Rep. Mike Rogers (R-AL), chair of the House Armed Services Committee, denounced the US War Department on Wednesday for not providing enough information about the US war against Iran, including plans for potential ground operations.
According to POLITICO, Rogers said that during a briefing, members told Pentagon officials that any US troop movements should be “thoughtful and deliberate” and that they were not given enough details about the war.
“We want to know more about what’s going on, what the options are, and why they’re being considered,” Rogers said. “And we’re just not getting enough answers on those questions.”
Rogers’ comments appeared to be reaffirmed by his Senate counterpart, Senate Armed Services Chair Roger Wicker (R-MS). “Let me put it this way: I can see why he might have said that,” he told POLITICO after a Senate briefing. “I haven’t heard his comment, and I don’t know the context. But I can see why he might have said that.”
Rogers also said that he warned the administration could lose support for the war if it didn’t share more information. “That’s what I conveyed to them at the end of this hearing, is this has consequences if you don’t remedy it,” he said.
The comments from Rogers and Wicker, who are both known as hawks, come as the Trump administration is sending thousands of Marines to the region and is poised to deploy the 82nd Airborne for potential operations aimed at seizing Iran’s Kharg Island or Iranian ports near the Strait of Hormuz. Any ground operation would likely result in significant American casualties since US troops would face major Iranian drone and missile barrages.
Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC), who attended the House briefing, suggested in several posts on X that the Trump administration was heading toward a ground invasion of Iran. “Just walked out of a House Armed Services briefing on Iran. Let me repeat: I will not support troops on the ground in Iran, even more so after this briefing,” she said.
In another post, Mace said, “Washington’s war machine is hard at work. They are trying to drag us into Iran to make it another Iraq. We can’t let them.” The South Carolina congresswoman also suggested that the administration was lying to the American public about the war.
“The justifications presented to the American public for the war in Iran were not the same military objectives we were briefed on today in the House Armed Services Committee. This gap is deeply troubling. The longer this war continues, the faster it will lose the support of Congress and the American people,” she wrote.
