Pentagon Pete Hegseth Shamelessly Tries to Hide Trump’s War Casualties - The Daily Beast
The Daily Beast reports that the Pentagon has reorganized its casualty database, effectively obscuring the true human cost of the conflict with Iran. Critics argue the move is a deliberate attempt to hide casualties under new, less transparent categories.
Why it matters
Transparency in military reporting is essential for public accountability and democratic oversight of foreign conflicts.
The Pentagon has quietly cooked up a way to obscure the grim human cost of President Donald Trump’s war with Iran.
The Pentagon sparked outrage when it removed the names of four U.S. service members killed in Iranian strikes last week, along with dozens of wounded troops, from its war casualty database .
Pentagon spokesmen blamed the missing records on “temporary data disruptions” and suggested they would be quickly fixed.
But on Sunday, the four fallen soldiers and other wounded troops reemerged in the database under a new category—“Overseas Operations”—which is labeled for “casualties starting July 7th, 2026.”
The new category muddies the public accounting of the casualties, which he launched on February 28 and dubbed “Operation Epic Fury.”
The Pentagon’s casualty database now lists 14 deaths and 417 wounded under “Operation Epic Fury.”
It lists four deaths and 207 wounded under “Overseas Operations.”
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