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False Flag Alert: USS Cole Deployed to Yemen as Washington Looks for Excuse to Attack Houthis
False
flag alert
4
January, 2017
Despite
having a limitless supply of American weaponry at its disposal, the
Saudi invasion of Yemen has been a complete catastrophe. The Houthis
have made Yemen into an Afghanistan-esque nightmare for Riyadh.
Meanwhile, the humanitarian crisis in Yemen is becoming so large that
even culpable western media outlets are unable to hide the ugly
reality on the ground: Millions on the verge of starvation, as well
as regular reports of atrocities committed by the Saudis.
The
latest embarrassment for the Saudis in Yemen is an alleged attack
against one of its frigates, allegedly carried out by the Houthis.
We're being quite liberal with our use of "alleged" because
frankly, when it comes to blown up ships off the coast of Yemen,
sometimes the official story is full of holes.
At
any rate, Washington now sees this attack as a
good excuse to deploy the famous USS Cole to Yemen.
Does that ship sound familiar? That's because it's the same USS Cole
that was attacked (allegedly by Al Qaeda) in Yemen in 2000, killing
17 sailors.
We're
not suggesting the U.S. is desperately trying to provoke or
manufacture some sort of attack against the Cole (again), allowing
Washington to bomb Yemen with impunity, thus "winning" the
war for the incompetent Saudis. We're just pointing out that the Gulf
of Tonkin incident worked like a charm.
Of
course, the U.S. has been targeting "Al Qaeda" in Yemen for
a long time, mostly with drones. But we wouldn't be at all surprised
if Washington was looking for a larger role in the conflict.
After
all, Trump's hawkish stance on Iran would logically translate into a
more hands-on
As
Anti-War.com noted:
That
they presented the targeted Saudi frigate as aimed at the US suggests
the USS Cole is being sent in no small part with an eye toward
it drawing
such an attack from the Houthis as well, potentially giving the US a
pretext for a deeper involvement in the Saudi invasion than the
substantial involvement the US already has.
Let's
hope not.
Press Secretary Sean Spicer Falsely Accuses Iran of Attacking U.S. Navy Vessel, an Act of War
2
February, 2017
WHITE
HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY Sean Spicer asserted at Thursday’s press
briefing that Iran had attacked a U.S. naval vessel, as part of his
argument defending the administration’s bellicose announcement that
Iran is “on notice.”
National
Security Adviser Michael Flynn on Wednesday said he was “officially
putting Iran on notice” following the country’s ballistic missile
test and an attack on a Saudi naval vessel by Houthi rebels in Yemen
(the Houthis are tenuously aligned with Iran’s government but are
distinct from it).
The
White House press corps wanted to know what being put “on notice”
entailed, and Spicer responded by claiming that Iran’s government
took actions against a U.S. naval vessel, which would be an act of
war. “I think General Flynn was really clear yesterday that Iran
has violated the Joint Resolution, that Iran’s additional hostile
actions that it took against our Navy vessel are ones that we are
very clear are not going to sit by and take,” he said. “I think
that we will have further updates for you on those additional
actions.”
Major
Garrett of CBS News quietly corrected him, saying “a Saudi vessel,”
and Spicer then responded almost inaudibly: “Sorry, thank you, yes
a Saudi vessel. Yes, that’s right.” He did not in any way address
his false claim that it was an Iranian attack, however.
Watch
Spicer’s remarks:
Pentagon spokesman Christopher Sherwood confirmed to The Intercept that the attack was in fact conducted against a Saudi warship, and that the Pentagon suspects Houthi rebels. “It was a Saudi ship – it was actually a frigate” said Sherwood. “It was [conducted by] suspected Houthi rebels off the coast of Yemen.”
Fox News initially misreported that a U.S. ship was somehow the target — which is perhaps where some of the confusion in the White House originated
This is the huge banner on @FoxNews right now. I have some important context to follow, from a US official. #Yemen http://www.foxnews.com/world/2017/01/31/exclusive-pentagon-believes-attack-on-saudi-frigate-meant-for-us-warship.html …
This,
of course, is how American wars start. In the infamous 1964 “Gulf
of Tonkin incident,” as it is often referred to, the White House
and the Pentagon accused North Vietnamese forces of attacking two
Navy destroyers in the Gulf of Tonkin off Vietnam on August 4.
President Lyndon Johnson used the attacks to coax Congress into
approving a resolution, known as the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, that
authorized military action in Vietnam. As the New York Times noted a
few years ago, the “attack never happened.”
And
way back in February 1898, a U.S. warship, the Maine, was moored in
Havana’s harbor when a huge explosion blew it apart, killing most
of its crew. The explosion was blamed on Spain, and led to a rallying
cry particularly in U.S. newspapers of “Remember the Maine!” In
April of that year, the United States declared war on Spain, even
though there was no proof of Spanish responsibility for the
explosion, and much reason to doubt it. As the Washington Post
reported, an official Navy inquiry concluded in the 1970s that “a
mine or torpedo could not have been responsible for the blast. The
likely cause was a coal bunker fire that ignited the ship’s
magazine.”
The
U.S. and Iran both have ships in the Gulf area. The U.S. dispatched
ships to the Bab-el Mandeb strait off the coast of Yemen in October
to reinforce a Saudi-led naval blockade that has devastated the
country and left 14 million people going hungry. At the time, an
anonymous government official told Fox News that “this is a show of
force.” Later that month, after rockets fired from
Houthi-controlled territory appeared to target a U.S. warship, the
Obama administration authorized strikes on three radar sites in
Western Yemen.
In
early January, a U.S. Navy ship fired warning shots at Iranian
vessels the Pentagon said were approaching it in the Strait of
Hormuz, on the opposite side of the Arabian peninsula.
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