Posted on 06/13/2019 3:49:20 PM PDT by rintintin
Many analysts have argued that the rising tensions between the United States and Iran in the Persian Gulf region, especially the claims by the United States that Iran is increasing its military capabilities bear disturbing similarities to the run up to the Iraq war in 2002 and 2003, when the Bush administration falsely hyped Iraq’s pursuit of weapons of mass destruction.
While this analogy may be correct, the events are actually more similar to the Gulf of Tonkin incident, which occurred in August 1964—something I remember well.
On August 2, 1964, the destroyer Maddox—which was part of a carrier battle group deployed to the Gulf of Tonkin to conduct reconnaissance and intercept North Vietnamese communications in support of attacks by South Vietnamese patrol boats on North Vietnamese coastal targets—was approached by three North Vietnamese torpedo patrol boats. As they drew near, the Maddox fired three warning shots and the North Vietnamese responded with torpedoes and machine gun fire. The Maddox returned fire, eventually expending 280 shells and damaging the North Vietnamese torpedo boats. These attacks also killed four North Vietnamese sailors and wounded six more. There were no U.S. casualties and the Maddox was essentially unscathed.
While President Lyndon Johnson’s national-security team was deliberating how to respond to this situation, another attack occurred. At 9 a.m. on August 4, 1964, the Maddox reported that, based on radar and communications intercepts, North Vietnamese ships and aircraft were poised to wage another attack. Two hours later it claimed that it had actually been attacked by North Vietnamese torpedoes—a claim the captain of the Maddox eventually backtracked on.
(Excerpt) Read more at nationalinterest.org ...
The mullahs are getting chesty. They’re probably going to test a nuke soon.
Japan just lost a shipment. There going to feel that loss particularly if the replacement shipment is delayed.
I tend to agree that we should remain skeptical as to Iran’s involvement. I’m just pointing out that allies (Japan) may start pressuring DJT to take action.
The pressure will come from Saudi Arabia and Israel.
This applied to just Kuwaiti ships and it was during the Iran-Iraq war. We also were more dependent on oil from the Middle East.
The two tankers that were just damaged are registered in Panama and some other country. The two situations are not analogous.
I wouldn’t trust the Saudis as far as I could throw their crown prince.
Also, the Kuwaiti tankers were not reflagged. We protected them, but their registry was not transferred to the US.
The Iranians are the number one enemy of the Kingdom.
How is this leading to a Gulf of Tonkin incident? In the GOT incident, the US lied about an attack on a US destroyer. There was not an attack. Iran has (likely) blown up six tankers and an oil pipeline already. They have captured, humiliated, and held American soldiers (under Obama).
So the author thinks the US is now going to fake an incident? We won’t have to fake one.
That said, so far, Trump does not seem eager to go to war the way our last four presidents have been. I hope we aren’t going to send more troops off to another war in the Middle East.
It deserves to be noted that one of the two tankers was flagged to the Marshall Islands (the other to Panama). Who’s technically responsible for the military defense of Marshall Islanders? Donald Trump! They are mostly independent, but the US is responsible for their defense. And I suspect the Islanders would be quick to point out that has historically been a very one sided relationship in our favor — lots of our bases on their territory to our advantage, but little, if any actions by us specifically in their defense. I doubt Trump wants to claim this as an act of war against us, but like the Iranian invasion of our embassy under Peanut Brain this conceivably could be so characterized.
This is real and strategically more serious than Vietnam. But I think that if somthing real heats up in the gulf, China will move on Taiwan.
Imagine how much better the world would be if those people remained bottled up in their backwards world, instead of contaminating ours.
Imagine how much better the world would be if those people remained bottled up“
Imagine how much better US would be if we’d spent the last 20 years controlling our own border instead of focused on the borders of countries half a world away
Iran has (likely) blown up six tankers“
Says the same people who claimed Saddam had WMDs. Excuse me for being skeptical. Saudis have much more to gain from this attack than Iran does. In fact Iran has nothing to gain from it
“The mullahs are getting chesty. They’re probably going to test a nuke soon.”
“Probably”. Yes, a good reason for us to go to war
I suspect you were a strong support of invading Iraq, because they “probably” had WMDs. Am I right?
Durka durka!
Abakala, Muhammad jihad...
The best is the bar scene with the “three types of people” speech.
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