Wednesday, January 09, 2008
"Provocation" in the Gulf, Part II
Hooman Majd (an Iranian expatriate, writer, and long-time executive in the music business) has seen watched the video and listened to the audio and concludes, as does the Iranian government, that it's a fake (especially the audio, not to mention the lack of video evidence of these "white boxes" allegedly being strewn about the ocean). Personally, watching the video, it looks like some Iranian teenagers out joyriding in their family's speedboat. Which is why I found this so particularly amusing:
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."Fleet"? If that was a "fleet," my bicycle constitutes a "tank corps." In naval terms, a "fleet" is a large collection of warships, not a handful of speedboats. Three or four speedboats is a "flotilla," not a "fleet."
Look, I'll grant that, after the U.S.S. Cole attack, U.S. ships are wise to keep an eye on small boats in their vicinity. But if this really were a repetition of the Cole attack, the attackers would hardly be on the radio warning the target in advance.
