U.S. Manned Guns And Were "Very Close" To Firing On Iranian Ships - Video Inside

U.S. Manned Guns And Were "Very Close" To Firing On Iranian Ships - Video Inside

US manned guns and were 'very close' to firing on Iranian ships

http://rawstory.com/news/2007/US_manned_guns_and_were_very_0107.html

Published: Monday January 7, 2008

US Navy warships over the weekend came "very close" to shooting at an Iranian Revolutionary Guard vessel, which American officials say provoked US ships in international waters, according to CNN.

"US officials are confirming to CNN that five Iranian Revolutionary guard boats, in their words, 'harassed and provoked' three US Navy warships sailing in the Strait of Hormuz," reports CNN's Barbara Starr. "One of those Iranian boats came within 200 yards of a Navy warship."

The Iranian boats had also transmitted threats via radio, according to officials.

"According to the sources we have spoken to," Starr continued, "the Iranians made threatening moves and threatening radio transmissions. One of those transmissions was...'I am coming at you, you will explode in a couple of minutes.'"

According to the CNN website, "one of the Iranian ships had been dropping white boxes into the water in front of the US ships."

Following the radio transmission, a Navy ship had prepared to fire on an Iranian vessel.

"This official also tells CNN that when that radio transmission was heard, the Navy went to manning its positions, its gun positions on those ships," Starr reports, "and that they were very close to shooting at one of the Iranian boats. In fact the were ready to shoot, the orders had been given when the Iranians suddenly turned away."

No shots were fired, and there were no injuries.

"It is the most serious provocation of this sort that we've seen yet," an unnamed Pentagon official told the Associated Press. He added that the Iranian boats turned away "literally at the very moment that US forces were preparing to open fire."

AP reports the incident occurred about 5 a.m. local time Sunday as a US Navy cruiser, destroyer and frigate were transiting the strait on their way into the Persian Gulf.

"Five small boats were acting in a very aggressive way, charging the ships, dropping boxes in the water in front of the ships and causing our ships to take evasive maneuvers," the Pentagon official said.

Iranian Revolutionary Guard sailors last March captured 15 British sailors and held them for nearly two weeks.

The 15 sailors from HMS Cornwall, including one woman, were captured on March 23. Iran claims the crew, operating in a small patrol craft, had intruded into Iranian waters — a claim denied by Britain.

Video At Source

Iran 'did not harass US warships'

http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=37833&sectionid=351020101

Mon, 07 Jan 2008 21:09:36

An Iranian official has dismissed Washington's claims that IRGC speedboats harassed three US navy warships in the Strait of Hormuz.

The US vessels approached the Iranian boats in the Persian Gulf on Sunday, warning they were in the red zone, the official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Press TV on Monday.

He added that the Iranians had asked the warships to identify themselves, as such radio communications are usual between vessels in the Persian Gulf.

Although the Pentagon claimed that US sailors were given orders to open fire on the Iranian boats, the official confirmed no hostile encounter took place.

Sounds to me like a Gulf of Tonkin incident. But I'm sure they know they have to do a bit better than that to justify another illegal war.

More like keeping Iran in the news since the election is sucking up all the air time.

Good point sir, good point. I was just starting to forget how evil Iranians were.

The discussion on foriegn policy started shifting towards Pakistan and back towards Iraq.

Bush chastises Iran on Gulf intercept
Bush Calls Iran's Confrontation With U.S. Ships in Persian Gulf a 'Provocative Act'

http://www.rawstory.com/news/mochila/Bush_chastises_Iran_on_Gulf_interce_01082008.html

ANNE FLAHERTY
Jan 08, 2008 15:03 EST

President Bush said Tuesday that Iran's confrontation with the U.S. Navy ships in the Persian Gulf was a "provocative act."

"It is a dangerous situation," he said in a White House news conference. "They should not have done it, pure and simple. . . . I don't know what their thinking was, but I'm telling you what my thinking was. I think it was a provocative act."

The top U.S. Navy commander in the area said an Iranian fleet of high-speed boats charged at and threatened to blow up a three-ship U.S. Navy convoy passing near but outside Iranian waters on Monday, as they headed into the Persian Gulf through the Strait of Hormuz. The Iranian fleet "maneuvered aggressively" and then vanished as the American ship commanders were preparing to open fire, said Vice Adm. Kevin Cosgriff. No shots were fired.

In Tehran, Iran's Foreign Ministry suggested the Iranian boats had not recognized the U.S. vessels. Spokesman Mohammed Ali Hosseini played down the incident. "That is something normal that takes place every now and then for each party," he told the state news agency IRNA.

But White House press secretary Dana Perino said the incident was hardly routine. "It was not normal behavior," she said. "It was out of the ordinary. It was reckless."

"It's just another point of reference for people in the region who are concerned about the behavior of Iran," Perino said of the skirmish early Sunday local time. But, she said that while Iran will be "part of the discussion" during Bush's travels, "it's certainly not the main reason for the trip."

Said Bush: "My message today to the Iranians is they shouldn't have done what they did."

Bush also said that a recent intelligence assessment on Iran, which determined that Tehran had halted its nuclear weapons program in 2003, sent a "mixed signal" to the international community on U.S. policy.

"Iran was a threat. Iran is a threat. And Iran will continue to be a threat if they are allowed to learn how to enrich uranium," he said.

The incident came as Bush got ready to leave Tuesday evening on an eight-day Mideast trip designed in part to counter Iran's influence in the region. Bush is expected to discuss the U.S. posture toward Tehran with Arab allies also worried about Tehran's desire for greater regional power.

Rice warns Iran against 'provocations'

http://rawstory.com/news/afp/Rice_warns_Iran_against_provocation_01082008.html

Published: Tuesday January 8, 2008

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice warned Tehran in an interview published on Tuesday that it should cease its "provocations" after Iranian vessels confronted US warships in the Gulf.

"Iran should not engage in such provocations," Rice said in an interview to the Jerusalem Post and the Ynet website in Israel after Washington said armed Iranian speedboats had threatened three US warships in the Strait of Hormuz.

"That's what it was and it needs to stop. The US is going to defend its interests. It's going to defend its allies," Rice was quoted as saying.

Iran is "the single greatest threat to the kind of Middle East we all want to see," she added.

The weekend incident, in which the Iranian boats radioed a threat to blow up the US ships, according to US officials, sent tensions rising ahead of the US President George W. Bush's visit to the region.

"It was provocative, and that kind of provocation is dangerous," Rice also told the BBC's Arabic service. "I would sincerely hope that the Iranians would refrain from any such activity."

The Strait of Hormuz is a crucial energy supply route, with about 20-25 percent of the world's crude oil passing through from Gulf oil producers.

The US Fifth Fleet is based in Bahrain and US Navy officials say about three dozen US and coalition warships are in the region at any one time. The aircraft carrier USS Harry Truman currently is in the Gulf.

"The United States under this president has sent a very strong signal that America has strong interests in the Gulf, that the United States will continue to defend its interests in the Gulf, and this goes back for decades," Rice told the BBC.

Recordings show Persian Gulf incident
Recordings Show Iranian Boats Confronting 3 US Warships in Persian Gulf

http://www.rawstory.com/news/mochila/Recordings_show_Persian_Gulf_incide_01082008.html

LOLITA C. BALDOR
Jan 08, 2008 16:43 EST

Small Iranian fast boats swarmed around U.S. warships in the Persian Gulf, and a man speaking heavily accented English threatened, "I am coming to you. ... You will explode after ... minutes," according to a video released Tuesday by the Pentagon.

The Iranian boats appeared to ignore repeated warnings from the U.S. ships, including horn blasts and radio transmissions.

In a four-minute, 20-second video, shot from the bridge of the destroyer USS Hopper, the small boats — including a bright blue one — can be seen racing near the wake the U.S. ships and crossing close to each other.

From the Hopper's bridge, after spotting the approaching Iranian boats, a Navy crew member says over the radio: "This is coalition warship. I am engaged in transit passage in accordance with international law. Intend no harm."

Often uneven and shaky, the video condenses what Navy officials have said was a 20-minute or so clash. It ends with a blank screen, as only the audio of the Navy's final warning can be heard, just after the voice warns that they are coming.

"Inbound small craft: You are approaching a coalition warship operating in international waters. Your identity in unknown; your intentions are unclear," the unidentified crew member says. He then cautions the Iranians that if they do no steer clear they will be "subject to defensive measures."

"Request that you alter course immediately to remain clear," the crew member says.

After a pause, the man with the accent issues a final threat: "You will explode after (indecipherable) minutes."

Is this really doing it for anyone here?

I expected more from the neocons, if they're going to nuke Iran. But speed boats and broken English? Doesn't really say "nukeable" to me.

I would like to add, however, that I predicted at 911blogger many months ago that the precipitating incident for WWIII (or WWIV, if you're Fox) would happen overseas and not at home. I think it's a better gamble for the neocons to fake some kind of confrontation over there, rather than ignite another false flag attack at home.

simuvac said:

Is this really doing it for anyone here?

I expected more from the neocons, if they're going to nuke Iran. But speed boats and broken English? Doesn't really say "nukeable" to me.

I would like to add, however, that I predicted at 911blogger many months ago that the precipitating incident for WWIII (or WWIV, if you're Fox) would happen overseas and not at home. I think it's a better gamble for the neocons to fake some kind of confrontation over there, rather than ignite another false flag attack at home.

Click to expand...

One could argue that they are waiting until after the primaries so that they could get full coverage.

If they wanna do anything with Iran, they'd first need full media coverage and do it while Bush is in office.

Well, I don't know guys, they supposedly have video. Place your bets on how long, or IF we'll ever see it.

Iranian TV: Pentagon Video, Audio Fake

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5hiAbsRG9E-8-NncKn6AqbyYZd09QD8U2DDKO0

By ALI AKBAR DAREINI – 1 hour ago

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran accused the United States on Wednesday of fabricating video and audio released by the Pentagon showing Iranian boats confronting U.S. warships in the Persian Gulf.

The video from Sunday's incident shows small Iranian boats swarming around U.S. warships in the Strait of Hormuz. In the recording, a man speaking in heavily accented English threatened, "I am coming to you. ... You will explode after ... minutes."

"The footage released by the U.S. Navy was compiled using file pictures and the audio has been fabricated," an official in Iran's Revolutionary Guards was quoted as saying by the state-run English-language channel Press TV.

State TV did not give the name of the Revolutionary Guard figure and did not offer any evidence that the footage was fabricated.

The Bush administration continued to denounce the Gulf confrontation as "provocative."

"This is a provocative act — not a smart thing to do, and they are going to have to take responsibility for the consequences, if they do it again," National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley told reporters aboard Air Force One as President Bush flew from Washington to Israel.

Hadley added that his comments should not be seen as a threat.

In the four-minute, 20-second video released Tuesday, the Iranian boats appeared to ignore repeated warnings from the U.S. ships, including horn blasts and radio transmissions. The video was shot from the bridge of the destroyer USS Hopper.

After spotting the approaching Iranian boats, a Navy crew member on the Hopper says over the radio: "This is coalition warship. I am engaged in transit passage in accordance with international law. Intend no harm."

The audio and video recordings were made separately but were pulled together by the Navy. Often uneven and shaky, the video condenses what Navy officials have said was a confrontation of about 20 minutes.

The Iranian fleet of high-speed boats charged the U.S. warships and threatened to blow up the Navy convoy as it passed near but outside Iranian waters, according to Vice Adm. Kevin Cosgriff, the top Navy commander in the Gulf. The Iranian fleet "maneuvered aggressively" and fled as the American ship commanders were preparing to open fire, he said. No shots were fired.

Defense Minister Mostafa Mohammad Najjar called Western news reports that the boats threatened to blow up the U.S. warships "mischief."

"(Iranian) navy units ... asked them to identify themselves. They responded accordingly and continued their path," the official IRNA news agency quoted Najjar as saying.

He said the encounter was normal.

"The identification of vessels passing through the Strait of Hormuz by Iranian navy units is a natural occurrence," IRNA quoted Najjar as saying. "Islamic Republic of Iran navy units always put questions to passing vessels and warships at the Strait of Hormuz and they need to identify themselves. This is in accordance with the normal procedures."

Cosgriff has said Iran's "provocative" actions were "deadly serious" to the U.S. military.

The confrontation was an unusual flare-up of U.S.-Iranian tensions in the Persian Gulf as Bush prepared for his eight-day Mideast trip, designed in part to counter Iran's influence in the region. Bush, who arrived in Israel on Wednesday, is expected to discuss the U.S. stance toward Iran with Arab allies that are also worried about Tehran's desire for greater regional power.

Many Arab countries fear the Iranian-American rivalry could erupt into a military confrontation that would put them in the crossfire and hurt vital oil traffic through the Strait of Hormuz.

Iran's Revolutionary Guards has said that its high-speed boats never threatened the U.S. vessels during the encounter, insisting it only asked them to identify themselves, then let them continue into the Gulf.

Cosgriff, the commander of U.S. 5th Fleet, which patrols the Gulf and is based in nearby Bahrain, said the American vessels, which were clearly marked, had been identified by Iranian authorities earlier in the day.

U.S. dismisses Iran's claim on fabricated video

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-01/10/content_7395617.htm

www.chinaview.cn 2008-01-10 05:48:50

WASHINGTON, Jan. 9 (Xinhua) -- The United States flatly dismissed on Wednesday the claim by Iran that the video and audio released by the Pentagon showing Iranian boats confronting U.S. warships in the Persian Gulf were fabricated.

"That's just ridiculous. I completely dismiss that," State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said at a briefing.

"You know, maybe they're embarrassed by what these individuals do ... I can't account for it, but it's a ridiculous claim," McCormack said.

According to media reports, an official in Iran's Revolutionary Guards told the state-run English-language channel Press TV: "The footage released by the U.S. Navy was compiled using file pictures and the audio has been fabricated."

The United States said Monday that five Iranian boats had harassed and threatened three U.S. Navy warships in international waters in the Strait of Hormuz. However, Iran has played down the incident as "something normal."

On Monday, the Pentagon confirmed the event and Washington immediately warned Iran to refrain from taking "provocative actions that could lead to a dangerous incident in the future."

But Iran responded by calling the incident "something normal" and said the incident has been resolved.

Iranian TV airs video it says shows no standoff

http://rawstory.com/news/2007/Iranian_TV_airs_video_showing_no_0110.html

David Edwards and Nick Juliano
Published: Thursday January 10, 2008

Iran has accused the Pentagon of fabricating a video depicting a confrontation between massive Navy warships and small Iranian speedboats the US says posed a threat.

A short video broadcast this week on Iranian TV shows the confrontation as it was videotaped from one of the small Iranian crafts about 100 yards from the US Navy warships, which were operating in international waters in the Persian Gulf.

The grainy, 5-minute video did not show any Iranian boats approaching the U.S. vessels or any provocation. But the short clip likely did not show Sunday's entire encounter, which U.S. Navy officials described as threatening, and said lasted about 20 minutes.

An Iranian TV announcer said the video depicted "a routine and regular measure."

On CBS's Early Show Thursday morning, a retired US Army colonel said the video demonstrated how close the Iranian speedboats came to the US warships and demonstrated that the US was operating in international waters. Co. Jeffrey McCausland, a visited professor at Penn State University's law school, also doubted Iran's assertion that the Pentagon video was fabricated and said Iran has tried to provoke the US in the past.

"We have to think about who would benefit from ratcheting up tensions right now in the Gulf," McCausland said. "As we have seen over the last few weeks and months by the United States at least to reduce tensions. In Iran there have been, periodically, attempts to ratchet up tensions, largely I think, to benefit them internally and politically."

The Pentagon has released its own video of Sunday's incident, showing small Iranian boats swarming around U.S. warships in the Strait of Hormuz.

In the recording, a man threatens in English, "I am coming to you. ... You will explode after ... minutes."

The incident, which ended without any shots fired, has heightened U.S.-Iranian tension as President Bush visits the region. Bush was in the West Bank on Thursday, and heads next to Arab Gulf nations where he is expected to discuss strategy on Iran.

On Thursday, the Web site of the Iranian state broadcasting company quoted a top Revolutionary Guards commander as calling the Pentagon's video "unusual and illogical."

"This attention by the U.S. media and officials to a routine encounter means Americans are taking an unusual approach to (a) very ordinary issue," Gen. Ali Fadavi, the Guards' acting naval chief, was quoted as saying.

The Associated Press contributed to this report

This video is from The Associated Press, broadcast January 10, 2008.

Video At Source

simuvac said:

Is this really doing it for anyone here?

I expected more from the neocons, if they're going to nuke Iran. But speed boats and broken English? Doesn't really say "nukeable" to me.

I would like to add, however, that I predicted at 911blogger many months ago that the precipitating incident for WWIII (or WWIV, if you're Fox) would happen overseas and not at home. I think it's a better gamble for the neocons to fake some kind of confrontation over there, rather than ignite another false flag attack at home.

Click to expand...

I agree. Don't forget, they have to have a SERIES of events of a smaller caliber, leading up to the one that gets the public backing.

U.S.: Voices on Recording May Not Have Been From Iranian Speedboats
Chilling Threat Could Have Come From the Shore or Another Ship, Navy Says

http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/story?id=4115702&page=1

By MARTHA RADDATZ and JONATHAN KARL
Jan. 10, 2008

Just two days after the U.S. Navy released the eerie video of Iranian speedboats swarming around American warships, which featured a chilling threat in English, the Navy is saying that the voice on the tape could have come from the shore or from another ship.

The near-clash occurred over the weekend in the Strait of Hormuz. On the U.S.-released recording, a voice can be heard saying to the Americans, "I am coming to you. You will explode after a few minutes."

The Navy never said specifically where the voices came from, but many were left with the impression they had come from the speedboats because of the way the Navy footage was edited.

Today, the spokesperson for the U.S. admiral in charge of the Fifth Fleet clarified to ABC News that the threat may have come from the Iranian boats, or it may have come from somewhere else.

We're saying that we cannot make a direct connection to the boats there," said the spokesperson. "It could have come from the shore, from another ship passing by. However, it happened in the middle of all the very unusual activity, so as we assess the information and situation, we still put it in the total aggregate of what happened Sunday morning. I guess we're not saying that it absolutely came from the boats, but we're not saying it absolutely didn't."

The Iranians have denied using the threatening language and are saying U.S.-released video is fabricated. Today, the Iranian government aired its own video of the event on state-run TV there. On the audio, the voice that the Iranians say is the communication from their vessel can be heard identifying itself to the American ship, "Coalition warship No. 73 this is an Iranian navy patrol boat."

The incident ended without shots being fired, but senior defense officials told ABC News that the USS Hopper's gunners were within seconds of firing on the Iranians.

(I've underlined a couple of segments that might be meaningful and/or relevant.)


http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_7912510

Recordings show Iran-US clash in Gulf

By LOLITA C. BALDOR and SEBASTIAN ABBOT Associated Press Writer

Article Launched: 01/08/2008 09:10:05 AM PST

WASHINGTON—Small Iranian fast boats swarmed around massive U.S. warships in the Persian Gulf, and a man speaking heavily accented English threatened, "I am coming to you. ... You will explode," according to a video released Tuesday by the Pentagon.

The Iranian boats appeared to ignore repeated warnings from the U.S. ships, including horn blasts and radio transmissions, as the ships moved through the Strait of Hormuz into the Gulf.

In a four-minute, 20-second video, shot from the bridge of the destroyer USS Hopper, the small boats—including a bright blue one—can be seen racing near the wake the U.S. ships and crossing close to each other.

From the Hopper's bridge, after spotting the approaching Iranian boats, a Navy crew member says over the radio: "This is coalition warship. I am engaged in transit passage in accordance with international law. I intend no harm. Over."

Often uneven and shaky, the video condenses what Navy officials have said was a 20-minute or so clash early Sunday between three Navy warships and five Iranian fast boats. It ends with a blank screen, as only the audio of the Navy's final warning can be heard, just after the voice warns that they are coming.

"Inbound small craft: You are approaching a coalition warship operating in international waters. Your identity is not known; your intentions are unclear," the unidentified Navy crew member says. He then cautions the Iranians that if they do not steer clear they will be "subject to defensive measures."

"Request that you alter course immediately to remain clear," the crew member says.

After a pause, the man with the accent issues a final threat: "You will explode after (indecipherable) minutes."

A Navy crew member then repeated the threat as he heard it: "He says, 'You will explode after a few minutes.'" At that point the tape ends.

President Bush on Tuesday denounced the incident as a "provocative act."

"It is a dangerous situation," Bush said during a White House news conference. "They should not have done it, pure and simple. ... I don't know what their thinking was, but I'm telling you what my thinking was. I think it was a provocative act."

The audio and video recordings were made separately but were pulled together by the Navy. Internal U.S. Navy transmissions can also be heard on the tape. The Hopper was in the lead, followed by the cruiser USS Port Royal and the frigate USS Ingraham.

The top Navy commander in the Gulf said the Iranian fleet of high-speed boats charged at and threatened to blow up the Navy convoy as it passed near but outside Iranian waters on Sunday. The Iranian fleet "maneuvered aggressively" and then fled as the American ship commanders were preparing to open fire, Vice Adm. Kevin Cosgriff said. No shots were fired.

In Tehran, Iran's Foreign Ministry suggested that the Iranian boats had not recognized the U.S. vessels. Spokesman Mohammed Ali Hosseini played down the incident. "That is something normal that takes place every now and then for each party," he told the state news agency IRNA.

Cosgriff disputed Iranian claims that the incident was a routine encounter, saying Iran's "provocative" actions were "deadly serious" to the U.S. military.

The confrontation was an unusual flare-up of U.S.-Iranian tensions in the Persian Gulf as Bush prepared for an eight-day Mideast trip designed in part to counter Iran's influence in the region. He is expected to discuss the U.S. posture toward Tehran with Arab allies also worried about Tehran's desire for greater regional power.

Many Arab countries fear the Iranian-American rivalry could erupt into a military confrontation that would put them in the crossfire and hurt vital oil traffic through the Strait of Hormuz.

Iran's Revolutionary Guards said that its high-speed boats never threatened the U.S. vessels during the encounter, insisting it only asked them to identify themselves, then let them continue into the Gulf. A Guards commander defended his force's right to identify ships in the sensitive waterway.

Cosgriff, the commander of U.S. 5th Fleet, which patrols the Gulf and is based in nearby Bahrain, said the American vessels had been identified by Iranian authorities earlier in the day.

"The group had been successfully queried by an Iranian ship, possibly a Revolutionary Guards ship, and two or three Iranian (shore) stations and an Omani station," Cosgriff told The Associated Press in a telephone interview Tuesday.

The U.S. commander also said that the American ships were clearly marked and the incident took place during the day when they could be seen. "I can't help but conclude that it was provocative," Cosgriff said.

The Pentagon has said the U.S. ships were on the verge of opening fire on the Iranian boats when they fled.

Cosgriff said the five Iranian boats were outfitted with outboard motors and carrying three to four people each.

Two of the Iranian boats went to the ship's left side, three to the right, he said. The two on the left "were more energetic and made a number of runs toward the lead ship, the USS Hopper." The two boats dumped boxes into the water.

U.S. military officials, including Cosgriff, cautioned, however, that they have not been able to connect definitively the radio call with one of the Revolutionary Guards boats.

"The ships were close enough to shore that the call could have come from a shore station, it could have come from another boat," said Cdr. Lydia Robertson, the 5th Fleet spokeswoman. "But the call did happen while the small boats were there."

Senior Revolutionary Guards commander Ali Reza Tangsiri said Iran had the right to ask any ships to identify themselves upon entering or leaving the Persian Gulf.

"It is a basic responsibility of patrolling units of the Revolutionary Guards to take necessary interception measures toward any vessels entering into the waters of the Persian Gulf," Tangsiri said, according to the Mehr news agency.

Cosgriff objected to Iranian attempts to downplay the incident.

"I hope from this lesson they realize that we are concerned by small, high-speed vessels," said Cosgriff. "I hope they understand we will take those actions we deem appropriate to defend our ships and our sailors."

Riad Kahwaji, a Dubai-based analyst with the Institute for Near East and Gulf Military Analysis, said Iran may have been seeking to send a "political message" to Arab Gulf states to highlight the dangers of military confrontation.

"When somebody gets so close to a big ship then he's very likely asking for trouble or trying to provoke something," he said. "Opening fire means sparking a war. ... Does anyone really want to take that risk?"

———

Abbot reported from Cairo. Associated Press writers Ali Akbar Dareini in Tehran and Barbara Surk in Dubai contributed to this report.

Iran showdown has echoes of faked Tonkin attack

http://rawstory.com/news/2007/Echoes_of_Tonkin_seen_in_averted_0111.html

Nick Juliano
Published: Friday January 11, 2008

A dramatic showdown at sea. Crossed communication signals. Apparently-hostile craft nearby. Sketchy intelligence leading to ratcheted up rhetoric.

The similarities between this week's confrontation between US warships and Iranian speedboats and events off the coast of North Vietnam 44 years ago were too hard for many experts to miss, leading to the question: Is the Strait of Hormuz 2008's Gulf of Tonkin?

On Aug. 2nd and 4th, 1964, the USS Maddox and the USS Turner Joy, patrolling off the North Vietnamese coast, intercepted signals indicating they were under attack. Within days, Congress passed the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, which paved the way to the escalation of the Vietnam War. However, as some intelligence agents suspected at the time, the Aug. 2nd attack took place after the USS Maddox fired first, according to a National Security Agency report released in 1995.

This week another NSA report surfaced, confirming suspicions that the Aug. 4th attack never happened.

The researcher who uncovered the most recent NSA assessment tells RAW STORY that the Strait of Hormuz confrontation, and the immediate saber-rattling from the Bush administration and its allies, demonstrates the extent to which officials must be wary about politicizing shaky intelligence in times of war.

"The parallels (between Tonkin and Hormuz) speak for themselves, but what they say is that even the most basic factual assumptions can be made erroneously [or] can prove to be false," Steven Aftergood of the Federation of American Scientists, told Raw Story. "Therefore extreme caution is always appropriate before drawing conclusions ... that might leave to violent conflict. That's almost so obvious that I feel embarrassed saying it, but there is a history of mistaken interpretations of these kinds of encounters that ought to teach us humility."

Humility and caution, of course, don't seem to be the most popular buzz words in the Bush White House.

"It is a dangerous situation. ... I think it was a provocative act," Bush warned two days after a handful of small Iranian speedboats spooked a fleet of US Navy warships.

The Pentagon's initial account of the Jan. 6 confrontation said the Iranian boats "charged" the US ships, dropped boxes in the water that were thought to be mines and threatened to set up "explosions." An unnamed US Defense Department official told the Associated Press the day after the incident that it was "the most serious provocation of its sort" in the Gulf, although Iranian officials tried to downplay the incident as a simple misunderstanding.

It was not until Thursday, after the Pentagon and Iran had each released videos of the encounter, that the US acknowledged the verbal threats they had associated with the Iranian speedboats from day one could have been broadcast from virtually anywhere.

"I am coming to you .... You will explode after a few minutes," a voice says on the audio recording but Farsi speakers and Iranians have said the voice did not sound Iranian.

Aftergood said he was surprised at the uncertainty regarding the origin of that message, which was broadcast on a public communication channel and superimposed onto the end of the Pentagon video.

"One might've thought that they would be able to pinpoint it exactly, but it turns out that's not so," said Aftergood, who runs FAS's Project on Government Secrecy. "It's also surprising that President Bush was permitted to get so far out in front on this issue, even though there were significant uncertainties on what transpired."

Others have questioned the supposed mines that were claimed to be dropped form the Iranian boats.

"The bit about the 'white boxes' being dropped into the water seems almost equally dubious," writes Glenn Greenwald. "Neither the video of the incident released by the U.S. military, nor the video version released by the Iranian government, includes any such event, nor are there any references to it at all on the audio."

Aftergood said the information should have been more fully vetted before the White House began warning Iran of "serious consequences" of future showdowns.

"What you hear talking is the child on the schoolyard, not the sober national leader," he said. "And i don't think that serves anyone's interest."

Aftergood noted that America is less poorly equipped to avoid international incidents than it was during the Cold War.

"The credibility at least of the administration has taken a hit by the way this episode played out," Aftergood said, but the near-confrontation could provide an opportunity for Bush to learn from his mistakes.

The US has largely given Iran the diplomatic silent treatment during the Bush years, which Aftergood said increases the likelihood that the next Strait of Hormuz-type incident won't de-escalate so quickly.

"If we could have a hotline with the Kremlin while they had thousands of nuclear weapons aimed at our country, one would think we could do the same for Iran," he said. "With some skillful statesmanship ... this could serve as the impetus for that, but it would be one way to turn a negative into a net positive."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7184400.stm

US reveals new Iran 'incidents'
Iranian speedboats approached US warships in two previously undisclosed incidents in the Strait of Hormuz in December, a US Navy official has said. The USS Whidbey Island fired warning shots during one of the encounters on 19 December, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

He also described a third stand-off on 6 January - that sparked US protests - as the most serious incident.

Iran has accused the US of faking its video of the most recent encounter.

'Radio threat'

The US official said the USS Whidbey Island had to act in response to an Iranian boat that was rapidly approaching the amphibious warship on 19 December.




"One small [Iranian] craft was coming toward it, and it stopped after the Whidbey Island fired warning shots," the official was quoted as saying by the Associated Press.

In the second incident on 22 December, the USS Carr, a guided missile frigate, encountered three small Iranian boats, said the official.

He said that the US vessel blew warning whistles, causing the boats to turn around.

His comments came shortly after Washington had sent Iran a formal protest over the stand-off on 6 January.

New US video

Pentagon officials have said the five speedboats came within about 200m (650ft) of the US vessels.

The US military have said video and audio that it released confirmed its allegation that Iranian speedboats harassed US vessels and threatened to blow them up in a radio communication.

However, senior US navy sources later told the BBC that the alleged threat to blow up the warships "may not have come" from Iranian speedboats.

Iran has rejected Washington's allegations, issuing its own video footage of the incident.

On Friday, the US authorities released what it said was the entire unedited footage of the incident.

Although some images in this longer version - lasting more than 30 minutes - are not very clear, they do not appear to show anything very different from what was already seen in the extract of some five minutes already released, the BBC's Vincent Dowd in Washington says.

The audio track is present throughout and very short exchanges of dialogue can be heard on the bridge of the USS Hopper, the destroyer from which the pictures were taken, our correspondent says.

He says the latest video does not shed more light on the origin of the voice hear on tape which initially the Pentagon came from one of the speedboats.

The confrontation has further inflamed long-running tensions between Iran and the United States.


Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/americas/7184400.stm

Published: 2008/01/11 22:56:39 GMT

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