Gulf defense pact requires action as well as words

Gulf foreign ministers last month did something they rarely do. In their Oct. 18 postsummit communique, they invoked the joint defense agreement signed in Manama in December 2000: an attack on one member, they said, is an attack on all six. Days later, Houthi attacks put the area around Makkah in danger. On Sunday, the Coalition to Restore Legitimacy in Yemen struck Houthi missile and drone sites. The next day, another ballistic missile was intercepted over southern Saudi Arabia. The words, then