The Bombing of the Shajareh Tayyebeh Girls School in Minab, Iran

[John J.]

Military in democracies swear an oath on their constitution, not on the leader of the day.

It may be worth noting that the transition from soldiers taking an oath of loyalty to the state to an oath of loyalty to an individual leader is one of the changes that was important in the fall of the Roman Republic and rise of the imperial system.

British service personnel swear an oath to the monarch, not the constitution (which is hard to identify/ specify in the UK; it's not codified).

I swear by Almighty God [or: do solemnly, and truly declare and affirm] that I will be faithful and bear true allegiance to His Majesty King Charles III, His Heirs and Successors, and that I will, as in duty bound, honestly and faithfully defend His Majesty, His Heirs and Successors, in Person, Crown and Dignity against all enemies, and will observe and obey all orders of His Majesty, His Heirs and Successors, and of the [admirals/generals/air officers] and officers set over me.

Wikipedia, Oath of Allegiance (United Kingdom), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oath_of_Allegiance_(United_Kingdom)

To my surprise, the oaths taken in Canada, Australia and New Zealand are similar. Not sure of the position in other monarchies (including Japan).
(Had a quick look, the Swedish oath, primarily to the monarch, was abolished in 1975 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oath_of_Allegiance_(Sweden))

A significant difference between this and any proposal to swear an oath to the US President is that the UK monarch is not the head of government, and will be aware that his predecessor and namesake Charles I was executed after being found guilty of attempting to

"...uphold in himself an unlimited and tyrannical power to rule according to his will..."

...including deploying loyal elements of the army without Parliamentary authority.

 

[deirdre]

That would be rightfully criticized. But that didn't happen, and I think everyone understands why that kind of behavior did not happen in the Biden administration, but did happen in the Trump administration.
https://edition.cnn.com/2021/08/29/asia/afghanistan-kabul-evacuation-intl

um.. did you read that article? i appreciate you giving the link though.

do you know what Biden DID say initially? (i'm not criticizing biden, because i'm not that disgusted if a President makes a mistake -found out later- and defends the military during a chaotic situation.)

do you know when the investigation findings were reported. (20 days later)

 

[deirdre]

I'm genuinely wondering why you still believe and support him, or whether you support him even though you don't believe him.

Metabunk is about debunking bunk. it is not about supporting anyone.

 

[Ann K]

@fizzBuzz

You say "back it up":

Since President Donald Trump was sworn into office in January, he has sat for just 12 presentations from intelligence officials of the President's Daily Brief.

That's a significant drop compared with Trump's first term in office, according to a POLITICO analysis of his public schedule.

In much of his first term, Trump met with intel officials twice a week for the briefing, which provides the intelligence community's summary of the most pressing national security challenges facing the nation.

The low number of briefings this time around is troubling to many in and around the intelligence community, who were already concerned about Trump's act-first-evaluate-after approach to governing.

https://www.politico.com/news/2025/05/09/trump-intelligence-briefing-frequency-00338946

However, he's reportedly been skipping reading "the book," the vital, labor-intensive intelligence summary compiled daily by analysts and delivered five days a week to him and top aides.

Add to that his hit-or-miss attendance at in-person briefings – key moments where presidents get classified updates on global crises and covert operations – and critics say Trump may be flying blind while the world burns.
........
They also expressed concern that fewer top officials may now have access to the PDB, raising questions about whether vital information is reaching Trump unfiltered.

https://radaronline.com/p/donald-trump-skip-daily-intelligence-briefings-office-presidency/

 

[fizzBuzz]

went on TV to say he hadn't really heard anything about it but he thinks it was the Taliban who did it.

This was my response to Trump suggesting it was Iran:

Trump says they think bombing of school was done by Iran in error. I will be royally pissed if this isn't true and he's playing political games here. You don't play politics with the deaths of 175 kids! I don't mind if they are actually taking their time to investigate it, I'm not as impatient and I don't jump to conclusions like some on here, but I wish he wouldn't say this until they're certain.

Now, tell me when Trump said he hasn't heard anything about the bombing of the school.

Imagine if Biden, in the days after the accidental strike on civilians during the evacuation of Kabul airport in 2021

Interesting you mentioned this...

August 29th, 2021: strike killed 10 civilians, including 7 children. Tragic accident. Officials say there no known civilian casualties.

Army Maj. Gen. William Taylor said that there were no known civilian casualties following the strike.

https://www.cnbc.com/2021/08/29/us-...-vehicle-packed-with-explosives-in-kabul.html

August 30th, 2021: Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Mark Milley calls it a "righteous strike"

"At this point, we think that the procedures were correctly followed and it was a righteous strike," he said in a press briefing.

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/bo...st-furor-involving-milley-operation-righteous

September 10th, 2021: New York Times investigation concludes the strike likely killed civilians, not ISIS militants and that there was no secondary explosion, as claimed by Mark Milley. (one link is paywalled NYT article, the other is a reference to the NYT article)

A new investigation claims that a US drone strike in Kabul did not take out a dangerous terrorist driving a car bomb, but an innocent Afghan aid worker employed by an American NGO, and the children who came to greet him.

A New York Times visual investigation published Friday, however, found no traces of secondary explosions, only the fragments of a Hellfire missile that killed Zemari Ahmadi and seven children.

https://www.rt.com/usa/534545-kabul-drone-strike-civilians-investigation
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/10/world/asia/us-air-strike-drone-kabul-afghanistan-isis.html
Key question here - was the Biden administration covering something up?
Here is an ChatGPT synopsis of the investigation:

What the investigation found

According to the investigation:

• The man targeted was Zemari Ahmadi, an aid worker for a U.S.-based NGO.
• Surveillance footage showed him loading water containers into his car, which U.S. analysts may have mistaken for explosives.
• The strike killed 10 civilians, including 7 children from the same family.
• Video and damage analysis found no clear evidence of the "secondary explosion" the Pentagon initially cited as proof of a bomb in the vehicle.

The investigation relied on:

• security camera footage
• satellite imagery
• interviews with family and coworkers
• on-site analysis of the strike location

These findings were published September 10, 2021, about 12 days after the strike and 7 days before the U.S. military officially acknowledged the civilian deaths.

September 17th, 2021 (19 days after incident): US officially acknowledges the mistake:

Pentagon admits killing 10 civilians, including up to 7 children, in Kabul drone strike last month

https://www.cnbc.com/2021/09/17/us-...s-including-seven-children-pentagon-says.html

Investigations take time. And it doesn't mean it's being covered up.

 

[JMartJr]

Maybe the fact that the President of the United States said "based on what I've seen, that was done by Iran" is why people are concerned that the administration was attempting to cover it up and suppress potential criticism by spreading misinformation that confused and misdirected the public discussion about it.

I sometimes wonder if HE is being misled by those showing him "what I have seen," and telling him what he hears. He is famously disinterested in having things explained to him, it would seem relatively low-risk to tell him briefly and simply what you want him to think, secure in the knowledge that he is extremely unlikely to want to listen to anybody else say more about it (he already knows all about it, you see) nor delve deeper on his own initiative. That might involve things like (shudder!) reading.

 

[deirdre]

That might involve things like (shudder!) reading.

luckily this is page 7, so i think there is no chance that comment will insult the younger generation and the tons of adults now who dont read to gather information!

 

[FatPhil]

the topic of the reporters question is "a new report on the school bombing". But thanks for playing.

Nonsense, unless you think the "that" ending the first question refers to the report:

Reporter: I new report shows. A new report says that the military investigation has found the United States struck the school in Iran. As commander-in-chief, do you take responsibility for that?
Trump: That is what...
Reporter: As commander-in-chief, do you...
Trump: For what?
Reporter: For the strike on the school in Iran.

There's a continuous connection of the pronouns through that exchange.

So technically it's still nonsense even if you do think the initial "that" does refer to the report, because it clearly doesn't.

 

[Ann K]

I sometimes wonder if HE is being misled by those showing him "what I have seen," and telling him what he hears. He is famously disinterested in having things explained to him, it would seem relatively low-risk to tell him briefly and simply what you want him to think, secure in the knowledge that he is extremely unlikely to want to listen to anybody else say more about it (he already knows all about it, you see) nor delve deeper on his own initiative. That might involve things like (shudder!) reading.

Given his desire to shoot the messenger, I can see why his advisors are reluctant to take that step. It has happened before, though, only to have him repeat the voices in his own head despite having previously been corrected.

 

[deirdre]

Reporter: I new report shows. A new report says that the military investigation has found the United States struck the school in Iran. As commander-in-chief, do you take responsibility for that?
Trump: That is what...
Reporter: As commander-in-chief, do you...
Trump: For what?
Reporter: For the strike on the school in Iran.

sure if you are going to clip off the sentence uttered before he responds, in order to prove some imaginary point.

You're never gonna convince me, because you are wrong on this one. can we move on?

 

[FatPhil]

sure if you are going to clip off the sentence uttered before he responds to prove some imaginary point.

You're never gonna convince me, because you are wrong on this one. can we move on?

All the pronouns are on full display - I established the connection between the first line I quoted in my first post and the final "it" previously, and the connection between the initial establishment of the referent to that first line in the one you are responding to now. A connects to B, B connects to C, therefore A connects to C.

I can accept that I will never convince you, but I don't know why you consider that a good thing. Personally, I like to correct my mistakes when I make them. Doubling down - and it seems infinituding down - on them reflects negatively upon the person so doing.

 

[deirdre]

Doubling down - and it seems infinituding down - on them reflects negatively upon the person so doing.

yes, it does.

 

[deirdre]

Argue with ChatGPT:

interesting. i wonder how many of my comments people claim they don't understand, ChatGPT would understand? I always figured they dont understand my english because of geek-wired brain, but Chat GPT was designed by geeks.

I'm gonna be checkign that one out. Thanks for the idea!

 

[Ann K]

Investigations take time. And it doesn't mean it's being covered up.

We know they do ...which is why it was completely inappropriate for Trump to come charging in right at the start to tell lies, such as blaming Iran, and contending that they might have tomahawk missiles as well.

 

[NoParty]

Dems finally begin to realize that the supposedly still ongoing "Investigation" is more designed to help Hegseth drop awkward rhymes:
"Maximum lethality,
not tepid legality,
violent effect,
not politically correct..."
in the Oval Office, than to actually give the American public even basic answers. So they wrote a strongly worded letter.
Hey, we don't need every piece of minutiae at this time, but how about our government acknowledging what we've known
(from more reliable sources) for over a week?
Evidently Hegseth's plan is to keep using the "Investigation" to keep from giving us answers, until November 4th, 2026.

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/na...entagon-iran-school-strike-role-ai-rcna263083

Source: https://www.reddit.com/r/law/comments/1n9gg5d/hegseth_maximum_lethality_not_tepid_legality/

 

[enilc]

1. Back it up - with links and quotes from reliable source.
2. Be honest - Just go where the facts take you. Don't try to frame something towards a particular point of view.

https://www.metabunk.org/threads/posting-guidelines.2064/

For context, this is fact-checking a single speech (DJT speech to UN 23 SEP 2025). These are planned, written statements. Before we even get to off-the-cuff remarks to reporters or extemporaneous discussions at press conferences.

All quotes are from direct statements from DJT:

--------
Lie: "I unleashed massive energy production."
Truth: U.S. oil production was 407.4 million barrels in January, when Trump took office. By June, the latest month available, the amount was nearly identical. As for natural gas production, it fell by about 0.5% over the same period. However, the number of natural gas rigs increased during that period, from 99 to 118. The number of oil rigs in use — a common real-time metric for production — also fell between mid-January and mid-September, from 472 to 418.

https://www.eia.gov/dnav/pet/hist/LeafHandler.ashx?n=PET&s=MCRFPUS1&f=M
https://www.eia.gov/dnav/ng/hist/n9070us2m.htm
https://www.aogr.com/web-exclusives/us-rig-count/2025

Lie: "We have the most oil of any nation anywhere, oil and gas in the world."
Truth: For oil, the U.S. ranks 10th. The top five countries are Venezuela, Saudi Arabia, Canada, Iran and Iraq. For natural gas, the U.S. ranks fourth after Russia, Iran and Qatar.

https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/oil-proved-reserves
https://www.worldometers.info/gas/gas-reserves-by-country/

Lie: Trump said the Biden administration lost "more than 300,000" children. "They're lost or they're dead," he said.
Truth: This distorts federal data. An August 2024 report from the Department of Homeland Security's inspector general found that 32,000 unaccompanied migrant children failed to appear for immigration court dates. That includes children from October 2018 through September 2023, which spans two presidential administrations. The report did not say the children were missing. Immigration experts previously told PolitiFact that describing them that way is misleading.

https://www.oig.dhs.gov/sites/default/files/assets/2024-08/OIG-24-46-Aug24.pdf

Lie: "We've implemented the largest tax cuts in American history."
Truth: Trump's One Big Beautiful Bill extends 2017 tax cuts that otherwise would have expired. When those extensions are factored in, the tax savings from Trump's 2025 law rank third on the list of biggest tax cut laws since 1980.

https://www.politifact.com/factchec...e/big-beautiful-bill-biggest-tax-cut-history/

Lie: "I give China a lot of credit, they build (windmills), but they (have) very few wind farms."
Truth: China has about 44% of the world's wind farm capacity, ranking No. 1 globally and almost tripling what the U.S. has. China is also planning or building more wind farm capacity than any other country.


Source: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1r7G4szrq1xuqIA6xwfA9R29Rg5nWGH-HZ7vU9l6_DUg/edit?gid=1349303257#gid=1349303257

https://globalenergymonitor.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/GEM-China-wind-solar-brief-July2024.pdf

Lie: "I believe we lost 300,000 people last year to drugs, 300,000."
Truth: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's latest data shows that from May 2024 to April 2025 an estimated 43,000 people died from a synthetic opioid overdose, most of which are fentanyl. At its peak in 2022, the CDC reported nearly 74,000 overdose deaths from synthetic opioids, mainly fentanyl.

https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nvss/vsrr/drug-overdose-data.htm

--------
It's safe to assume that any statement from the administration should be considered a fabrication or exaggeration at the moment it's stated until any sort of documentation to verify is produced. When you find yourself subject to a government leader who's every statement is assumed to be untruthful, you are on a precarious ledge in terms of world peace. You give a government that lies as an initial reaction to any question access to the largest military in the world, and you end up with thousands of dead civilians and military members.

 

[fizzBuzz]

For context, this is fact-checking a single speech (DJT speech to UN 23 SEP 2025). These are planned, written statements. Before we even get to off-the-cuff remarks to reporters or extemporaneous discussions at press conferences.

All quotes are from direct statements from DJT:

--------
Lie: "I unleashed massive energy production."
Truth: U.S. oil production was 407.4 million barrels in January, when Trump took office. By June, the latest month available, the amount was nearly identical. As for natural gas production, it fell by about 0.5% over the same period. However, the number of natural gas rigs increased during that period, from 99 to 118. The number of oil rigs in use — a common real-time metric for production — also fell between mid-January and mid-September, from 472 to 418.

https://www.eia.gov/dnav/pet/hist/LeafHandler.ashx?n=PET&s=MCRFPUS1&f=M
https://www.eia.gov/dnav/ng/hist/n9070us2m.htm
https://www.aogr.com/web-exclusives/us-rig-count/2025

Lie: "We have the most oil of any nation anywhere, oil and gas in the world."
Truth: For oil, the U.S. ranks 10th. The top five countries are Venezuela, Saudi Arabia, Canada, Iran and Iraq. For natural gas, the U.S. ranks fourth after Russia, Iran and Qatar.

https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/oil-proved-reserves
https://www.worldometers.info/gas/gas-reserves-by-country/

Lie: Trump said the Biden administration lost "more than 300,000" children. "They're lost or they're dead," he said.
Truth: This distorts federal data. An August 2024 report from the Department of Homeland Security's inspector general found that 32,000 unaccompanied migrant children failed to appear for immigration court dates. That includes children from October 2018 through September 2023, which spans two presidential administrations. The report did not say the children were missing. Immigration experts previously told PolitiFact that describing them that way is misleading.

https://www.oig.dhs.gov/sites/default/files/assets/2024-08/OIG-24-46-Aug24.pdf

Lie: "We've implemented the largest tax cuts in American history."
Truth: Trump's One Big Beautiful Bill extends 2017 tax cuts that otherwise would have expired. When those extensions are factored in, the tax savings from Trump's 2025 law rank third on the list of biggest tax cut laws since 1980.

https://www.politifact.com/factchec...e/big-beautiful-bill-biggest-tax-cut-history/

Lie: "I give China a lot of credit, they build (windmills), but they (have) very few wind farms."
Truth: China has about 44% of the world's wind farm capacity, ranking No. 1 globally and almost tripling what the U.S. has. China is also planning or building more wind farm capacity than any other country.


Source: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1r7G4szrq1xuqIA6xwfA9R29Rg5nWGH-HZ7vU9l6_DUg/edit?gid=1349303257#gid=1349303257

https://globalenergymonitor.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/GEM-China-wind-solar-brief-July2024.pdf

Lie: "I believe we lost 300,000 people last year to drugs, 300,000."
Truth: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's latest data shows that from May 2024 to April 2025 an estimated 43,000 people died from a synthetic opioid overdose, most of which are fentanyl. At its peak in 2022, the CDC reported nearly 74,000 overdose deaths from synthetic opioids, mainly fentanyl.

https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nvss/vsrr/drug-overdose-data.htm

--------
It's safe to assume that any statement from the administration should be considered a fabrication or exaggeration at the moment it's stated until any sort of documentation to verify is produced. When you find yourself subject to a government leader who's every statement is assumed to be untruthful, you are on a precarious ledge in terms of world peace. You give a government that lies as an initial reaction to any question access to the largest military in the world, and you end up with thousands of dead civilians and military members.

I've lost interest, so I'll leave it to our smart readers to determine whether random fact-checked statements (that have nothing to do with "negative action of which it is guilty") suffice for this very bold and broad claim:

the only thing that you can reliably assume is that this administration will attempt to cover-up and lie about any negative action of which it is guilty.