The Associated Press reports on a truly terrible idea that the Biden administration is considering:
The US military is considering putting armed personnel on commercial ships traveling through the Strait of Hormuz, in what would be an unheard of action aimed at stopping Iran from seizing and harassing civilian vessels, five American officials told The Associated Press on Thursday.
It would be a serious mistake to put US military personnel on these vessels. The assumption that the presence of Americans on these ships would discourage Iran from seizing them is probably wrong. It is possible that the presence of small detachments of US personnel would invite challenges and make the ships more of a target than they would be otherwise. In any case, it would put those Americans at risk of being injured, captured, or killed for the sake of protecting ships that their own governments or the governments of regional states ought to be safeguarding.
It would be a misuse of US resources and manpower at a time when the US already has too many of its forces in the Middle East. It makes no sense to court armed confrontations between US and Iranian forces when the US cannot afford a new conflict in the region. In the event of a clash, it would be difficult to avoid back-and-forth reprisals, and with each reprisal there would be increased risk of casualties and further escalation.
Read the rest of the article at Eunomia
Daniel Larison is a weekly columnist for Antiwar.com and maintains his own site at Eunomia. He is former senior editor at The American Conservative. He has been published in the New York Times Book Review, Dallas Morning News, World Politics Review, Politico Magazine, Orthodox Life, Front Porch Republic, The American Scene, and Culture11, and was a columnist for The Week. He holds a PhD in history from the University of Chicago, and resides in Lancaster, PA. Follow him on Twitter.
Other than that massive wave of “trespassers” from the South, Texas does not need that kind of protection.
But what can you do?
We do not control world prices with our production and certainly we won’t increase our numbers to make ME oil production losses (through whatever cause) not to be a big deal.
Further escalation is exactly what the US wants and if it has to lose the few, the proud, the sacrificial lambs – so be it.
No mention of our pirating Iranian tankers,then selling the booty, oil, on the open market. Shiver me timbers!
How about that Syrian oil the US is plundering.
Along with a completely controlled press, having the military guarding corporate profits fits right into the fascist playbook.. If you disagree, many police forces would be happy to shoot you in the back..