WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Democrat Senator Chris Murphy has alleged that Secretary of War Pete Hegseth is orchestrating a cover-up of the Iran war, including its cost and consequences, from the American public.
Speaking to media during his trip to the Middle East as part of a congressional delegation, the Connecticut Democrat claimed that the Department of Defense stopped him from accessing a key U.S. military base in Qatar.
Murphy said that while traveling to Doha and Riyadh, he tried to visit the Al Udeid Air Base, which came under multiple attacks by Iran during the Middle East war.
The Pentagon says the U.S. lawmaker was denied entry to the largest U.S. military base in the region due to already imposed travel restrictions.
Murphy was the first Democratic Senator to visit the Gulf since U.S. attacked Iran on February 29.
Murphy chronicled how Pete Hegseth is orchestrating a cover-up of the Iran war, blocking members of Congress from conducting standard oversight of military bases, or even speaking to military leadership in the Gulf.
'There is an active cover-up going on right now. I spoke personally to Admiral Cooper and asked him to give us access,' Murphy said, referring to the commander of the U.S. Central Command.
'Hegseth is determined to hide the cost and the consequences of this war from the American public. It is absolutely outrageous that I and Republican senators are being denied the ability to see the damage for ourselves.'
Multiple polls suggest Americans generally want the Middle East war to be over, even if it means failing to achieve original goals.
Economists and lawmakers estimate the long-term economic impact of the war could range between $630 billion and $1 trillion when factoring in supply chain disruptions and asset replacements.
As per data provided by the Iran War Cost Tracker, based on the Pentagon's Briefing To Congress, the Trump administration is spending an average of $1 billion a day for the Middle East war.
Murphy laid out the long, bipartisan history of Members of Congress conducting oversight in active war zones, 'Because it's Congress that decides whether to fund a war or whether to defund a war, whether to authorize a war, and we can't do our job without seeing in-person the consequences of the war.'
Describing the extensive, long-term damage to the American Embassy in Saudi Arabia caused by Iranian drone attack on March 3, Murphy emphasized that President Donald Trump's recklessness put dozens of American lives at risk.
'Had that attack happened during the daytime, there's no doubt that there would have been many, many Americans killed. I saw the damage at Raslif, the big Qatari gas plant. 17 percent of their exports have been eliminated, probably at least for the next three years as they repair that damage.'
Murphy described his candid conversations with the Qatari leadership in the region funneling money to the Trump family, pressing them to end the corruption. 'I also spoke very candidly to Mohammed bin Salman and told him that his investments in Jared Kushner's private equity funds and his invitation to Trump and his business entities to partner on projects in Saudi Arabia was an enormous problem for the U.S.-Saudi relationship in the long run.'
Murphy spoke on the growing chaos he witnessed on the ground in the Middle East, with no signal in sight for an end to the Iran War. 'I saw firsthand how this war is spiraling downward very quickly. The Riyadh airport is functionally closed, with hundreds of flights being delayed or canceled. The day that I left there were Iranian attacks on the airport. You can sense that Saudi Arabia is a country at war right now. They are starting a major ground campaign with their Yemeni government partners, and you feel in Saudi Arabia how this war has become a regional war. This was, of course, completely foreseeable and predictable.'
As one of the Senate's loudest critics of the Saudi regime, Murphy explained his decision to meet with Mohammed Bin Salman and stressed the need for multiple American perspectives in the region.
While recognizing that there is a legitimate social and cultural transformation happening in Saudi Arabia, Murphy expressed concern that 'there is no room to dissent from the kingdom's policies, and that's unacceptable.'
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