SCHNEIDER DECRIES TRUMP ADMIN FOR PLANNING FAILURES LEADING TO REPORTED US STRIKE ON IRANIAN GIRLS SCHOOL, CALLS FOR HEGSETH’S REMOVAL

LINCOLNSHIRE, IL - Rep. Brad Schneider (IL-10), a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, released the following statement in response to preliminary reports that the U.S. was responsible for a February 28 strike on a girl's school in Iran:

"Reports that more than 150 girls and their teachers were tragically killed by an errant American strike on a school in Iran are devastating and damning. A preliminary U.S. assessment reportedly found the strike was likely the result of outdated targeting information that still identified the school as part of an Iranian military complex.

"If true, these children's deaths were the result of a leadership planning failure that should have been caught long before the first missiles were launched. This tragedy was not related to the fog of war, rather it is the result of the reckless rush to war.

"Add this tragedy to the Administration's failure to predict Iran's harsh retaliatory strikes against our allies, the failure to prepare evacuation plans for American citizens caught in the region at the start of the war, and the failure to anticipate the impacts of Iran's shutting of the Strait of Hormuz, and you see a recurring pattern of dangerous incompetence permeating the senior leadership in the White House and Department of War.

"Accountability starts at the top. Secretary Hegseth is responsible for ensuring our military goes to war with sound intelligence and careful planning. These reports indicate that the Pentagon went to war with targeting packages that hadn't been updated in several years, threatening the safety of our troops and compromising the success of their missions.

"This is the same Secretary of War who leaked sensitive strike plans on Signal, reportedly ordered a second strike on survivors clinging to wreckage at sea, and fired or forced out dozens of our most experienced military leaders in an unprecedented political purge.

"The Administration must release the full findings of its investigation and provide a complete accounting to Congress. It remains abundantly clear that Secretary Hegseth is unqualified for his position and should be immediately relieved of his duties and removed from his office."

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