Cpl. Joel Valdivia scanned the sky. It was a little after 1:30 in the morning on Wednesday; for hours, he and the thousands of other personnel in Iraq’s Asad Air Base had been warned of an impending Iranian attack in retaliation for a U.S. drone strike that killed Gen. Qassem Suleimani.
“It was miraculous,” said Lt. Col. Staci Coleman, 49, who commands the 443rd Air Expeditionary Squadron, in an interview.Coleman, a one-time meteorologist from New York City’s Washington Heights, was still in the bunker when one of her subordinates gave her the all-clear and told her there had been no losses in the latest encounter between the U.S. and Iran in an increasingly volatile Middle East.When she heard that, she added, “it was like I just got light.
The vigilance was not misplaced. The start of the year had been marked by heightened tensions with Tehran. On Jan. 3, the U.S. had tracked down a flight carrying Suleimani, head of Iran’s Quds Force, an elite branch within the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, and killed him as he left Baghdad airport. Killed alongside him was Abu Mahdi Muhandis, a top Iraqi militia leader. Iran and the dozens of Iraqi paramilitary factions it supports vowed revenge.
The cruise missile drilled into the concrete floor of Scarecrow Compound, leaving a more than 12-foot crater. The explosion pushed a pair of T-walls crashing on top of a “duck-’n-cover bunker” a scant 10 yards from the blast site. A fire broke out, raging through the service members’ belongings like kindling.
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US troops clear rubble from Iraq base days after Iran strikeU.S. troops are clearing rubble and debris from a military base housing American soldiers in western Iraq, after it was struck last week by Iranian ballistic missiles in retaliation for the U.S. slaying of Gen. Qassem Soleimani. Time to leave As the death toll for Americans rise - watch Trump's approval rating nosedive. This renewed unification of American hatred is on Trump's hands. This did not NEED to happen and probably wouldn't have if Trump OBEYED the LAW and went to Congress. Instead let's LIE to EVERYONE. Watch for the fingers
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U.S. troops clear rubble from Iraq base days after Iran strikeDebris was cleared from a base housing U.S. soldiers in western Iraq on Monday, days after it was struck by a barrage of Iranian ballistic missiles.
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Iran strike could irreparably harm U.S.-Iraq relations'Iraqis do not want to be the arena for another US-Iran confrontation. They also don’t want to necessarily hand over their country to Iran, and that’s how a lot of Iraqis feel, that their country has been taken over by Iran.' - Kim Ghattas stop spreading FEAR over and over I think Iran harmed Iran period. The US did nothing wrong at all. Iran is dangerous has been as history tells us the protests in Iran I hope they change the top men and more sensible peace loving people head their govt I always have felt they want domination over its neighbors and take them over the world should wake up Sanctions?
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Former GOP Rep. Justin Amash says Trump 'sells troops,' White House 'made up' Iran threatThe independent Michigan congressman joined several Republican lawmakers in blasting the strike on Iranian general Qassem Soleimani without Congress' approval. Actually Mad King Donald said that. We are now the Hessians Cow Dung !!
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