DOMINANT ANGLE
London is dissecting the contradiction between the report from the Pentagon's inspector general, which confirms ammunition shortages, and Donald Trump's repeated denials, against the backdrop of an impeachment vote targeting Pete Hegseth.
Dominant angle identified — does not reflect unanimity of this country’s media
KEY POINTS
- 01
The Pentagon's inspector general estimates the cost of the war between February 28 and June 30 at $33.4 billion, including $22.3 billion for ammunition alone, concluding that there are strategic shortages.
- 02
Donald Trump has called these warnings "fake news" and assured that stocks are "virtually unlimited", while the White House has claimed to have "more than enough" ammunition.
- 03
Republican Thomas Massie has forced a vote of impeachment against Pete Hegseth, accusing him of "high crimes and misdemeanors" for pursuing operations without Congressional declaration.
ANALYSIS
London is scrutinizing less the bill quantified by the Congressional Budget Office than the public contradiction between the Pentagon and its own tenant of the White House. The British press first retains the report of the inspector general of the Department of Defense, which estimates the cost of "Operation Epic Fury" at $33.4 billion between February 28 and June 30, including $22.3 billion devoted to ammunition alone. The document, cited by the BBC, concludes that there are strategic shortages and industrial bottlenecks for replenishment, in a report that "contradicts President Donald Trump, who has repeated that the United States does not lack ammunition".
Because it is indeed there that the real issue is knotted, for the British press: Trump has qualified these warnings as "fake news" and assured that American stocks were "virtually unlimited", while the White House responded that the country had "more than enough" ammunition. The inspector general's report does not specify the remaining quantities, a grey area that the newspapers relay without filling it, while recalling that a July estimate by the Center for Strategic and International Studies evaluated the decline in Patriot and THAAD stocks at more than half.
The report also details the material losses inflicted by the Iranian retaliations: four F-15E and up to 30 MQ-9 Reaper drones destroyed, one F-35A damaged - a first for this aircraft -, as well as seven KC-135 tankers and seven helicopters affected. Replacing the four F-15E would cost $124.4 million; the F-35A, $92 million alone.
On the domestic front, the Daily Mail reports on the offensive of Republican Thomas Massie, defeated in his primary by a candidate supported by Trump, who forced a vote of dismissal against Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, accused of "high crimes and misdemeanors" for pursuing operations without Congressional declaration. The Pentagon replied that Hegseth had "strengthened the arsenal" and "unleashed innovation".
For the British press, the CBO figure is thus part of a credibility battle between the American executive and its own control bodies, more than a simple budget debate.
