00:01Something unprecedented happened during my trip to the Middle East, and that is this.
00:05I have been denied total access to U.S. military facilities in the region, in particular in Qatar, the Al
00:13-Udeed Air Force Base, which is one of our biggest and most important facilities in the region.
00:17I have been to the Middle East probably a dozen times at least.
00:21Well, I have been a member of Congress.
00:23I have never, ever been denied access to military facilities.
00:28This is part of a coordinated, deliberate campaign by the Department of Defense to try to hide the consequences and
00:36the true cost of this war.
00:38Of course, we have a right as members of Congress to oversee military action overseas.
00:43We appropriate the money for that military action, and it is an ordinary function of members of Congress to travel
00:51around the world
00:52and talk to our generals and to our troops about military activities, especially during a time of war.
01:00Adding insult to injury, the Department of Defense, under orders from Pete Hegseth, even denied me access to talk to
01:09military leadership.
01:10It would not provide me even a briefing at the embassy.
01:14Never before has this happened, never before has a member of Congress been denied access to military facilities
01:22and been refused briefings by generals in theater.
01:27And from what I understand, this is happening both to Democrats and Republicans when they are traveling to the Middle
01:34East.
01:35So just understand what this is.
01:37This is Secretary Hegseth deliberately trying to cover up the extent of damage, likely in the billions of dollars,
01:46trying to cover up the true cost of this war, trying to hide from you, from the American public,
01:52not just from members of Congress, the actual consequences of a war that is spiraling out of control by the
01:59day.
01:59This should be unacceptable to every member of Congress, Republicans and Democrats,
02:03and this should be unacceptable to the American public.
02:09America's military footprint in the Middle East has taken a major hit.
02:14After months of war with Iran, Iranian missiles and drones have damaged multiple U.S. military facilities
02:21across the Gulf and wider region.
02:24And the scale of the damage is now raising a bigger question.
02:27Can America still safely base large numbers of troops so close to Iran?
02:34The war began on February 28th after joint U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran.
02:40Iran retaliated with waves of missiles and drones targeting American positions
02:46and military infrastructure across the region.
02:49At least 17 U.S. military, diplomatic and air defense sites
02:54were identified as damaged in an early assessment,
02:57including at least 11 military bases or installations.
03:01Other assessments have identified even more damage.
03:04But there is one claim that needs to be separated from the facts.
03:08There is no credible evidence that the United States has lost all its Middle East naval ports
03:14or that only two military bases remain.
03:17What the evidence does show is significant damage to American facilities.
03:22In Bahrain, home to U.S. Naval Forces Central Command and the Navy's Fifth Fleet,
03:28Iranian strikes hit the naval headquarters and other buildings, warehouses,
03:32and satellite communications infrastructure.
03:34The damage was serious enough to trigger evacuations of military families and non-essential personnel.
03:41And according to reporting cited by Anadolu Agency,
03:45the damage assessment for the Fifth Fleet headquarters alone was around $200 million.
03:51Qatar was also hit.
03:53At Al-Uyed Air Base, an important American military hub, early warning radar infrastructure was damaged.
04:00And in Kuwait, multiple American installations came under attack,
04:04including facilities used for air operations and logistics.
04:08Satellite imagery and investigations have also shown damage to hangers, barracks, radar systems,
04:15communications equipment, and other military assets.
04:18But these bases were not simply wiped off the map.
04:22The bigger story is more strategic.
04:25Iran appears to have targeted high-value systems designed to reduce America's ability to detect threats,
04:32communicate, and coordinate a response.
04:34That includes radar, satellite communications, and command infrastructure.
04:39And that exposes a vulnerability in the decades-old American strategy
04:43of maintaining military bases close to potential adversaries.
04:48The attacks have also forced the U.S. military to disperse personnel
04:52and move some forces away from major installations.
04:56So while claims of a trillion-dollar loss are not supported by the available evidence,
05:01the financial and strategic costs are still substantial.
05:05And the damage has triggered a much bigger debate in Washington and across the Gulf.
05:10Should America continue maintaining large military installations
05:14in locations that can be reached by Iranian missiles and drones?
05:18Because the lesson from this war may not simply be about how much damage Iran caused.
05:24It may be about how vulnerable America's entire military posture in the Middle East has become.
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