Do you remember the fleet in the Persian Gulf? They're now guarding against an Al-Qaeda attack.

Update below

Steven D at Booman Tribune:

Reports from Reuters today claim American and British naval forces have been deployed to protect Saudi Arabian and Bahraini oil facilities against a possible terrorist strike from Al Qaeda:

[...]

Note the timing. This alleged terrorist threat came last month. The Saudi security advisor as much as said all it amounted to was a generic claim by Al Qaeda, made on September 11th this year, to "target economic interests in the Gulf." Yet, today, a statement is issued by British Royal Navy that American and British naval forces have been deployed to counter specific threats to Saudi Arabia's Ras Tanura terminal, and Bahrain's Bapco refinery.

So who's telling the truth: the spokesperson for the Saudis or the Royal Navy? And do the upcoming US elections have anything to do with the Royal Navy's statement regarding this alarming, and previously undisclosed, terrorist threat to oil supplies from the Persian Gulf?

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Update:
Jeff Huber at Pen and Sword:

I'm not yet convinced that a war with Iran or Korea is inevitable, but I don't dismiss the possibility that at the highest levels of the White House, such wars are already a done deal.

Daniel Ellsburg is among the latest high profile political figures to suggest that we may soon see a replay of the Tonkin Gulf incident. Ellsburg is the former State Department official who "leaked" the so-called Pentagon Papers to the New York Times in 1971. Among other things, the Papers implied that LBJ used exaggerated reports of engagements in the Tonkin Gulf between U.S. and North Vietnamese naval forces to justify pre-planned expansion of air and ground operations in Vietnam. Ellsburg and others fear that the current U.S. naval "build up" in the Arabian Gulf region could produce a déjà vu all over again situation. I think that's entirely too possible, and am also concerned that the same sort of thing could happen with North Korea.

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