Hours of forewarning saved U.S., Iraqi lives from Iran's missile attackBlast walls of a sleeping quarters for U.S. soldiers are seen at Ain al-Asad airbase in Anbar province, Iraq January 13, 2020. [REUTERS]Nearly eight hours before Iran’s Jan. 8 missile attack on U.S. forces at bases in Iraq, American and Iraqi soldiers at Ain al-Asad airbase scrambled to move personnel and weaponry to fortified bunkers, two Iraqi officers stationed at the base told Reuters. Such accounts add to the evidence that the Iranian attack was among the worst kept secrets in modern warfare – but the reasons why remain mysterious after days of conflicting statements from officials in Iran, Iraq and the United States. At the sprawling Ain al-Asad base in Iraq’s western Anbar desert on Monday, U.S. Air Force and Army teams cleared piles of metal and concrete debris from the airfield and around bunkers using bulldozers and pickup trucks. “I’d received information it was going to be a missile attack, and it was going to be Ain al-Asad,” said Lt. Col. Antionette Chase of the U.S. Army.

Source: Standard Digital January 13, 2020 21:11 UTC