Possible fabricated incident?
This fuckin article is hilarious
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080111/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/us_iran
Mullen: Clash may signal Tehran shift
"My lover, yes. Actual size."
WASHINGTON - The recent confrontation between Iranian and U.S. navy forces in the Persian Gulf reflects a shift in military strategy by Tehran to use its Revolutionary Guard's fast boats in a more aggressive manner in the region, the top U.S. military officer said Friday.
And while Adm. Mike Mullen said he could not himself tell if verbal threats heard in a U.S.-aired tape of the incident actually came from the Iranian boats, he said the clash was the most "provocative and dramatic" he's seen to date.
"The incident ought to remind us all just how real is the threat posed by Iran and just how ready we are to meet that threat if it comes to it," said Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
His comments came as the Pentagon was poised Friday to release the entire video of the event — which is as much as 36 minutes long. Defense officials have been peppered with questions about the origin of a voice on the initial video that warns in English: "I am coming to you" and then, "You will explode after ... minutes."
The top military commander in the Middle East told The Associated Press on Friday that the U.S. was still trying to determine the source of the threatening radio call, but remained convinced that it was related to the actions of the Iranian boats.
"The voice is very strange. I don't know whether it came from the boats or one of the shore stations," said Adm. William J. Fallon, chief of U.S. Central Command, in a telephone interview from his headquarters in Florida. "But the timing of it is pretty suspicious. In my mind it is related to the maneuvers."
"It certainly doesn't sound like a third party that just happened to say something threatening at that moment," he added.
Mullen also said that while it is not clear where the radio transmission came from, it was equally threatening if it originated from the boats or from someone coordinating with them from shore.
If the assumption is that it were the Iranians, "that, to me gets to a level of sophistication that also is something that we ought to be concerned about," Mullen said.
Regarding the Iranian strategy, Mullen told Pentagon reporters that the U.S. has been focused "for several years" on this shift to greater use of small, fast boats by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, which has taken over patrols in the Gulf from Tehran's regular navy.
"It's clearly strategically where the Iranian military has gone," said Mullen, in his first solo Pentagon press briefing. "There's a projection they were going to do that over a number of years ... That was a big concern to me because of the history and the background with the IRGC (Revolutionary Guard.) This fit that mold, as far as I was concerned."
Mullen said what bothered him most about the incident was that the boats swarmed so close to the U.S. ships and were dumping boxes into the water.
"We've been concerned for years about the threat of mining those straits," Mullen said.
And sometimes at sea, it can be pretty difficult to determine "what they really did put in the water, depending on the range and the other kinds of conditions," he said.
In the initial four-minute, 20-second video put out by the Pentagon, boxes could not readily be seen in the water.
Mulled said he would "prefer Iran to take a more productive, positive role in the region."
After reviewing the reports about last Sunday's incident, Mullen said, he believes that the sailors and the commanders acted "exactly right" given the behavior of the Iranian boats.
Iran and the U.S. have both released video of the encounter between Iranian fast boats and U.S. naval ships in the Persian Gulf early Sunday.
The U.S. has condemned the incident, calling the Iranians' actions provocative and dangerous. Tehran has denied its boats threatened the U.S. vessels, and accused Washington of fabricating its video.
The Pentagon's video of the incident, shows the small Iranian boats swarming around U.S. warships in the Strait of Hormuz. And it includes the audio of a man making the threatening statements in English. The video and audio were recorded separately.
In response, the Iranians put out their own five-minute clip, showing a man speaking into a handheld radio, with three U.S. ships floating in the distance. The footage did not show any Iranian boats approaching the U.S. vessels or any provocation.
Neither video showed Sunday's entire encounter, which U.S. Navy officials described as threatening, and said lasted more than 20 minutes.
This fuckin article is hilarious
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080111/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/us_iran
Mullen: Clash may signal Tehran shift
"My lover, yes. Actual size."
WASHINGTON - The recent confrontation between Iranian and U.S. navy forces in the Persian Gulf reflects a shift in military strategy by Tehran to use its Revolutionary Guard's fast boats in a more aggressive manner in the region, the top U.S. military officer said Friday.
And while Adm. Mike Mullen said he could not himself tell if verbal threats heard in a U.S.-aired tape of the incident actually came from the Iranian boats, he said the clash was the most "provocative and dramatic" he's seen to date.
"The incident ought to remind us all just how real is the threat posed by Iran and just how ready we are to meet that threat if it comes to it," said Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
His comments came as the Pentagon was poised Friday to release the entire video of the event — which is as much as 36 minutes long. Defense officials have been peppered with questions about the origin of a voice on the initial video that warns in English: "I am coming to you" and then, "You will explode after ... minutes."
The top military commander in the Middle East told The Associated Press on Friday that the U.S. was still trying to determine the source of the threatening radio call, but remained convinced that it was related to the actions of the Iranian boats.
"The voice is very strange. I don't know whether it came from the boats or one of the shore stations," said Adm. William J. Fallon, chief of U.S. Central Command, in a telephone interview from his headquarters in Florida. "But the timing of it is pretty suspicious. In my mind it is related to the maneuvers."
"It certainly doesn't sound like a third party that just happened to say something threatening at that moment," he added.
Mullen also said that while it is not clear where the radio transmission came from, it was equally threatening if it originated from the boats or from someone coordinating with them from shore.
If the assumption is that it were the Iranians, "that, to me gets to a level of sophistication that also is something that we ought to be concerned about," Mullen said.
Regarding the Iranian strategy, Mullen told Pentagon reporters that the U.S. has been focused "for several years" on this shift to greater use of small, fast boats by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, which has taken over patrols in the Gulf from Tehran's regular navy.
"It's clearly strategically where the Iranian military has gone," said Mullen, in his first solo Pentagon press briefing. "There's a projection they were going to do that over a number of years ... That was a big concern to me because of the history and the background with the IRGC (Revolutionary Guard.) This fit that mold, as far as I was concerned."
Mullen said what bothered him most about the incident was that the boats swarmed so close to the U.S. ships and were dumping boxes into the water.
"We've been concerned for years about the threat of mining those straits," Mullen said.
And sometimes at sea, it can be pretty difficult to determine "what they really did put in the water, depending on the range and the other kinds of conditions," he said.
In the initial four-minute, 20-second video put out by the Pentagon, boxes could not readily be seen in the water.
Mulled said he would "prefer Iran to take a more productive, positive role in the region."
After reviewing the reports about last Sunday's incident, Mullen said, he believes that the sailors and the commanders acted "exactly right" given the behavior of the Iranian boats.
Iran and the U.S. have both released video of the encounter between Iranian fast boats and U.S. naval ships in the Persian Gulf early Sunday.
The U.S. has condemned the incident, calling the Iranians' actions provocative and dangerous. Tehran has denied its boats threatened the U.S. vessels, and accused Washington of fabricating its video.
The Pentagon's video of the incident, shows the small Iranian boats swarming around U.S. warships in the Strait of Hormuz. And it includes the audio of a man making the threatening statements in English. The video and audio were recorded separately.
In response, the Iranians put out their own five-minute clip, showing a man speaking into a handheld radio, with three U.S. ships floating in the distance. The footage did not show any Iranian boats approaching the U.S. vessels or any provocation.
Neither video showed Sunday's entire encounter, which U.S. Navy officials described as threatening, and said lasted more than 20 minutes.
