2026年4月9日 07:47:28 EDT / 哥伦比亚广播公司新闻（CBS News）
作者：
乔纳·卡普兰 调查记者
乔纳·卡普兰是一名获奖记者，以其平衡的报道、深入的访谈和对影响社区的重大事件的深度研究报道而享有盛誉。他的作品出现在WCCO所有的新闻节目中，并经常出现在CBS新闻的节目和平台上，包括《CBS晚间新闻》《CBS早间新闻》和CBS 24/7。
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迈克尔·卡普兰 记者兼制片人
迈克尔·卡普兰是CBS新闻调查部门的获奖记者兼制片人。他专门获取独家新闻，并制作长篇电视调查报道。他的作品曾出现在《60分钟》、CNN和《纽约时报》中。
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这场自战争爆发以来伊朗对美军发动的最致命袭击的幸存者驳斥了五角大楼对事件的描述，并称当6名军人阵亡、20多人受伤时，他们在科威特的部队处于极其危险的暴露状态。
这些被袭击部队的成员首次公开露面，向CBS新闻讲述了袭击的详细经过以及从现场人员视角出发的令人胆寒的后续情况。
接受CBS新闻采访的成员驳斥了国防部长皮特·赫格斯的事件描述，赫格斯将这架无人机称为“漏网之鱼”——称其突破了科威特境内一支设防部队的防御。
“将事件描述为‘一架钻了空子’是谎言，”一名受伤士兵告诉CBS新闻。“我想让人们知道，这支部队……根本没有能力进行任何自卫。那不是一个设防阵地。”
这名和其他受访者一样因军队严格的媒体限制而要求匿名的军人表示，尽管随后发生了大屠杀，但在被烧焦、支离破碎的营地里的人员以迅捷的行动、创造力和勇气挽救了生命。
“我认为，安全环境或任何领导层的决定都丝毫不会削弱他们的牺牲和服役价值，”第103维持司令部的这名军人在采访中说道。“那些士兵将自己置于危险之中……我为他们感到无比自豪，他们的家人也应该为他们感到骄傲。”
这些首批目击者的叙述，加上CBS新闻独家获得的袭击后果的照片和视频，首次详细描述了3月1日伊朗无人机袭击时，这座防御薄弱的科威特港口设施内发生的情况。
2026年3月1日，伊朗无人机袭击造成6名美军官兵阵亡，图为袭击现场升起的浓烟。
在袭击发生前的几个小时，来袭导弹警报响起，约60名官兵躲进水泥掩体，当时一枚弹道导弹从头顶飞过。但大约在上午9点15分，解除警报响起。军官们摘下头盔，回到他们在木制和铁皮工作区的办公桌前，该工作区宽度相当于三个活动板房。
他们从那里继续管理中东地区的装备、弹药和人员调动。
大约30分钟后，“一切都在晃动”，一名士兵告诉CBS新闻。“那种感觉就像你在电影里看到的那样。你的耳朵在嗡嗡作响，一切都模糊不清，视线模糊，头晕目眩，到处都是灰尘和烟雾。”
这名军人茫然地环顾四周，看到了可怕的场景：“头部受伤、大量出血，很多人耳膜穿孔，到处都是弹片，所以人们腹部、手臂和腿部都在流血。”
一段视频显示建筑冒出滚滚浓烟，火势闷燃。爆炸造成6人死亡——这是2021年以来美军遭遇的最致命袭击——另有20多人受伤。
这是一次直接命中。
2026年3月1日，伊朗无人机袭击造成6名美军官兵阵亡，图为袭击现场的 aftermath。
“撤离危险区域”
在“史诗之怒行动”发起前约一周，驻扎在科威特的大多数美军士兵和空军人员被转移到约旦和沙特阿拉伯的阵地，远离伊朗的导弹射程。一些士兵表示，领导层告知他们不会离开太久——打包30天的行李，留下大部分个人装备，包括军用配发的电脑。目标是：不要成为目标。
“当时的说法是‘撤离危险区域’，意思是远离危险地带，”一名刚从部署地返回的士兵解释道。
但对于驻扎在科威特城以南一个主要美军基地的第103维持司令部的数十名成员来说，收到的是另一套命令：打包所有物品并转移到舒艾巴港——科威特南海岸外的一个小型军事前哨。
该战术作战中心类似伊拉克和阿富汗战争期间常见的建筑——在无人机战争兴起之前。建筑周围环绕着被称为T型墙的钢筋混凝土屏障。这类屏障旨在保护军人免受迫击炮或火箭弹的爆炸冲击，但无法抵御空中袭击。
“这就是那种典型的老旧军事基地，”一名士兵回忆道。“有一些小型屏障，还有一堆铁皮小屋，我们可以在那里搭建临时办公室。”
后勤人员将从这里管理中东战区内弹药、装备和人员的作战和信息流动。尽管如此，士兵们告诉CBS新闻，他们对为何仍留在伊朗导弹和无人机的射程范围内感到疑惑。一名士兵表示，他们看到情报显示该哨所被列入了伊朗的潜在目标名单。
“我们搬到了离伊朗更近的、极度不安全的已知目标区域，”这名士兵说。“我认为从未有人给出过合理的解释。”
他说，保护他们的不过是一层薄薄的垂直防爆屏障，无法提供来自上方的防护。
“从掩体的角度来看，这已经是最薄弱的了，”他说。
当被问及防御工事的程度时，他回答：“我的意思是，我会把它归为零类。从无人机防御能力来看……完全没有。”
五角大楼发言人以正在对舒艾巴港袭击事件进行调查为由，拒绝置评士兵们的说法。
在X平台上针对CBS新闻此前关于该事件的报道发表回应时，助理国防部长肖恩·帕内尔表示，“已采取一切可能措施保护我们的部队——在各个层面”，并且“这座安全设施建有6英尺高的围墙进行加固”。
“现场一片混乱”
随着战争打响，很明显伊朗将放弃常规防御，更多地依赖廉价且充足的无人机——这种武器库改变了乌克兰等地的战场态势。
正是其中一架伊朗“见证者”无人机直接在美国士兵的工作场所中心引爆。
“现场一片混乱，”另一名受伤士兵描述道。“没有统一的伤员分诊队列。你要么在火区的一侧，要么在另一侧。”
据目击者称，士兵们用临时绷带、支架和止血带自行进行了分诊。他们征用民用车辆将伤员送往科威特城法赫伊尔郊区的两家当地医院。
“对我来说最艰难的事情之一是，我知道我们没有把所有人都救出来，所以我知道目前仍有士兵留在那里，尚未被确认身份和撤离，”一名幸存者在其他团队撤离其余遇难者之前前往医院的紧张时刻说道。
“说出真相很重要”
赫格斯在华盛顿一场新闻发布会上对事件的描述让一些幸存者感到不满。这位部长将无人机称为“漏网之鱼”，称其“恰好击中了一个设防的战术作战中心，但这些都是威力强大的武器”。
尽管几位熟悉现场情况的人不同意这一描述，但他们不希望自己的言论被误解。
“我的意图不是打击士气，也不是全面贬低陆军或国防部，但我确实认为说出真相很重要，如果我们假装这些错误没有发生，我们就无法从这些错误中吸取教训，”一名士兵说。
当被问及袭击是否是参战不可避免的现实时，他表示同意。
“没错，”他说。
当被问及这次袭击是否可以避免时，这名士兵补充道：“在我看来，绝对可以。”
“我为他们的逝去感到非常难过，这件事我会铭记一生，”他说。“但我也为他们和他们的牺牲感到无比自豪，他们的家人也应该如此。”
Army survivors of deadly attack in Kuwait dispute Pentagon’s account, say unit “was unprepared” to defend itself
2026-04-09 07:47:28 EDT / CBS News
By
Jonah Kaplan Investigative Reporter
Jonah Kaplan is an award-winning journalist who has built a strong reputation for his balanced reporting, thoughtful interviews, and deeply researched coverage of high-impact issues affecting the community. His work appears on all of WCCO’s newscasts and is often featured on CBS News’ programs and platforms, including the CBS Evening News, CBS Mornings and CBS 24/7.
Read Full Bio
Michael Kaplan Reporter and Producer
Michael Kaplan is an award-winning reporter and producer for the CBS News investigative unit. He specializes in securing scoops and crafting long-form television investigations. His work has appeared on “60 Minutes,” CNN and in The New York Times.
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Survivors of the deadliest Iranian attack on U.S. forces since the war began have disputed the Pentagon’s description of events and said their unit in Kuwait was left dangerously exposed when six service members were killed and more than 20 wounded.
Speaking publicly for the first time, members of the targeted unit offered CBS News a detailed account of the attack and its harrowing aftermath from the perspective of those on the ground.
The members CBS News spoke to disputed the description of events from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who described the drone as a “squirter” — in that it squirted through the defenses of a fortified unit inside Kuwait.
“Painting a picture that ‘one squeaked through’ is a falsehood,” one of the injured soldiers told CBS News. “I want people to know the unit … was unprepared to provide any defense for itself. It was not a fortified position.”
That service member, who like others spoke on the condition of anonymity because of rigid media restrictions within the military, said that in spite of the carnage that ensued, those inside the charred and splintered compound responded with swiftness, ingenuity and valor that saved lives.
“I don’t think that the security environment or any leadership decision diminishes in any way their sacrifice or their service,” the member of the Army’s 103rd Sustainment Command said in an interview. “Those soldiers put themselves in harm’s way and … I’m immensely proud of them, and their family should be proud of them.”
These first eyewitness accounts, along with photos and videos of the attack’s aftermath obtained exclusively by CBS News, offer the first descriptions of what occurred March 1 at the thinly fortified Kuwaiti port facility on the day of the Iranian drone strike.
Smoke rises from the site of an Iranian drone attack that killed six U.S. service members in Kuwait on March 1, 2026.
In the hours before the attack, incoming missile alarms had signaled to a crew of about 60 troops to take cover in a cement bunker while a ballistic missile flew overhead. But around 9:15 a.m., an all-clear alert sounded. Officers removed their helmets and returned to their desks in the wood and tin workspace, about the width of three trailers.
From there they resumed managing the movement of equipment, munitions and personnel across the Middle East.
About 30 minutes later, “everything shook,” one soldier told CBS News. “And it’s something like what you see in the movies. Your ears are ringing. Everything’s fuzzy. Your vision is blurry. You’re dizzy. There’s dust and smoke everywhere.”
Dazed, the service member surveyed a grisly scene: “Head wounds, heavy bleeding, lots of perforated eardrums, and then just shrapnel all over, so folks are bleeding from their abdomen, bleeding from arms, bleeding from legs.”
A video shows smoke billowing from the building, fires smoldering. The blast killed six — the deadliest attack on U.S. troops since 2021 — and injured more than 20 others.
It was a direct hit.
Aftermath of the Iranian drone attack that killed six U.S. service members in Kuwait on March 1, 2026.
“Get off the X”
About one week before the launch of Operation Epic Fury, most American soldiers and airmen stationed in Kuwait were relocated to positions in Jordan and Saudi Arabia and further away from Iranian missile range. Some soldiers said leadership advised them they wouldn’t be gone long — to pack for 30 days and leave behind most personal equipment, including their military-issued computers. The goal: don’t be a target.
“The way it was described was ‘Get off the X,’” meaning away from the danger zone, one soldier who just returned from deployment explained.
But for several dozen members of the Army’s 103rd Sustainment Command at a major U.S. base south of Kuwait City, there were a different set of orders: pack up everything and relocate to Port of Shuaiba, a smaller military outpost off Kuwait’s southern coast.
The tactical operation center was similar to structures commonplace during the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan — before the rise of drone warfare. Steel-reinforced concrete barriers known as T-walls surrounded the building. These types of barriers are designed to shield service members from the blast of a mortar or rocket but offer no protection from aerial attacks.
“It’s just kind of a classic, older military base,” one soldier recalled. “Some small barriers. There’s a bunch of little tin buildings where we can set up makeshift offices.”
From there, a logistics staff would manage the operational and informational flow of munitions, equipment and personnel across the Middle East theater. Still, the soldiers told CBS News, they had questions about why they remained well within range of Iran’s missiles and drones. One soldier said they saw intelligence showing the post was on a list of potential Iranian targets.
“We moved closer to Iran, to a deeply unsafe area that was a known target,” the soldier said. “I don’t think there was a good reason ever articulated.”
He said they were protected by little more than a thin layer of vertical standing blast barricades that did not provide cover from above.
“From a bunker standpoint, that’s about as weak as one gets,” he said.
Asked to describe the degree of fortification, he responded: “I mean, I would put it in the none category. From a drone defense capability … none.”
A Pentagon spokesperson declined to comment on the soldiers’ claims, citing an active investigation into the Port of Shuaiba attack.
In a post on X addressing prior CBS News reporting on the incident, Assistant Secretary of Defense Sean Parnell said “every possible measure has been taken to safeguard our troops — at every level” and that “[t]he secure facility was fortified with 6-foot walls.”
“It was chaos”
As the war got underway, it became clear that Iran would be moving away from a conventional defense and leaning more heavily on cheap and plentiful drones — an arsenal that has changed the battle calculus in places like Ukraine.
It was one of those Iranian Shahed drones that detonated directly at the center of the U.S. soldiers’ worksite.
“It was chaos,” another injured soldier described. “There was no single line of patients to triage. You’re on one side of the fire or you’re on the other side of the fire.”
The soldiers, according to witnesses, triaged themselves with makeshift bandages, braces and tourniquets. They commandeered civilian vehicles to drive the wounded to two local Kuwaiti hospitals in the Kuwait City suburb of Fahaheel.
“One of the hardest things for me is that I know we didn’t get everybody out, so I know that at this point there are still soldiers inside there that still haven’t been identified and evacuated,” one survivor said of the tense moments en route to the hospital before other teams extracted the remaining fallen.
“Telling the truth is important”
Word of Hegseth’s description of the events at a press conference in Washington did not sit well with some of the survivors. The secretary had described the drone as a “squirter” that “happened to hit a tactical operations center that was fortified, but these are powerful weapons.”
And while several of those familiar with the events on the ground did not agree with the description, they did not want their remarks to be misconstrued.
“It’s not my intent to diminish morale or to disparage the Army or the Department of War more holistically, but I do think that telling the truth is important and we’re not going to learn from these mistakes if we pretend these mistakes didn’t happen,” one soldier said.
Asked if the attack was an inherent reality of engaging in combat, he agreed.
“That’s true,” he said.
Asked if this attack was preventable, the soldier added: “In my opinion, absolutely, yes.”
“I am very sad for their loss and it’s something I’ll carry with me for the rest of my life,” he said. “But I’m also immensely proud of them and their sacrifice, and their family should be too.”
