Originally Posted by
Big Pistons Forever
I actually think it is that simple.
Then you need to do some re thinking.
The nightmare scenario is a direct hit with a hundred dead American sailors. A major regional conflict is then inevitable.
No, it is not.
Oddly enough, the
USS Cole suicide attack in Yemen didn't cause a major regional conflict.
While I personally find the scenario you describe as troubling (career USN man of course I do) it does not by itself result in a war.
See
USS Stark as another example, or
USS Samuel B Roberts.
I do agree that point defense cannot be assumed to be perfect.
Our politicians, going back to
USS Pueblo at the very least, some of the recon flights over Russian and China in the 1950's that never came back,
USS Liberty, or the Beirut Marine Barracks ... have been consistently willing to send our folks into harms way and then flounder about when some of them get shot at, attacked, or in
Pubelo's case, boarded/captured.
I don't see that mentality in Washington changing any time soon either.
If a missile gets through that will suck, but it will not necessarily start a major regional war.
In relevant news:
A U.S. military base in Iraq was attacked when Iranian-backed militants launched ballistic missiles and rockets at the Al-Asad Airbase near Baghdad. Most of the missiles were intercepted but some did hit the base, causing mostly minor injuries.
That isn't starting a regional war either.
(Comment on the lazy journo: "near Baghdad" is an odd descriptor. It's about a hundred miles to the west).