Literally thousands of miles away from any US coast, the US Coast Guard fired what officials are calling a “warning shot” against an Iranian dhow in the Persian Gulf. No casualties were reported.
The dhow, a type of sail-powered trading vessel common in the Indian Ocean and surrounding area, had two .50 caliber machine guns mounted on it for defensive purposes, and one of the guns was manned when the Coast Guard vessel approached it in what officials are calling a “routine maritime security operation.”
The Pentagon insists they concluded the crew “demonstrated hostile intent” and fired at the dhow, though whether it was actually hit is not known. The dhow did not fire on the Americans at all.
Iran has yet to comment on the incident, but it underscores the problems of having a significant US Naval presence parked off the Iranian coast for some future war, and the trigger-happy nature of US troops approaching any Age of Sail-era shipping vessels they happen to see in the Gulf.
What is US Coast Guard doing in the Persian Gulf?
their GPS was faulty
Perhaps they are trigger happy and anxious to have a little of that show-the-ragheads-who's-boss action, or perhaps they are intentionally trying to provoke an incident that can then be spun into a casus belli.
Post-911 anti-Islam hysteria: the gift that keeps on giving.
Perhaps they were using that dead-on CIA intelligence and thought they were in Charleston Harbor…besides, it's much warmer there than off the Alaskan coast – watching the Ruskies…or the crab fleet.
Or maybe the US has decided to expand its territorial waters…and just forgot to mention it to everybody.
Trying to reenact what will rogers junior did to the Iranian jet liner with 280 pilgrims women /children babies.were blown out of the skies over Iran.
WTF? The US Coast Guard is in the Persian Gulf? And is trying to police it? Calgon, take me away!
Did not know the US territorial waters extend about 6,000 miles from their shores. But this incident shows the cowardice of the Americans new military doctrine, hence the American soldier. Why does a military vessel fire at an old wooden dhow that does not even threaten a jet ski?
As the old vietnam mantra "SHOOT ANYTHING THAT MOVES"
The life of our military men is more important then the life of foreign civilians, just as the life of a legalized killer is more important then the life of a black kid in Ferguson. A reverse of the way a democracy should be, a fake morality that reveals a dictator’s paradise.
There were pictures of US Coast Guard members manning convoys in Afghanistan. The Wall ST. Journal did a story on the USCG in Afghanistan in June of this year.
Can someone tell the idiots in Washington that the word "
Coast" in Coast guard refers to the American Coast, not the "Persian Coast."
So the Coast Guard attempts to board a vessel in international waters and they wonder why the boat seemed hostile???
What gives them the right to board anything in international waters?
The ZIONIST did to the Marvi Mamara backed by the good old USA.
High Society oil merchants — Terrorizing working class fishers of the sea
Class warfare? Perhaps as our military is nothing more then mercenaries enforcing a lawless anarchy by and for the corporate rich.
perhaps the sailboat crew looked black
They are also antagonizing the Chinese in the South China Sea.
Isn't us coast guard needs to guard the us waters looking for drug trafficker? Or is it possible that they are in Persian gulf making sure the traffic is trafficking safe and sound into Indian Ocean and then home.
It helps explain why we have so many immigrant and drugs entering the USA. Our coast guard if off patrolling the coast of Iran. I think they could be better served helping the USA and not the interest of our special friends. Our special friends appear to have a problem with international waters also.
What is our Coast Guard doing on somebody else's coast???
This is the exact type of thing that the USA has been doing since its inception. This is what started the Barbary war – the aggressive US going around the world shooting at and disregarding other people as lesser-thans.
This is who we are. Nothing new.
They forgot that the Iranians are now on the same side as they are, fighting IS/ISIS/ISIL……
The coast guard ship was captained by Kermit the frog. With miss piggy by his side. Not easy being green.
Nothing new? The US military has a history for murdering the unarmed.