In Effort To Save Saudi Arabia From The Houthis, Has The U.S. Created Another Gulf Of Tonkin?

• In Effort To Save Saudi Arabia From The Houthis, Has The U.S. Created Another Gulf Of Tonkin?
  by Brandon Turbeville, http://www.activistpost.com/  
  No longer content to lead from behind with the occasional drone bomb, the United States has now resorted to launching missiles from vessels off the Yemeni coast into the embattled nation. Having launched attacks at several Houthi “command and control” centers allegedly housing radar, the U.S. is once again only entrenching its position as a great force for evil and destruction the world over.
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  Per usual, the U.S. justification for the attack is questionable at best, and, in the end, an example of just how arrogant and aggressive U.S. foreign policy is toward the rest of the world and, in particular, those nations and forces who do not capitulate to U.S. interests.
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  According to mainstream press reports and the U.S. government itself, the United States responded to alleged missiles being fired from Houthi-occupied territory at the U.S. Destroyer U.S.S. Mason. After four alleged missiles being fired in two alleged separate incidents, the U.S. ship, which was operating off the coast of Yemen, fired missiles at the Houthi radar locations.
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  The Western press has, of course, responded in a predictable fashion by rushing to point out that the U.S. position was entirely justified and was nothing more than retaliation at unprovoked threats produced by the “Iranian proxies” fighting against the democratic kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s invasion of Yemeni territory.
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  “For the United States, it was simple retaliation: Rebels in Yemen had fired missiles at an American warship twice in four days, and so the United States hit back, destroying rebel radar facilities with missiles,” reads a report in the New York Times. But the framing of the incident assumes that the Houthis actually fired the missiles and that the U.S. merely acted in self-defense and retaliation. It also assumes that the U.S. was justified for having its ships off the coast of Yemen to begin with.
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  For their part, the Houthi forces have denied firing any missiles at U.S. ships.
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  Interestingly enough, the United States itself admits that the Houthis may not have fired the missiles. In fact, they admit that they do not even know for sure who fired the missiles. Pentagon Spokesman Peter Cook actually stated, “We don’t know who was pulling the trigger specifically,” stopping short of actually blaming the Houthis for the record. But nevertheless, the U.S. “retaliated” against them.
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  Take a look at the logic being presented by the Pentagon here. “Missiles were fired presumably at our ship. We do not know who fired them. Therefore, we attacked the Houthis.” Is it now considered prudent military and international policy to bomb forces for an act no one is actually sure they committed?
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  With all this in mind and given the track record of the United States government ginning up “attacks” in order to justify foreign military adventures, it would be wise to question the nature and even the existence of the “missile attacks” to begin with, not only who actually fired the missiles. Indeed, it was in 1964 that the U.S. government claimed North Vietnamese forces fired torpedoes and machine guns at the U.S.S. Maddoxwhich subsequently resulted in large-scale involvement of the United States in Vietnam. Decades later, the Gulf of Tonkin Incident has largely been proven as nothing more than a fabrication of the U.S. government in order to justify war in Vietnam.
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