Pete Hegseth’s Department of “War” has worked with the mainstream corporate media to downplay the damage that Iran is carrying out against U.S. military bases in the Gulf region, and against U.S. and Israeli assets.
In a March 11 article, “How Badly Has Iran Damaged U.S. Military Bases” RT reports that the following twelve U.S. bases and associated buildings have been struck by Iranian missiles and drones, often more than once. The list includes: Naval Support Activity, Bahrain (headquarters of U.S. Fifth Fleet, which has been struck at least twice); Manama, Bahrain (multiple hotels housing U.S. troops); Erbil International Airport [US base adjoining airport]; Muwaffaq Salti Air Base, Jordan; Ali Al-Salem Air Base, Kuwait; Camp Buehring, Kuwait; Camp Arifjan, Kuwait; Mohammed Al-Ahmad Kuwait Naval Base, Kuwait; Al Udeid Air Base Qatar; Al-Dhafra Air Base, UAE; Jebel Ali Port, UAE; Prince Sultan Air Base, Saudi Arabia.
Iran has been blinding the U.S. military and crippling its THAAD missile defense network, by focusing on taking out crucial radars. On the first day of the war, an Iranian Shahed drone slammed into an AN/TPS-59 radar dome at Naval Support Activity in Bahrain, obliterating the $300 million system. Installed in 2007, the radar was described by Lockheed Martin at the time as “the only 360-degree coverage mobile radar in the world certified to detect tactical ballistic missiles.”
Radar domes were also destroyed at Camp Arifjan and Ali Al-Salem Air Base in Kuwait, and at Al-Dhafra in the UAE, according to satellite images and video footage. RT reports, “At Al-Udeid Air Base in Qatar, a $1 billion AN/FPS-132 early warning radar installation, one of only six worldwide, was hit by an Iranian ballistic missile on February 28, according to Qatar’s defense ministry.”
Without radar equipment, U.S. and Israeli defenses against incoming missiles and drones are vastly degraded.
Except for a fragmented report here or there, the Pentagon, its CENTCOM, and the media have kept the Western world in the dark. The U.S. is not “overwhelmingly winning the war” as Trump and his administration may claim, but is caught in a trap. Shock and awe did not overwhelm Iran, leaving the U.S. fighting a war for which it has no final vision for victory.