Saturday, July 18, 2015

Good guy Gulf

Charles Krauthammer railing against the Iran deal in the Washington Post --

Imagine how Iran’s acquisition of the most advanced anti-ship missiles would threaten our control over the gulf and the Strait of Hormuz, waterways we have kept open for international commerce for a half-century. 

The US period of keeping the Gulf open for commerce includes the time during the Iran-Iraq war when Saddam Hussein came up with the strategy of attacking Iranian oil tankers, which prompted a US-led multinational intervention to protect oil coming from Iraq and the Arab Gulf countries -- but not from Iran. The de facto alliance with Saddam meant turning to a blind eye to an Iraqi air force missile attack on the USS Stark, killing 37 sailors, and a grudging US apology to Iran when the USS Vincennes shot down Iran Air flight 655, killing 290 people.  Understandably, Iran is not so excited about the US commitment to open waterways in the Gulf.

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