Free Republic

WASHINGTON — A new report by the Pentagon’s Inspector General has outlined the costs of Operation Epic Fury. Among them: “hundreds” of buildings and “dozens” of aircraft left damaged or destroyed, over 400 servicemembers wounded and the expenditure of $22 billion in munitions that has left “strategic inventory shortfalls” for the US military. The report, released today, provides the clearest accounting of the materiel damage that has occurred to US military assets since the start of the conflict with Iran. The report only covers from the launch of military activities on Feb. 28 to June 30, meaning that damage totals...

The number of U.S. troops killed or wounded in the war with Iran has risen to 774 after the Pentagon added dozens of injured service members to its casualty count in recent days. The number listed as wounded climbed from 697 on Wednesday to 756 on Thursday, an increase of 59, according to the War Department's Defense Casualty Analysis System on Friday. The number of American military deaths remained at 18. The Pentagon did not immediately explain the sharp increase, including when or where the newly recorded injuries occurred. The War Department has divided the casualties into two categories following...

These days one reads fewer stories proclaiming the turning of the tide in the Russia-Ukraine war. There are also fewer tweets from Donald Trump threatening Iran with imminent destruction. Now that the noise has receded, it is a good time to listen. I am not hearing of a successful Ukrainian counteroffensive. What I am hearing instead is the thud of Russian jackboots marching deeper into the parts of the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine that Vladimir Putin does not yet control. Meanwhile, in the southwest of the Arabian Peninsula, the Houthis have taken control of the strategic port city of...

The war with Iran is driving up inflation, and borrowing costs may increase for Americans, according to a new report released Tuesday by the Congressional Budget Office. The report found the war was responsible for more than one-third of the increase in inflation this year, and inflation will likely continue to grow in the first quarter of next year. The CBO specifically blames the war for more than 40% of inflation during the second quarter of 2026 and an estimated half a percentage point of higher inflation during the first quarter of 2027. Interest rates are likely to rise as...

New photos obtained exclusively by CBS News reveal for the first time the widespread damage and destruction of buildings and vehicles at multiple U.S. positions across the Middle East, as a result of Iranian missile and drone attacks. The Defense Department's inspector general this week released a fresh report on the war in Iran that revealed "equipment losses" worth up to $3.7 billion — including nearly 60 aircraft. In a first-of-its-kind mandatory report to Congress, the inspector general added that U.S. Central Command reported Iranian strikes at U.S. bases in Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Oman and Jordan.