President Trump continues to say that Iran wants to make a deal to end the war and that the U.S. has control over the Strait of Hormuz. Meanwhile, the president downplayed concerns about the conditions aboard the USS Lincoln. MS NOW Senior National Security Reporter David Rohde and New York Times Chief White House Correspondent Peter Baker join Stephanie Ruhle with more details and analysis.

  • Optional@lemmy.world
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    1. The proximate cause: Bahrain hub destroyed, logistics broken

    Multiple outlets trace the Lincoln’s supply shortfalls to the Feb. 28 Iranian missile and drone attacks that “heavily damaged” Naval Support Activity Bahrain, a principal logistics hub for U.S. carrier operations in the Gulf, forcing an abrupt pivot to more distant ports such as Diego Garcia and stretching resupply lines . The New York Times and subsequent reporting state the damage to Bahrain directly contributed to shortages and longer deployments for carriers conducting operations related to the war with Iran .

    2. Operational consequences: longer trips, Diego Garcia and exposure

    The loss of the Bahrain hub forced the Pentagon to use Diego Garcia, farther from the Gulf, as an emergency logistics node; that longer transit, and the vulnerability of alternate ports to Iranian strikes, created measurable strain on sustainment cycles and contributed to the Lincoln approaching nine months at sea without a liberty port, increasing wear on people and materiel . Reporting links that logistical shift to additional Iranian targeting — for example, ballistic missiles aimed at Diego Garcia — and to the effort to keep continuous operations like the maritime blockade and airstrikes functioning .

    3. Political overlay: accusations that Hegseth “hid” the damage

    Television commentators and pundits framed the narrative as an intentional concealment by Pete Hegseth — the phrase that he “hid” the destruction appears on MS NOW and other clips — but those pieces present the allegation without producing internal memos or a paper trail proving intentional concealment [1]. The reporting available shows Hegseth and the Navy publicly pushing back, calling media descriptions “completely misrepresented,” and declining to confirm specific supply shortfall details in some interviews, which opponents interpreted as evasive .


    TL;DR: Of course he did. The next base to supply them is 2,200 miles away. They fucked up super bad again.

      • idiomaddict@lemmy.world
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        Even more fun, this sentence is grammatically vague [I removed the end clause, because it’s irrelevant to this point and adds another comma]:

        The reporting available shows Hegseth and the Navy publicly pushing back, calling media descriptions “completely misrepresented,” and declining to confirm specific supply shortfall details in some interviews

        That could be an Oxford comma, but it’s probably not. I assume the “calling…misrepresented“ clause qualifies the first point and the second comma is because they’ve ended a quote.

        • eurodyne@piefed.world
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          See, they could’ve reworded it for the sake of clarity, but no… they’re just lazy. Not to mention that the responsibility for published articles like this don’t just fall on the writer; there are editors who review this as well. At least three sets of eyes looked over this, and they all decided that this was the best version.

          Sometimes I wonder if crap like this gets published just to prove that it wasn’t generated by AI.

    • Hemingways_Shotgun@lemmy.ca
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      use Diego Garcia, farther from the Gulf, as an emergency logistics node

      I’m legitimately surprised that Trump hasn’t gotten around to ordering the British to rename that via a long nonsensical Truth Social rant.

    • driving_crooner@lemmy.eco.br
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      Minutes away to a conservative pundit complain that the resupply base name is Hispanic instead of an Union general and Trump forcing everyone to change the name

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      In all fairness, you can’t let your enemy know how badly you’re damaged. And considering this administration sees everybody as their enemy, might as well keep lying.

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        In all fairness, the enemy knows precisely what they’ve done and why. They know the damage they caused.

        They’ve been highly effective with precision strikes that crippled logistics with intent, by choice.

        Their generals are better than ours. The pedophile clowns fired our generals, reorganized leadership and we’re getting our ass handed to us.

        • bedwyr@piefed.ca
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          The rot in the US military leadership started long before this president. Nevermind the existing rot that comes with the better part of a trillion dollars showering (yes, it’s a golden shower,) on the arms contractors for a moment.

          Bush in his invasion if Iraq saw half the generals in the US be forced out, as they wouldn’t sign on to a flawed doomed to fail invasion plan.

        • kesslerpartyatmyplace@anarchist.nexus
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          Their generals are literate, sober at least an hour a day, don’t constantly run war games where they’re penalized for winning as red team, and not doing the job for five years so they can retire to a Grumman sinecure. I bet they aren’t brain rotted by chatbots and yes-men either.

          I am convinced that I would out-general any current american general in an actual conflict. I don’t even remember the branches of the military. Barracks factory starport?