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Times Online
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The face-off was the most serious such incident since the Revolutionary Guard’s seizure of eight Royal Navy sailors and seven Marines from the HMS Cornwall last March in the Shatt al-Arab waterway in the Gulf. Iran claimed that the 15 had strayed into Iranian waters, which Britain denied. But an Iranian foreign ministry spokesman dismissed it is a routine incident. “This is an ordinary occurrence which happens every now and then for both sides,” he told the IRNA news agency.
I wasn’t there, and I don’t want to judge prematurely, but until the details come out, I would just like people to remember the Gulf of Tonkin incident.
Is there no end to people seeing Vietnam analogies for everything? First Afghanistan was reported as a quagmire after about 25 hours. Then Iraq, and now Iran.
If we are to believe that Iraq is another Vietnam, then it would mean that in fact it was a lack of fortitude on the part of Democrats that caused the loss in Vietnam.
MikeN is quite right.
“Remember the Maine” works just as well.
C’mon McCullough, you can quote without redundancy! At least re-read yourself before/after posting. I didn’t intend to be rude btw, I just am intolerant to repeating.
These threats were made over international bridge-to-bridge frequencies and were undoubtedly monitored by other ships. Also, the Iranian government has not denied them. How do you make a comparison to the Tonkin incident in which the US gov is widely believed to have manufactured an incident so as to justify open involvement in the war?
#3
Naw, McCullough you just keep on doing what you do. It’s called Democracy.
I disagree that this event compares to the Gulf Of Tonkin incident because at that time there actually was an attack by the enemy (the first attack, the second was made up by the US).
What happened in Iran to the British, though, was almost exactly like the USS Pueblo incident.
Yeah. And those cardboard boxes and rubber boats really scared the shit out of a DE and frigate and a cruiser.
Wingnut Republikans ready to create a chickenshit Navy. And their chickenhawk commander.
Sheese, Mc. The armed forces in/around Iraq are already stretched to the point where we’ve been trying to get the Iranians to ‘help out’ over there–EVEN THOUGH the Iranians are the ones funneling agents, bombs, and so on into Iraq…do you seriously think the US is looking to START a war with them over THIS?
Put your thinking cap on.
And what some seem not to understand/ comprehend is that Iran has developed asymmetrical warfare responses to the US naval presence that make use of multiple smaller craft. We’ve known this since sometime in 2007, now we’re seeing more saber-rattling from the Iranian side as a reminder. This behavior is nothing new, but it isn’t something to ignore.
“In 1995, retired Vietnamese General Vo Nguyen Giap, meeting with former Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara, categorically denied that Vietnamese gunboats had attacked American destroyers on 4 August, while admitting to the attack on 2 August.” Wikipedia
There’s video of this latest incident. Apparently this is becoming more *routine* than in the past. Remember folk’s, we aren’t the only ones who create incidents at election time, there is about to be elections for the legislature in Iran and President Ahmedijerkoff’s party is slated to lose big time. He has been using all the nuke incidents and the British captures as bread and circus, but it isn’t working. People in Iran are fed up with high food and fuel prices, the curtailment of freedoms etc.
So these boats got to within 200 yards of American Warships in international waters?
I’m surprised the rules of engagement don’t allow any navy to blow away such potential attackers?
Why is the US Navy NOT under review for failing to protect US assets?
There is a big difference between Tonkin and the Maine and a screwed up nation trying to goad us into a confrontation.
If they really had meant to be a threat they would have pulled a suicide strike. But they didn’t. They wanted us to shoot first and ask questions later so we look like the agressors and they are the poor victims.
We handled it properly and we need to send a message to their people that we will not tolerate veiled threats to our ships in international waters.
Cursor_
Expect Russia to take sides with Iran. Putin is just looking for another reason to beat his chest and throttle up the cold war.
With us in deep in Iraq and Afganistan, as well as an unsure economic outlook internally, no one in the US wants to get into a conflict with Iran, even the President and those of us that supported the Iraq war. Iran is a powderkeg of violence if we were to light it. The sad thing is, Iran knows this as well, and is attempting to goad us into a response that they can use on the world stage against us. My only fear is that they may be crazy enough to first strike us is this sort of fashion. The world gets a lot more complicated if that happens…
Of course, #12 only needs to change two words to be a lot closer to the reality of today’s foreign policy.
Not that reality is especially important to dweebs who actually believe this neocon crap.
But an Iranian foreign ministry spokesman dismissed it is a routine incident. “This is an ordinary occurrence which happens every now and then for both sides,”
Well I am glad to hear that suicide bombers are a natural, daily occurrence in your backwards country. That makes me feel so much better.
First there is an arrogance to the idea that America owns where ever they tread. What all the chickenhawks don’t understand is that this is what has caused such disillusionment with the US internationally. If American warships have a right to patrol these waters, so do Iranian patrol vessels which happen to border the Straights.
Second, incidents like this are guaranteed to keep the price of oil high. This only benefits the Cheney cabal. Any buddy wanna bet this don’t happen agin real soon?
#14 What the hell are you talking about. Open passage of the straights of Hormuz has been a US Government imperative with both sides of the isle. I’m not buying your liberal, government hating crap.
#9 I would like to see that video, it isn’t on YouTube. There is the animation I’ve seen on CNN, but I’ve learned on Gizmodo that animations are a great way to sell vapor.
Iran needs to do something like this every so often to keep the price of oil up.
A captains number one concern is his command. I’m sure any ROE would allow the captain to neutralize any immanent threat. I’m sure these boats were tracked and targeted and a five inch shell or a gatling gun burst would end the threat.
BBC America covered this story very well last night.
It sounds to me that the Revolutionary Guard may be going off on their on every once in a while.
sky news just released the video. Given the Yemen incident, I’d be nervous about speedboats running 40+ knots nearby too.
Remember the USS Cole. Small Craft packed full of explosives are a very real threat.
They had no chance!!!!!!11
Phalanx is a point-defense, total-weapon system consisting of two 20mm gun mounts that provide a terminal defense against incoming air targets. CIWS, without assistance from other shipboard systems, will automatically engage incoming anti-ship missiles and high-speed, low-level aircraft that have penetrated the ship primary defense envelope. As a unitized system, CIWS automatically performs search, detecting, tracking, threat evaluation, firing, and kill assessments of targets while providing for manual override. Each gun mount houses a fire control assembly and a gun subsystem. The fire control assembly is composed of a search radar for surveillance and detection of hostile targets and a track radar for aiming the gun while tracking a target. The unique closed-loop fire control system that tracks both the incoming target and the stream of outgoing projectiles (by monitoring their incoming noise signature) gives CIWS the capability to correct its aim to hit fast-moving targets, including ASMs.
The gun subsystem employs a gatling gun consisting of a rotating cluster of six barrels. The gatling gun fires a 20mm subcaliber sabot projectile using a heavy-metal (either tungsten or depleted uranium) 15mm penetrator surrounded by a plastic sabot and a light-weight metal pusher. The gatling gun fires 20mm ammunition at either 3,000 or 4,500 rounds-per-minute with a burst length of continuous, 60, or 100 rounds.
Now I’m not an expert at geography, but I do believe the Strait of Hormuz is a LOT closer to Iran than it is to the United States.
One has to wonder if Iran was parking capital warships a few miles off the USA coast, would we send only a speedboat to check them out?
The US Command of the 5th fleet is backing down from their stance on that the threat came from Iran… will this get any media attention in the US?
Heck, let our U.S. Navy sink their speedboats! We are ones with the Phalanx system.