at least 570 since the war began and displacing nearly 800,000 people. As President Trump dodges questions on how long the war will continue, reporting by Akbar Shahid Ahmed, senior diplomatic correspondent for HuffPost, has revealed that “a lot of the experts on international law, the laws of war, international humanitarian law have quietly been leaving the Trump administration.”
This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
AMY GOODMAN: Iran has accused the U.S. and Israel of killing more than 1,300 civilians and striking over 10,000 civilian sites during the first 12 days of the war. U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth described Tuesday as the “most intense day” of U.S. attacks on Iran to date.
Israel is also escalating its attacks on Lebanon, killing at least 19 people today, bringing the total to at least 570 since the war began. Nearly 800,000 people have been displaced in Lebanon. Earlier today, Israel struck a high-rise apartment building in central Beirut.
Meanwhile, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said it launched overnight its “most intense and heaviest operation” targeting Israel, as well as U.S. allies in the Gulf. The New York Times reports that Iranian strikes over the past 12 days have damaged at least 17 U.S. sites so far, including military bases and key air defense infrastructure. On Tuesday, a drone attack hit a major U.S. diplomatic compound in Baghdad, Iraq. The Pentagon has also revealed 140 U.S. troops have been injured, in addition to the seven U.S. service members killed. Another service member has also died.
Reports Say Up to 150 American Troops Injured in Just 10 Days of Iran War
On Tuesday, Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal spoke to reporters after receiving a classified briefing on the war.
SEN. RICHARD BLUMENTHAL: I emerged from this briefing as dissatisfied and angry, frankly, as I have from any past briefing in my 15 years in the Senate. I am left with more questions than answers, especially about the costs of the war. My questions have been unanswered, and I will demand answers, because the American people deserve to know. And I guess I am most concerned about the threat to American lives of potentially deploying our sons and daughters on the ground in Iran. We seem to be on a path toward deploying American troops on the ground in Iran to accomplish any of the potential objectives here.
SEN. RICHARD BLUMENTHAL: I emerged from this briefing as dissatisfied and angry, frankly, as I have from any past briefing in my 15 years in the Senate. I am left with more questions than answers, especially about the costs of the war. My questions have been unanswered, and I will demand answers, because the American people deserve to know. And I guess I am most concerned about the threat to American lives of potentially deploying our sons and daughters on the ground in Iran. We seem to be on a path toward deploying American troops on the ground in Iran to accomplish any of the potential objectives here.
AMY GOODMAN: We begin today’s show with Akbar Shahid Ahmed, senior diplomatic correspondent for HuffPost. His recent piece is headlined “Israel Is Applying ‘Gaza Logic’ To Lebanon — With Trump’s Blessing.” He’s also reported on how the Pentagon, under Pete Hegseth, has slashed teams meant to limit civilian casualties. His upcoming book titled Crossing the Red Line: Biden, His Advisors, and Israel’s War in Gaza.
Akbar, thanks so much for being with us again. I want to start off with this piece you wrote, “Before Trump Bombed Iran, Pentagon Slashed Teams Meant To Limit Civilian Casualties.” Explain.
AKBAR SHAHID AHMED: Absolutely, Amy. There’s been a real effort in the U.S. government, through the kind of post-9/11 moment, through the catastrophes in Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, Syria, to try to learn some lessons from that experience, to think, “Why does the U.S. end up in these situations where it has these huge strategic goals, it says it’s going to remake the Middle East, promote democracy, promote civility, and instead you see continued chaos and often backlash?” And a big focus of that has been: How do we make the U.S. less damaging toward civilians? How do we try to uphold international law and also reduce the impression that the U.S. is cavalier about the lives of those abroad?
That’s been a bipartisan effort. It actually continued even through Trump one into the Biden administration, which made several steps. It set up teams within the Pentagon, within combatant commands at low levels that were doing things like red teaming, which is assessing whether a strike is proportionate, or having investigations of U.S. military operations and actually publishing reports about how many civilians were killed. Pete Hegseth comes into office January 2025, and you see the Trump administration systematically start to destroy that.
So, what my sources have........