New Player
In the Iranian yachting regatta. BBC:
The admission by the US Navy that Iranian speedboats might not have been the source of an apparent threat to attack American ships in the Gulf is a significant move that raises new fears about the chances of unintended clashes in the region.
It has worrying similarities with the incident in 1988 when, in the same Strait of Hormuz, the USS Vincennes shot down an Iranian civilian airliner, having failed to monitor the radio traffic properly.
…
The US government later suggested that one factor at play on the Vincennes was a condition called “scenario fulfilment” in which military personnel are under such pressure that they expect and then execute a particular scenario, as if in an exercise.
A couple of key differences, Beeb. No one shot anything this time, and even the Iranians aren’t suggesting those were happy waterskiiers. But thanks for devoting the top half of your article to a two-decade-old tragedy.
What is clear is that there are grave doubts about who uttered the warning picked up by the US ships. A deep voice was heard to say: “I am coming at you. You will explode after a few minutes.”
The video released by the US implied that the warning was part of a series of transmissions to the ships from the Iranian craft.
It turns out that the warning was added onto the video. It was a radio recording made separately.
Experts say it could have come from another ship in the area or from a radio transmitter on shore. The channel used by the Iranian vessels to make their inquiries is an open one.
So it sounds like the mullahpologist may be on to something. The Bush-lied crowd is crowing gotcha, though like Ron Paul they apparently don’t recognize that erratic dareSatan speedboats in the Strait of Hormuz are a threat. Also, that the U.S. has acknowledged they don’t know where this originated. Anyway, where the heck did it originate, and who is this apparently non-Iranian, possibly Arab-sounding broadcaster who is coordinating his transmissions with Revolutionary Guard harrassment? If this is meant to be some kind of setup, who’s setting up what?
This Moderate Voice Kumbayah chorus member wishes Bush would just stop the saber rattling good-faithedly diplomatize with our Persian partner for peace.
Topics: Iran
Posted by Jules Crittenden at 10:39 am on Friday, January 11, 2008
5 Responses to “New Player”
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January 11th, 2008 at 11:05 am
Isn’t it enough that there was a radio transmission while the speedboats were in proximity to the American ships ?
Is the controversy over its source really that significant ?
Will we descend into some endless international he said/she said debate here ?
Rather than avoid a debacle like the Vincennes/airliner incident, it seems like the Iranians are trying to provoke one.
I liked Fred’s comment on the speedboat incident in last night’s SC debate…
“I think one more step and they would have been introduced to those virgins that they’re looking forward to seeing.”
January 11th, 2008 at 11:08 am
I don’t care who made the broadcast, it’s beside the point.
The point is, or should be:
Play funny games with warships, get dead. No exceptions.
January 11th, 2008 at 5:02 pm
OR:
May we deduce that the Iranians want a direct conflict, perhaps the first shot fired by rattled American naval officers, but utterly untraceable because so many other Islamic actors (given radical Islam’s War Against Infidels = Dar Al-Harb) are willing to pitch in.
I really believe in the Event Horizon: that we, who believe in the enlightenment values of the West are in a fight to the death with the warriors of Islam, who have a very different belief in the outcome of Mankind.
Our saving grace may come in those Islamic countries (and Muslims in the West) who recognize the battle between the forces of savagery and the forces of civilization, and opt for civilization. The alternative is a war of decimation, and they must surely realize they will lose.
January 11th, 2008 at 6:50 pm
Haven’t they left out one little incident that occurred since the Vincennes, involving another U.S. Naval vessel: The U.S.S. Cole? I know that it may be difficult for that part of the media that did nothing beyond showing up to (once again) film Clinton standing at the podium accusing whoever of cowardice and vowing to “bring those responsible to justice” to remember that particular act of war (among so many others they’ve also conveniently forgotten). After all, it happened just as the 2000 presidential race was heating up, and as we all know, nothing must get in the way of reporting the inane banalities and bromides burped by our candidates. Unless they can point a finger at their own perfidious country, of course.
January 12th, 2008 at 12:50 am
The USS Cole was hit in October 2000 IIRC, only about a month or less from the election. Furthermore in 2002 a French supertanker cruising off the Yemen was attacked by a suicide speedboat that blew a hole in the ship. The perps, something called The Islamic Army of Yemen I think, said in a broadcast that they would have preferred to hit an American frigate, but it was OK, because they are all infidels.
So we have speedboats which might be suicide bombs dropping boxes with unkonwn contents in shipping channels in international waters as hazards to navigation. Next time get some practice with the five-inchers and say “They were dropping what might be mines in an international shipping channel, so we figured they were pirates, and acted accordingly.”