US warships have once again attacked Yemen’s Red Sea coast after reporting for the third time in a week that they came under fire from the area by anti-ship missiles, a large number of which were fired but none of which actually hit anything. At least, that was the story initially.
After once again attacking Houthi targets along the coast, in spite of any evidence that the Houthis fired the missiles at them, officials are now saying they’re not even sure about the missiles, and are looking into the possibility that the USS Mason, which has claimed all the attacks, has a radar malfunction which is generating ghost signals.
This raises the possibility that the US warships are not only retaliating against the wrong people, but that there was nothing to retaliate against in the first place. Though there was some speculation that remnants of the Yemeni military were involved in firing missiles, by way of explaining why the Houthis were denying it, this must inevitably raise questions if anything happened at all other than the heavy-handed US reaction.
The Pentagon has been desperate to portray their attacks on Houthi radar installations as distinct from the ongoing Saudi war against the Houthis, which the US is already participating in. With the possibility that the attacks were a colossal error, however, it’s only going to add to its association to the blunder-ridden Saudi war.
“For all I know, our Navy was shooting at whales out there.” – Lyndon Johnson 1965
“It appears to have come under attack in the Red Sea again from coastal defense cruise missiles fired from the coast of Yemen,”
Chief of Naval Operations Adm. John Richardson
as soon as i read a military member uses a weasel word like “appears” i knew it was bs
I’m sure the Yemenis manning those radar sites that were attacked are breathing a sigh of relief it wasn’t their mistake. That is, if they’re still alive.
An early instance of this was “the battle of the pips” 27 July 1943, when US Navy battleships fired over 500 main battery rounds at radar targets that were never there. They may have been reflections of mountains over 100 miles away, or birds, but there were no ships there. There were also engagements with false images in late 1942 near Guadalcanal.
Ever since radar was used to fire “blind” at things not seen by eye, it has been involved in repeated instances of engaging false targets. It is the nature of the beast. Did it happen again? That should not be shocking if it did. Can it be avoided? Probably not, though a lot more care is indicated before doing yet another Tonkin Gulf incident from false readings.
Can you say, “Gulf of Tonkin?” Good, I knew you could. Rest in peace, Mr. Rogers. We won’t, not with our crazed military and political “leaders.”
oh no ! Not the Gulf of Tonkin Incident again !
Yup, it’s deja vu all over again.
So, they just fired a million dollars worth of missiles at a ‘radar anomoly’?
Your tax dollars at work, and make sure you spend the holidays working overtime so you can be sure to pay next year’s taxes on time. They’ve certainly got more phantoms lined up as targets the next time they detect a ghost.