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Pentagon Distances Itself from Pathetic Claims about Iran
Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit
Informed Comment - Jan 11, 2008
http://www.juancole.com/2008/01/us-video-of-iran-speedboats-flawed.html
US Video of Iran Speedboats Doctored: Iranians Charge Fabrication
by Juan Cole
The Bush administration's assertion that 5 small Iranian boats
confronted big, well-armed US ships in the Straits of Hormuz and
threatened to blow up the American vessels is looking more and more
like a serious error if not a Republican Party fabrication.
The episode featured prominently in the Republican presidential debate
in South Carolina, according to McClatchy:
"One of the most animated exchanges came when the candidates were
asked whether they backed the Navy's cautious response recently when
Iranian boats reportedly harassed U.S. vessels in the Persian Gulf.
Huckabee said anyone who challenges the Navy again should be
prepared to go to the "gates of hell." Thompson said anyone testing the
Navy might soon meet the "virgins" that Islamic terrorists expect to
meet in heaven.
Texas Rep. Ron Paul called the bellicose language frightening and
reminiscent of the reaction to an alleged naval exchange that led to
the Vietnam War. "I would certainly urge a lot more caution than I'm
hearing here tonight," Paul said.
Romney cracked that Paul should stop reading Iranian propaganda,
drawing what sounded like boos from the audience and a glare from Paul."
So the Republicans are embarrassing themselves again, because there was
not any reason to send anyone through the gates of hell. Moreover,
Huckabee and Romney are not the ones who would suffer if Bush and
Cheney managed to get up a skirmish with Iran. Our troops, kidnapped
and held in the midst of a hostile Shiite population in Iraq, would be
on the line. Getting them blown up for nothing is the opposite of
patriotism.
The video released by the Pentagon (at whose orders?) showed these
little tiny vessels only a little bigger than what children play with
in bathtubs, with no visible armaments. The video does not show anyone
dumping white cartons into the water, as was initially alleged (an
action which would probably have drawn fire from the US ships if it had
happened, lest they be mines). While even a small vessel could be
dangerous if it carried high explosives, there is no evidence that they
got close enough to the US vessels to form any sort of threat nor that
the Iranian government is so foolish as to openly attack the US Navy.
The Iranians analyzed the Pentagon video released to the US media and
found that the audio track was not synchronized properly with the
video, pointing to serious tinkering.
And sure enough, we now know that the tape is a fabrication in the
sense that the Pentagon says the video and the audio were recorded
separately and then combined. And they can't even be sure where the
audio came from! The NYT reports,
' The audio includes a statement that says, I am coming to you,
and adds, You will explode after a few minutes. The voice was
recorded from the internationally recognized channel for ship-to-ship
communications, Navy officials have said. Naval and Pentagon officials
have said that the video and audio were recorded separately, then
combined. On Wednesday, Pentagon officials, who spoke on the condition
of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak officially, said
they were still trying to determine if the transmission came from the
speedboats or elsewhere."
Wouldn't it have been better to determine if the transmission came from
the Iranian speedboats before super-imposing it on the videotape of the
Iranian boats and then issuing it in such a way as to possibly foment a
war?
A posting to the NYT "the Lede" blog page observed that the frequency
used for ship communications in the Gulf is very busy and has lots of
extraneous traffic, including the hurling of racial epithets against
Filipinos & etc. The experienced former naval officer said, "My first
thought was that the 'explode' comment might not have come from one of
the Iranian craft, but some loser monitoring the events at a shore
facility."
This episode is just about the most pitiful thing I have seen since
Bush came to power, and believe me I've seen plenty.
The Iranian Revolutionary Guards issued their own video and audio of
the encounter, which shows a routine identity check (see below).
Hamshahri reports in Persian that Sayyid Mahmoud Jazayeri said that
questioning passing ships is a completely routine activity for the
Iranian speedboats. Jazayeri accused Washington of attempting to paper
over its serious defeats in the Middle East with this gimmick.
The USG Open Source Center translates some of the transcript below.
"Iran TV Says BBC, CNN Complicit in 'Falsity' of US Footage
Vision of the Islamic Republic of Iran Network 1
Thursday, January 10, 2008
Document Type: OSC Translated Text
The navy of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps aired a clip of the
Hormuz Strait incident, which proves the falsity of the claims by
American officials. In pictures aired today, the Iranian vessel only
asks a few questions from the American one. The American vessel
responds to the questions by Iran and this is a routine matter in the
activities of the patrol units in maritime territory.
(Iranian patrol in English) Coalition warship seven, three. This is
Iranian navy patrol boat Tatone - 16. Navy warship, navy warship seven,
three. This is Iranian navy patrol boat Tatone - 16. Come in, over.
(US navy officer over radio, in English) This is Coalition Warship
seven three. Roger, over.
(IRGC officer, English) Coalition warship seven three. This is
Iranian navy patrol boat Tantoma - 16. Over.
(Passage indistinct)
(Presenter) CNN had aired a clip in which the Iranians had
surrounded the American vessel threatening that in a few minutes time
you will explode. The CNN and BBC networks aired Iranian footage today
but without the sound.
The Iranian deputy admiral of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps
said that the claims of the American officials on threats against the
American warships are totally false, because in the main reel the
military number of the Iranian person (on his uniform) speaking is
shown quite clearly. Admiral Fadavi added that the conversation between
Iranian vessels and other passing vessels is perfectly normal, which
happens over and over again.
(Iranian TV aired parts of the video with Farsi caption on English
conversations)
(Description of Source: Tehran Vision of the Islamic Republic of
Iran Network 1 in Persian -- state-run television)."
The Iranian press is suspicious about the timing of the Pentagon
videotape, noting that it was released just as Bush was heading to the
Middle East to try to convince the Arab allies of the US to make common
cause with Israel against Iran. The Gulf monarchies in particular are
very afraid of the Iranian navy, and the Bush administration video
would have been useful for pushing the Kuwaitis, the United Arab
Emirates, and Saudi Arabia into agreeing with the Bush grand strategy
of surrounding Iran and then cutting it off.
***
Press-TV (Iran) - Jan 11, 2008
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=38370§ionid=351020101
US Navy withdraws claims against Iran
The US Navy withdraws the allegation that Iranian patrol boats had
threatened to blow up a three-ship US convoy in the Hormuz Strait.
"It could have been a threat aimed at some other nation or a myriad of
other things," The Washington Post quoted US Navy spokesman Rear
Admiral Frank Thorp IV as saying on Friday.
This is while senior US Navy sources have told the BBC that an alleged
threat to blow up the US warships 'may not have come' from Iranian
boats in the Strait of Hormuz.
The Pentagon alleged five Iranian boats belonging to the Islamic
Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) had harassed three US Navy warships by
threatening to 'blow them up' on Sunday.
"No one is the military has said that the transmission emanated from
those boats," said Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell.
However, President Bush characterized the incident as 'provocative' and
'dangerous', warning Iran of serious consequences if it happens again.
Iranian officials have dismissed the allegation saying the incident was
a routine maritime identification check, which is common between
vessels in the Persian Gulf.
***
Press-TV - Jan 11, 2008
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=38339§ionid=351020101
US Navy sources back Iran story
Senior US Navy sources say an alleged threat to blow up US warships
'may not have come' from Iranian boats in the Hormuz Strait.
Informed sources told the BBC the audio on a videotape released by the
Pentagon could instead had been originated from another ship in the
area or a transmitter on land.
The Pentagon released the video footage of Sunday's identification
check in the Strait of Hormuz, claiming Iranian boats 'harassed' three
US Navy warships.
After showing the footage of the incident, the video turns black but
the audio track resumes with an accented, deep male voice saying
clearly in English, "I am coming to you."
He then continues, "You will explode after (indecipherable) minutes."
Iran has played down the incident as an 'ordinary' maritime
identification check.
The Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) also released a video on
Thursday, proving the Iranian Foreign Ministry's remarks.
***
The Guardian - Jan 11, 2008
http://www.guardian.co.uk/iran/story/0,,2239119,00.html
Doubts grow over Iranian boat threats
* Pentagon climbdown over 'you will explode' video
* Mystery remains over where voice came from
by Ed Pilkington New York
Doubts intensified last night over the nature of an alleged aggressive
confrontation by Iranian patrol boats and American warships in the
Persian Gulf on Sunday, after Pentagon officials admitted that they
could not confirm that a threat to blow up the US ships had been made
directly by the Iranian crews involved in the incident.
Several news sources reported that senior navy officials had conceded
that the voice threatening to blow up the US warships in a matter of
minutes could have come from another ship in the region, or even from
shore.
The concession came on the day that a formal American complaint was
lodged with Iran over the incident, and just 24 hours after President
George Bush, on tour in the Middle East where he will be discussing
policy towards Iran, warned Tehran to desist from such aggression and
said any repetition would lead to "serious consequences".
The Pentagon alleges that the confrontation lasted about 20 minutes and
took place in the Strait of Hormuz, where the US ships were in
international waters. Five Iranian patrol boats swarmed around three US
warships and came within a threatening 200 metres, prompting US
personnel to be put on alert.
The US navy has said that its gunners came within seconds of firing on
the speedboats.
On Tuesday, the US administration released video footage that it said
showed the Iranian speedboats harassing the American vessels. A voice
in English with a strong accent was heard to say: "I am coming at you -
you will explode in a couple of minutes."
Yesterday the Iranians put out their own four-minute video that showed
an Iranian patrol officer in a small boat communicating with one of the
US ships. "Coalition warship number 73, this is an Iranian navy patrol
boat," the Iranian said. An American naval officer replied: "This is
coalition warship number 73 operating in international waters."
The voice of the Iranian sailor in Tehran's footage was different to the
deeper and more menacing voice, threatening to blow up the warships in
the US version. Nor was there any sign of aggressive behaviour by the
Iranian patrol boats.
The Strait of Hormuz is a particularly sensitive stretch of water, both
economically as a key shipping route for oil from the Gulf, and
militarily. The location, together with memories of the arrest of 15
British sailors by the Iranians last year and their detention for two
weeks, is likely to have heightened nerves on both sides.
But the mystery remains of where the voice that apparently threatened
to bomb the US ships came from. The Pentagon has said that it recorded
the film and the sound separately, and then stitched them together - a
dubious piece of editing even before it became known that the source of
the voice could not, with certainty, be linked to the Iranian patrol
boats.
A post on the New York Times news blog yesterday from a former naval
officer with experience of these waters said that the radio frequency
used in the Strait of Hormuz was regularly polluted with interfering
chatter, somewhat like CB radio. "My first thought was that the
'explode' comment might not have come from one of the Iranian craft,
but some loser monitoring the events at a shore facility."
Despite growing doubts about what happened, the Bush administration
continued to stand by claims of Iranian hostility. The defence
secretary, Robert Gates, said the concern came from the "fact that
there were five of these boats and that they came as close as they did
to our ships and behaved in a pretty aggressive manner".
Further attention will focus on Tehran from today when Mohamed
ElBaradei, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, begins a
two-day visit for talks on Iran's nuclear programme.
*
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