WASHINGTON – Congressman Pat Ryan (D, NY-18) and 14 other Democratic lawmakers who are military veterans are calling on the President Donald Trump administration to provide what they describe as timely and accurate information about U.S. service members killed and wounded during the war with Iran.
In a letter sent to the administration, the lawmakers said they were concerned by reports that the Department of Defense removed the names of four U.S. troops from the official Iran war death toll before later restoring them.
“As veterans of America’s wars, we have serious concerns about reports that the Department of War is delaying, removing, or otherwise mischaracterizing the release of information about wounded and killed U.S. servicemembers,” the lawmakers wrote.
The letter states that the U.S. government “owes U.S. servicemembers, their families, and every American the truth about all U.S. casualties in the War with Iran” and urges the administration to release timely and accurate information about military deaths and injuries while explaining any changes to casualty reports.
The lawmakers said the Defense Department restored the names of the four service members to the official casualty list after they had been removed. The administration has not publicly explained why the names were initially omitted, according to the letter.
The letter was also signed by Reps. Mike Thompson of California, Seth Moulton of Massachusetts, Chris Deluzio of Pennsylvania, Derek Tran of California, Jimmy Panetta of California, Ted Lieu of California, Maggie Goodlander of New Hampshire, Eugene Vindman of Virginia, Chrissy Houlahan of Pennsylvania, Jason Crow of Colorado, Bobby Scott of Virginia, Salud Carbajal of California, Gil Cisneros of California and Jared Golden of Maine.
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