False Flag Flying
Now that Dick Cheney has been hamstrung in his fairly overt plans to attack Iran, the risks of a Gulf of Tonkin type false flag operation must have increased significantly. I’m sure Cheney is spitting bricks today.
In a blog entry in September, Council of Foreign Relations member, and erstwhile US Senator, Gary Hart wrote some “Unsolicited Advice to the Government of Iran,” saying, “Presuming that you are not actually ignorant enough to desire war with the United States, you might be well advised to read the history of the sinking of the U.S.S. Maine in Havana harbor in 1898 and the history of the Gulf of Tonkin in 1964.
“Having done so, you will surely recognize that Americans are reluctant to go to war unless attacked. Until Pearl Harbor, we were even reluctant to get involved in World War II. For historians of American wars the question is whether we provoke provocations.”
And there lies the danger. 3 US carrier groups are currently stationed within anti-ship missile range of the Iranian coast. A single incident, appearing to have come from Iran, would be enough to scupper the good intentions of the US intelligence community, who, no doubt, are still smarting from the Senate Report of Pre-war Intelligence on Iraq.
As Gary Hart pointed out, the Gulf of Tonkin episode is only one example that demonstrates past US willingness to dupe its own people into an action they otherwise would not support.