The media is filled with angry reports of how the US Navy servicemen were treated by Iran. They continue to blather about how Iran is using this for propaganda and to embarrass Obama. And while the Iranian newspapers did in fact headline the event, it has already been removed to the bin as they discuss more important matters affecting their country, the economy and the world. Yet, our media insists on dragging the story into epic demonizing proportions!
The story changed regarding what actually caused these two boats to venture into Iranian waters. The pictures of the soldiers are rather inane – they look bored, they’re eating oranges and drinking tea – hardly a heavy handed approach to finding ten US soldiers on boats with huge caches of arms – trespassing. Because, in fact the boats were fully operable, they were not drifting, and they had made no attempt to correct their error. And Ash Carter made such a statement to Iran Wednesday – despite the media continuing its vigilante, demonizing approach.
Sounds more like the US was testing its authority. The boats were traveling from Bahrain to Kuwait, an easy jaunt directly north – Iran’s territorial waters are east. And the boats were said to be three miles into Iran’s territory. I imagine the fact that they were traveling where there were no other boats might be a good indicator. At its ‘narrowest’ point, the Persian Gulf is 35 miles wide, at the point where the boats veered off track the Gulf is about double that width – 70 miles. The Iranian territorial waters include those within 12 miles of Iran which is standard according to the Unite Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. That would put the two boats well off their course which would normally have taken a route hovering the west side of the Gulf. That means the US boats had traversed 61 miles east in order to trespass.
So they would have us believe that a highly trained commando of two US navy Assault boats accidentally got off course by 50 miles in a 70 mile sea span and did nothing to inform – anyone? Don’t think so. Get real.
The obvious military discrepancy comes to play in the fact that that the US supported the shooting down of the Russian jet that inadvertently crept into Turkish airspace for 8 seconds…and had no sorrow for the pilot that died. According to the White House, the action of Turkey was completely and unequivocally within its jurisdiction given the ‘trespass’. And yet cry fowl-foul when the tables are turned? Not logical at all.
The boats, top of the line assault Riverines, are equipped with four machine gun mounts capable of handling heavy .5 M2HB machine guns as well as medium and miniguns. The boats are also equipped with a Mk49 remote control weapons station equipped with a M2HB heavy machine gun. Developed by Israeli defense contractor Rafael, the Mk49 has a 360 degree arc of fire. These are heavy duty military vehicles.
In fact, Iran did treat the soldiers in a completely normal military fashion given the circumstances. The detention was short – hours – and everyone was released without issue. One soldier looks as though he is laughing…
Why wouldn’t they apologize? They made a mistake? When you make a mistake – you apologize! What the heck is wrong with that? And while some outlets have decried the military Code of Conduct regarding ‘not being taken prisoner without firing a shot’, that applies to a ‘war’. We are not at war with Iran. The US committed an egregious act, Iran acted responsibly, and the story should have ended. In fact we are attempting to make them an ally. Whether you agree with what Obama’s tactics are or not, we are NOT at war with Iran and the military code of conduct does not apply. What does apply is a gentlemanly approach to behavior. Given the boats were loaded with weapons, looks pretty much precautionary to me.
Adding to the fray of frettered journalists, the story – changed – dramatically from a wayward drifting as a result of mechanical failure, to an odd story of a ‘gps malfunction’. Still no one communicated with a higher up or commander… not normal. That alone makes the entire episode look even more suspicious – against the US intentions. But we know that everything is manipulated, including our perceptions, and what news we read, is filtered, and censored – sigh.
Yes, the Iranian media did air the event in the media? So did every single US outlet, as did France, Germany, Canada, Australia, Brazil, Venezuela, Italy, UK, and every freaking paper in the world… because it was – news. Hello? Wake-up!
If Iran had followed the logic of Turkey, with the thumbs up from the US, we’d be in the middle of a World War of epic proportions. But they didn’t. Consider ourselves ‘lucky’!