WASHINGTON: The number of US troops injured by an Iranian missile strike in Iraq this month has risen to 64, according to new figures released by the Pentagon.

US President Donald Trump had initially said no Americans were hurt by the missiles fired on a base housing US soldiers in the country’s west on Jan 8. Democrats later accused Trump of trying to downplay the injuries.

The American personnel have been diagnosed with mild traumatic brain injury (TBI), Lieutenant Colonel Thomas Campbell, a Pentagon spokesman, said in a statement on Thursday.

The Pentagon said on Wednesday that 50 soldiers were injured in the Iranian strike on the Ain al-Asad base. The latest total is an increase of 14 on those numbers.

Iran fired on Iraqi bases housing US troops in retaliation for an American drone attack that killed Iranian commander Qasem Soleimani in Baghdad, raising fears of war.

Of those diagnosed with TBI, 39 troops have returned to duty, the Pentagon said, while the rest have either been sent back to the US, are waiting to be sent back or are currently being evaluated.

At the time of the strikes most of the 1,500 American soldiers at the Ain al-Asad base were in bunkers, after they were given advance warning from superiors.

The spotlight on brain injuries suffered by American troops in Iraq this month is an example of America’s episodic attention to this invisible war wound, which has affected hundreds of thousands over the past two decades but is not yet fully understood.

Unlike physical wounds, such as burns or the loss of limbs, traumatic brain injuries aren’t obvious and can take time to diagnose. The full impact physically and psychologically may not be evident for some time, as studies have shown links between TBI and mental health problems. They cannot be dismissed as mere headaches the word used by President Donald Trump as he said the injuries suffered by the troops in Iraq were not necessarily serious.

Defense Secretary Mark Esper said the Pentagon is vigorously studying ways to prevent brain injuries on the battlefield and to improve diagnosis and treatment. It’s possible, in some cases, that symptoms of TBI from the Iranian missile attack on an air base in Iraq on Jan 8 will not become apparent for a year or two.

William Schmitz, national commander for the Veterans of Foreign Wars, last week cautioned the Trump administration against taking the TBI issue lightly.

TBI is known to cause depression, memory loss, severe headaches, dizziness and fatigue, sometimes with long-term effects,” he said, while calling on Trump to apologise for his misguided remarks.

Rep. Bill Pascrell, Jr., a New Jersey Democrat and founder of the Congressional Brain Injury Task Force, faulted Trump for displaying a clear lack of understanding of the devastating impacts of brain injury.

When it announced earlier this week that the number of TBI cases in Iraq had grown to 50, the Pentagon said more could come to light later.

No one was killed in the missile attack, which was an Iranian effort to avenge the killing of Qassem Soleimani, its most powerful general and leader of its paramilitary Quds Force, in an American drone strike in Baghdad.

Published in Dawn, February 1st, 2020