How Damaged Are US Middle East Bases?

0:00Ryan Reynolds here for Mint Mobile with your summer price forecast. Now, unfortunately, we're seeing rising costs across the country with possibility that big wireless hates you 100%. Now, over here at Mint Mobile, we're seeing sunny skies and dropping prices every plan to just $15 a month. Give it a try at MintMobile.com slash switch. Up from payment of $45 for three months, $90 for six months, or $180 for 12 month plan required, $15 per month equivalent taxes in VZXtra. New customer offer for initial plan term only greater than 50 gigabytes when it work is busy. See terms. It's Friday, September 18th. We have a new look at the war in Iran, and it's not pretty. We start here. Stunning images from American service members in Iran shed new light on the conflict. And you see an Air Force jet blown in half destroyed by Iranian fire on March 27th. Alarm bells are going off in Washington. We'll tell you about it. Congress passes a new sanctions bill, but it's tariffs that have some Democrats worried. They just don't like the idea of giving the president that additional authority.

1:01We've got the impact it has on both Iran and Russia. And is the Kennedy Center reno going to become a demo? That the president was looking at a poster board sized photo of what appeared to be the Kennedy Center in Rulance. Why the president is apparently considering tearing down a DC landmark. From ABC News, this is Start Here. I'm Mike Dabaski. Hey, happy Friday. Brads out again today, but I've got you covered. As the war in Iran has dragged on, we've heard a lot of mixed messages from the Trump administration. First, this was a combat operation that was only going to take a few weeks. This is actually an excursion. It's just something that should have been done for 47 years. Now, more than six months later, there's still confusion over things like who controls the Strait of Hormuz and how open the Iranians are to negotiating over things like nuclear weapons. But one consistent message we've heard from the Trump administration is this. We're winning. America is winning decisively, devastatingly, and without mercy.

2:07While American strikes on Iranian targets have been ratcheting up in recent weeks, so have the Iranian strikes on American targets. Now, ABC News has learned the toll those strikes have taken on US bases may be much greater than we originally thought. Let's start the day with ABC's Chief White House correspondent Mary Bruce. Mary, thanks for talking to me. ABC was able to give tans on some pictures from American bases that have been attacked by Iran. Just tell me what these pictures show. Mike, these pictures really do give us a rare look at the toll that this war is taking on American military assets in the region. We were able to obtain these images which were sent to us by active service members, who we are not naming. But it does show the extent of the damage. When you see an Air Force jet blown in half destroyed by Iranian fire on March 27th at Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia, buildings at that same air base are completely torn apart. There's another image that shows the extensive damage from an Iranian attack at a US Army base in Kuwait. The date of that is unclear.

3:08And then at another base in Kuwait, we see this image of these containerized housing units that have just been completely shredded. So it is sounding some alarm bells and raising a lot of questions about American defenses and whether the administration is being forthcoming with the American people. Right. Raises a lot of questions for the Pentagon and the Defense Department specifically. Have we heard from them in this at all? Well, we certainly have reached out to the Pentagon about these images and so far they're declining to respond. But keep in mind that since the early days of this war, Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth and the administration have downplayed Iran's attacks on US assets in the region. It takes two to tango. You understand that we hit the bread on something that was unrelated and so they were responding. But and not very strongly. But it was just earlier this week that the Pentagon's watchdog did acknowledge in a report that Iranian strikes have damaged and destroyed hundreds of buildings and structures at US bases and saying dozens of US aircraft were destroyed or damaged.

4:09And when you think about the broader toll of this war, of course 18 US service members have been killed over 800 have been wounded since the war began. One American service member who served in this war tells us quote the American people are unaware of the extent of the damage that American bases are taking in, adding that it's being kept a secret and we're acting like it's no big deal. But there are drone strikes and ballistic missile strikes actively landing on bases every day. And this service member says that the bases have been irreparably damaged that it is going to take quite some time to rebuild that this isn't just something that's going to happen you know quickly in six months. Right. And of course this comes against the backdrop of President Trump saying that the war could be nearing an end. We learned recently that the president has said he's weighing some next steps with regards to what to do. What are we hearing from the Trump administration? What are some of those next steps? And just kind of what are the next couple weeks look like here from what we understand? Yeah, it's a really good question that doesn't necessarily have a clear answer.

5:11The president continues to insist that the war will be coming to a close soon. He has said several times over the last few weeks that he thinks that the war will end after the midterm elections. We control the straight and lots of other things. So for a little while I would say this shortly but right after the election because they'd like to have it that way but right after the election. But he still hasn't explained how this war will come to an end. What will a broader nuclear deal look like? How will the straight of hormones reopen? Because of course the longer this war drags on we continue to see oil and gas prices spike which is hitting quite hard here at home. Yeah, absolutely with gas prices well over four dollars a gallon now diesel prices even higher as we've talked about. Mary Bruce I know you're going to continue to follow this story for us. Thank you so much for breaking it all down. Thank you. Next up on start here, Congress passes major new sanctions on Iran and that's not all. That's coming up after the break.

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8:06Let's bring an ABC's Ali Pekorin to tell us about it. This bill is actually not just about Iran. There are measures aimed at Russia here as well. Just give us the general overview. What can you tell us about what's included in this bill? So this bill is a package that had been a big effort by the late Senator Lindsey Graham. It was sort of his baby this bill because Graham, as you might remember, was a big ally for Ukraine. The Senate is united when it comes to standing up to Putin and those who prop him up to end this bloodbath. So he created this bill in hopes of sort of kneecapping Russia's income stream. And this bill picked up momentum on Capitol Hill shortly after Graham's death. In fact, it's named after the late Senator the Lindsey Graham sanctioning Russia bill. Now this legislation does a few things, perhaps the most obvious, is that it sanctions Russia, sanctions, Russian president Vladimir Putin, Russian government officials, oligarchs, Russian banks, and financial institutions.

9:06And as you mentioned, it also extends the president's sanction authority in Iran. Stop some of those authorities from lapsing when it comes to around. But the thing that it also does that sort of gotten a little bit more attention is that it gives the president authority to extend tariffs to countries that are the largest purchasers of Russian oil. That's interesting. And we do know that not all Democrats, but some pretty prominent ones voted against forwarding this bill, including House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries. What have we been hearing from the dissenters here about why they decided to vote now? Yeah, that's right. No, I will say by way of legislation in recent Congresses, this was pretty bipartisan. And the Senate, especially, this bill had a huge bipartisan showing too many people have died. Too much blood has been shed. Now is the time to give the president the tools he needs to drive Putin to the table. Because today we send a message to vibrant Putin. You will not win this war. Even in the House, there were 53 Democrats that supported this legislation.

10:08That's not small potatoes in this very divided political moment that we're living in. But you are right. There were some large Democratic dissents, including the House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries. And one of the reasons that Democrats take such issue with this bill is because of those tariff authorities that I was just mentioning. What the bill does is allows the president to extend up to 100% tariffs on countries that are purchasers of Russian oil. That includes China and India. Now, there was sort of a narrowing of scope of that tariff authority from the original bill that was being proposed to get some more people on board, including the White House. But a lot of Democrats still have a problem with this because, as you might remember, tariffs are a pretty big sort of thorn in Democrats side here. They do not like the way that the president has been wielding his tariff authority, sort of this unruly use of tariffs. There's been a lot of discussion recently, for example, of President imposing tariffs on Canada, other countries that are considered allies.

11:09I felt that we had to do something decisive and meaningful when it came to sanctions and tariffs, and we given the president that authority. I hope he does not misuse it. There a little bit has to do anything that would extend his tariff authority, even if it is a tariff on countries that Democrats might traditionally support extending these tariffs to. They just don't like the idea of giving the president that additional authority. It makes them uneasy. So for that reason, quite a few Democrats did ultimately oppose this legislation. Right. It's really fascinating to see how the Trump administration has been using tariffs. And now that showing up in other conflicts as well, beyond issues of trade, now issues of war, what do we know about where the president stands on this? He hasn't signed the bill yet. Is he likely to? Is he not likely to? What do we know? So the bill is on the president's desk at this point in time. And now one of the sort of things that helped the bill pick up steam shortly after Senator

12:09Lindsey Graham's death was that Graham had announced two days before his passing that he had reached an agreement with the White House on this legislation. I've never been more optimistic than I am today that we have the formula to end this war. Basically saying that the White House and him had agreed that they could move forward with this bill the way that it was written. And so because of that, there is a sense that the president has signed off on this. He was very adamant about the inclusion of these Iran sanctioned extensions in the bill as well. So those were included. That seems to bode positively. It's obviously not baked until the president inks the bill and puts his signature on it. But there has been some positive signs from the White House that this is something that he would support. And a White House official now tells ABC News the president does intend to sign that bill. Ali Pekoran tracking it all for us from Washington. I appreciate it. Thanks so much. Right now in Washington, the Kennedy Center is closed. According to a court filing yesterday from Matt Flaka, the Center's executive director,

13:13this is only a temporary thing. Basically, a matter of a couple days. This all comes against the backdrop, though, of the Trump administration's ongoing renovation at that performing arts center. Last year, Congress approved $257 million for this effort. But now the renovation is in doubt. After President Trump said the project can't move forward unless his name is added onto that building. Let's bring an ABC Stephen Portnoy who's been following all the twists and turns of this case. Stephen, this all sounds very familiar to me. Wasn't President Trump's name on the Kennedy Center earlier this year before a judge ruled that he had to take it down? Before a judge ruled twice now, Mike. Okay. The name was on the side of the building after a vote in December of last year by the Board of Trustees that it should be called the Donald J. Trump and John F. Kennedy Center. Okay. Well, Judge Christopher Cooper ruled in May of this year that Congress created the Kennedy Center as a lasting living memorial to John F. Kennedy. That only Congress can change the name of it. And so Trump's name had to come down. You saw the tarp and the scaffolding.

14:14They took the name down, but the tarp still up. And then over the summer, last month, the Board voted again to honor the president a different way, saying, all right, well, it'll be the John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the performing arts, renovated and restored by Donald J. Trump and possibly endowed by the Trump Kennedy Center fund. Well, on Tuesday of this week, Judge Cooper said that too violates the law, law dating back to the 1980s, which says that there can't be any other memorials at the Kennedy Center other than to John F. Kennedy in the public areas. So that resulted in the president reacting by saying that if he doesn't get his way on this, if the appeal is rejected by the DC Circuit and ultimately by the Supreme Court, well then the renovation will take place at all. I like to be able to save it, but it's going to take a lot of subsidies into the future. There's been a conversation here in DC, Mike, of the whole thing being torn down because the president, as he flew to North Carolina on Wednesday night, was asked by our colleague Karen Travers.

15:15Why? This is so important to him. I think that the Trump administration can certainly have recognition because frankly, if we don't do that, it's going to close, it'll end up being ripped down. You have the president saying that the whole building may have to be ripped down. And on Wednesday night, as he was arriving back in Washington, a photographer for Ajance France Press, a very talented photographer named Brendan Smilowski, noticed that the president was looking at a poster board sized photo of what appeared to be the Kennedy Center in ruins. And the headline of the poster said Kennedy Center demolished. So yesterday, there was a flurry of court filings where the Ohio Democratic Congresswoman who has brought a lawsuit in this case urged an emergency hearing where she was basically trying to get the judge to say, you've got to stop President Trump from whatever he's got planned here. Every time there's an issue that comes up, it has been connected. We will consider it to do this, but or unless it has Donald Trump's name on the building.

16:17The judge ultimately declined to schedule an emergency hearing, but he did issue an order that said that he wants 30 days notice before any change in the renovation plans, including a possible demolition of the Kennedy Center. So again, this seems like it has gone from like a renovation effort to now the possibility of this historic building possibly being torn down. I imagine that's having huge reverberations in Washington. What are we hearing from lawmakers on this? Well, RJ O'Brien spent all day yesterday stalking the halls of Capitol Hill to get reaction. Here's what he heard from North Carolina Republican Senator Tom Tillis. I think it's absurd demolishing a memorial, a world wide known venue for our time. Now, Tillis happens to be a retiring Republican Senator for North Carolina, perhaps is a bit more free to express his views. But generally speaking, you get the sense on Capitol Hill that this is not something that the American people are focused on. It is clearly something the President and to a large extent we are focused on.

17:18I love President Kennedy. I think it's right to honor him. I just, I've got other issues on my mind. A lot of Republicans wish that the President were it so consumed by this question of how he's going to be honored and recognized. And Stephen, if you could just put this in context for us, obviously the Kennedy Center has been an institution in Washington for decades at this point. How big a deal would it be if it were to be torn down? How seriously should we take the possibility that it will be? Well, those are two distinct and different questions. Let me attack the first one, which is, you know, what would the impact of the demolition of the only memorial here in Washington, DC, to the late President John F. Kennedy, beyond the idea that it's the preeminent performing art space here in Washington. I mean, it really is a landmark that is historically and culturally, architecturally significant, but also it has deep meaning to the country after it was dedicated in John F. Kennedy's

18:23name in 1964 by the Congress, by Lyndon Johnson. And so to tear it down would be to demolish a memorial to a late President. Now the President, the current one, Donald Trump, has it in mind that he wants to renovate it and make it different? Well he's also talked about demolishing it and building an amphitheater in its place. I mean, it really gets to this question that would you ask of Kennedy to it. It's a novel question in many respects. I mean, he's appointed a board. He fired the former board. He is the chair of the board. And the question is, can he tear it down? It'll have to make its way through the courts. Remember in the case of the East Wing? Remember that? And the White House ballroom? You know, there was a lawsuit that did work its way from the district court to the circuit court ultimately to the Supreme Court. And what the divided court held is that the people who brought that lawsuit didn't have standing to do it. So I guess in this case, the question would be if the President and his hand-picked board of the Kennedy Center did want to tear the building down, who might have standing to

19:27sue, who's injured so much that they have a personal vested interest in what happens on that federal land? It's even more important, really fascinating story. I know you're going to continue to track this for us. Thanks so much for explaining it to me. You bet. OK, one more quick break when we come back. A new catch has dropped. One last thing is next. Today I want to tell you about an exciting new deal from our friends at Cozy Earth. Take a moment and think back to the best night of sleep you ever had. Did it feel like you might never sleep that well again? Well, good news. You can give yourself an amazing night of sleep every night by upgrading your bedding to Cozy Earth. Cozy Earth offers luxury bedding at an incredible price. Their ultra soft temperature regulating sheets, coverlets, and duvet covers are the perfect companion for a night of uninterrupted relaxation. The sheets come in all different colors and stripes, so there's something for everyone, whether you're doing a big fall refresh for your master bedroom or updating a guest room in time for the holidays. And as comfy as they are on day one, they actually only get better from there because they are designed

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21:31And one last thing. When I say the word wild cat, what do you think of? A lion, a panther, a leopard, maybe a cheetah? If you're of a certain age, your mind might immediately go to the basketball team that Zach Efron played for in high school musical. But if you are thinking about an actual big cat, it probably lives up to the name, right? It's a big cat. Well, yesterday, scientists published a new paper in the journal Current Biology about a new cat species they've discovered that's decidedly little. The cat in question is orangy brown with black spots, kind of like a leopard, but it only weighs about five pounds and is smaller than a common house cat. What it lacks in stature, though, it makes up for in historical significance. This is the first new species of cat discovered in over a hundred years. This all started back in 2016 in Bolivia. When a biologist and National Geographic explorer named Paola Nogales-Escarunz got a call

22:35from a local wildlife sanctuary in the subtropical part of the Andes Mountains, a local man had dropped off a weird cat he found by the side of the road, they said. When Nogales-Escarunz went to investigate, she discovered an animal that she assumed was a member of leperidus tigrinus, basically a species of very small spotted wild cats. Over the next few years, however, she realized, huh, this doesn't really match the illustrations we have of this species. Its spots are way too big, and as her and a team of researchers tried to place the animal on a family tree, they came to understand this isn't just a new branch of an existing species, this thing is going to need a branch all its own. The scientific name they're proposing- leperidus tilquayo, in honor of the word that locals have taken to calling the animal. No one really knows where that word tilquayo comes from, it doesn't have a distinct meaning in Spanish or the local language of kachua, and that's not the only thing we don't know about this weird cat, their natural source of food, their predators, how they reproduce,

23:38all still very much a mystery. In large part, that's because of their size. Small animals are harder to pick up on trail cameras and therefore harder to study. What's more, researchers don't know how big this population is, and that could have a big impact on conservation efforts. But as scientists begin the work of figuring out the answers to all those questions, one thing is for certain, if small wild cats like leperidus tilquayo are to survive, we're going to need to get our heads in the game. Leperidus tilquayo is a good name, but you can really name cats anything, it's not like they're going to listen to your commands anyway. Start here is produced by Jen Newman, Anthony Ali, Aaron Ferrer, Emily Schutz, and Vika Aronson. Ariel Chester is our social media producer, Josh Cohen is director of podcast programming. Milkie is our managing editor, Aiman McNiff is our executive producer. Thanks to John Newman, Tara Gimble, and Katie Dendass, special thanks this week to Trevor Hastings. I am Mike Deboskey in for Brad Milkie, who's back on Monday.

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