Bombs Away updated
via Glenn Greenwald
So, there was a Republican debate out of South Carolina last night. It was
a visit into an alternate universe. It began with the national anthem being
ruined by a chorus straight out of the Miss America Pageant, circa 1950, complete
with ball gowns. It was one village away from scary. But the blathering that
we needed to get ready to bomb-bomb-bomb insert a country here was
standard talking points from the Republican party. Thompson actually showed
life for a moment. Huckabee got the obligatory religion question. Ron Paul kicked
the rest of them around the stage, while his opponents reminded everyone of
what being a Republican today is all about and how scary that reality is. As
for Rudy, he’s in trouble. Mr.
9/11′s top staff are working without pay.
But stepping away from the surging egos last night and all their bellicosity, what actually happened in the Straight of Hormuz? Here’s the DoD
video of the incident. Iran released a video
too, on which William Arkin supplies some analysis.
Now I don’t want to sound flippant, because people agree that this is the stupid
kind of thing that starts wars. But did you see the size of the Iranian boats? It’s also not like our ships were docked at port.
We could have taken the Iranians out in a nanosecond, but that would have been an altogether different type of international incident. Fred
Kaplan:
Was this a dicey confrontation? Without question. Vice Adm. Cosgriff said
at his news conference that the Iranians have engaged in these kinds of aggressive
maneuvers only twice before—out of the dozens of times (two or three
times a week) that American ships have crossed into the strait in the sight
of Iranian ships.Given the sharp memories of the attack on the USS Cole in 2000, which killed
17 sailors, it’s only natural that the officers onboard the U.S. destroyer,
cruiser, and frigate moving through the strait on Sunday morning, well within
international waters, should take the speedboats’ actions very seriously.I am told that, at one point, the Iranian boats came within the security
zone of at least one of the American warships—that is, close enough
that, under the U.S. Navy’s rules of engagement, the ship’s captain could
have been well within reason to fire a warning shot. The Pentagon’s videotape
reveals that at least one of the ships sounded the warning horn—but
nobody took a shot.Both Adm. William Fallon, the commander of U.S. Central Command, and Secretary
of Defense Robert Gates have instructed captains in the Persian Gulf to be
extremely cautious in the event of Iranian provocations. Nonetheless, by necessity,
a ship’s captain has full authority to take action if he judges that his vessel
faces a clear and imminent danger. According to at least one report, one of
the captains was moments away from firing when the Iranian boats turned away.
… ..
Meanwhile in Iraq:
American bombers and fighter aircraft dropped 40,000 pounds of bombs on suspected
militant hide-outs, storehouses and defensive positions in the southern outskirts
of Baghdad on Thursday, the United States military said.In one of the largest airstrikes in recent months, two B-1 and four F-16
aircraft dropped 38 bombs within 10 minutes near the Latifiya district south
of Baghdad, the military said. The airstrikes were accompanied by a large
Iraqi and American ground assault. … ..
Dangerous happenings afoot. Paging the grown ups.
UPDATE II: Navy Times offers new information on the Iranian incident. As someone who knows quite a bit about voice and tape, the voice at the end of the DoD tape above in my post sounded suspect the moment I heard it. Now it seems my instinct was right on.
UPDATE: Another story offers more on the incident (via email).
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