Trump Administration will award Purple Hearts to 29 Soldiers

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Trump administration will award Purple Hearts to 29 soldiers who suffered injuries from an Iranian missile strike on an Iraqi airbase earlier this year, in spite of Donald Trump previously downplaying the attack and resulting injuries. On Monday, the US Central Command confirmed in a statement that 6 of the military decorations reserved for soldiers wounded or killed due to enemy action and awarded by the president had been sent to soldiers stationed in Iraq and Kuwait earlier this week. The Purple Hearts were “approved for injuries sustained” during the strike that took place on 8 January. Centcom spokesperson Commander Zachary Harrell described the event as an Iranian ballistic missile attack in the statement.

He said the remaining 23 awards would be distributed throughout the week. Trump downplayed the attack from the very beginning, initially claiming there were no injuries involving US soldiers. President said during a televised address on the night of the attack, he said, “I am pleased to inform you, the American people should be extremely grateful and happy. No Americans were harmed in last night’s attack by the Iranian regime. We suffered no casualties. All of our soldiers are safe, and only minimal damage was sustained at our military bases”. He later refuted the fact that 110 service members were diagnosed with traumatic brain injuries, referring to them as headaches at a news conference at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

President said about the injuries sustained by US soldiers and said, “No, I heard that they had headaches, and a couple of other things, but I would say, and I can report, it’s not very serious”. A reporter pushed Trump on the subject at the time, asking the president in response to his statement: “So you don’t consider potential traumatic brain injury serious?” The president shot back at the reporter, insisting that he was only told about the injuries numerous days later, he added, “You’d have to ask the Department of Defense. I don’t consider them very serious injuries relative to other injuries that I’ve seen. I’ve seen what Iran has done with their roadside bombs to our troops. I’ve seen people with no legs and with no arms. I’ve seen people that were horribly, horribly injured in that area”.