Billy Key
Role at the time: U.S. Army major and operations planner for the commander of the 103rd Sustainment Command, wounded in the March 1 strike
Response to this claim
Officers told the Associated Press that the generals who moved the unit to Port Shuaiba knew it lacked defenses against drones, and that intelligence officers had warned them it was a likely secondary target for Iran.
“Kuwait was just too close, that’s the bottom line”
Associated Press investigation based on interviews with 13 soldiers, primarily officers, several on the record and others anonymously, plus Gold Star families. It includes the Army's statement declining to comment on specific details before families are briefed, and a statement that the Pentagon also declined to comment. The AP page lists an update on October 6, 2026; the wording we quote matched an AP member copy published October 5.
Archived copy (opens in a new tab)Why we used this label
The reference point is whether the military failed the soldiers at Port Shuaiba in protecting them or in caring for the wounded. Key says the unit should not have been in Kuwait, that the command rejected safer sites, and that the work "could have been anywhere," an express criticism of the decision that exposed the soldiers. The closest competing label is Mixed or conditional, but he offers no support for the decision. Evidence: direct quotations in an Associated Press report.