The Hormuz Hoax, part II
By Capt. Fogg
George W. Bush wants a war with Iran so badly that I have to be suspicious of any news item that relates to Iranian matters, particularly when the information comes from the US government. When I first heard the mysterious voice saying
Now the Navy Times is blaming the incident on a mysterious pirate radio operator or operators who have been doing just this sort of thing on the Marine VHF channel 16 for decades at all hours of the day and night. It seems in fact, to be happening all over the world and is often attributed to the mythical "Filipino Monkey." Someone with a radio on shore or on another ship gets his kicks from listening to conversations, interrupting with obscenities and making threats. According to many radiomen, female voices on the radio often elicit vulgar comments from these people. All ships and most boats are required to monitor channel 16 and so it is difficult to claim that the transmission was intended for one vessel or another and impossible to know where it originated, particularly in crowded shipping lanes like the straights of Hormuz. Such radios can be bought at any marine supply store without having to show any identification or license.
We were shown the audio and video of the boats simultaneously said Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Gary Roughead, because “ it gives you a better idea of what is happening” not because there is really any evidence that the voice came from the boats. Can it be that we have just narrowly escaped fulfilling Bush's dream of a massive air attack on Iran using this random and meaningless incident as an excuse? We've been fooled in just this way before at the cost of millions of lives and we have a president with a record of fooling us again and again.
Cross posted from Human Voices
George W. Bush wants a war with Iran so badly that I have to be suspicious of any news item that relates to Iranian matters, particularly when the information comes from the US government. When I first heard the mysterious voice saying
"I am coming to you ... You will explode in a few minutes."something sounded wrong about it. It's not only that the voice seemed to be putting on a deliberately thick accent, it certainly wasn't coming from a speed boat pounding through the swells at 30 knots or more as the video seemed to indicate; no effect on the voice of the impact of the hull against the water, no background noise of roaring engines or wind. I spend a lot of time on the radio, both from my boat and from my amateur station. I can tell the difference. It's unusual, but not unknown for such behavior to be found on the Amateur Radio bands and less often on the police and public service bands. On CB radio, it's almost standard procedure. When such people are identified, the punishment can be rather severe and the perpetrators are very often teens who are using dad's radio equipment when he's not around. Of course the VHF marine channels used by everything from pleasure boats to battleships are not immune to abuse.
Now the Navy Times is blaming the incident on a mysterious pirate radio operator or operators who have been doing just this sort of thing on the Marine VHF channel 16 for decades at all hours of the day and night. It seems in fact, to be happening all over the world and is often attributed to the mythical "Filipino Monkey." Someone with a radio on shore or on another ship gets his kicks from listening to conversations, interrupting with obscenities and making threats. According to many radiomen, female voices on the radio often elicit vulgar comments from these people. All ships and most boats are required to monitor channel 16 and so it is difficult to claim that the transmission was intended for one vessel or another and impossible to know where it originated, particularly in crowded shipping lanes like the straights of Hormuz. Such radios can be bought at any marine supply store without having to show any identification or license.
We were shown the audio and video of the boats simultaneously said Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Gary Roughead, because “ it gives you a better idea of what is happening” not because there is really any evidence that the voice came from the boats. Can it be that we have just narrowly escaped fulfilling Bush's dream of a massive air attack on Iran using this random and meaningless incident as an excuse? We've been fooled in just this way before at the cost of millions of lives and we have a president with a record of fooling us again and again.
Cross posted from Human Voices
Labels: Iran, lies, war mongers
posted by Libby Spencer at 12:19 PM
7 Comments:
after the NIE and this Bush is STILL talking about Iran. it's nuts. He's literally nuts. he's obsessed with Iran for no reason.
Here we agree completely. He was obsessed with Iraq for similarly irrational reasons.
no doubt. CHina is this way with taiwan. they can't sleep at night knowing they are over there being taiwanese. as with Bush/Iran, it makes no sense to anyone but them why it is such a big deal
Bush won't be the last president -- no matter which party grabs the White House in '08 -- to live in a world decades in the past, where the wealth and military power centers of North America and Europe told Asia, Africa and South America what they wanted, and Asia, Africa and South America obeyed. Or got the crap blasted out of them.
I have lots of unhappy issues with the theocracy of Iran and its leadership, and I'd love to see some fundamental changes in some fundamental policies.
But those changes need to come from the wishes and actions of the Iranian people.
Bush is drooling to "fix" Iran the same way he's "fixed" Iraq. He only has 12 months left to use the superpower military instrument the Constitution, unfortunately, gives him.
Americans have been furious and outraged at Revolutionary Iran since they overthrew our CIA-installed pet, the Shah, and since the hostage crisis. This is Bush's last moment to get America's long-seething revenge with some Shock & Awe.
Bush's "fix" of Iraq has nearly cost us 4000 dead US military to date. Iran's military is the region's largest and best. Concocting an "incident" -- like the fictitious Tonkin Gulf incident -- to spark an air attack on Iran will inevitably lead to a ground war. Our military is already super-overstretched in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The world has changed. We don't call all the shots anymore, and even our military force can't shape the world to our convenience anymore. It's disgusting how many of my neighbors' kids will have to die and have their lives destroyed so Bush can put on a war carnival for Fox and CNN by a superpower that just doesn't rule or intimidate the world anymore.
the way we should approach iran is what i call the booker t and the mg's method: do nothing. Booker T and the mg's were a band from the 60's who often , when the time came for a guitar solo, just played. they sold a ton of records anyway.
"But those changes need to come from the wishes and actions of the Iranian people."
Unfortunately, if a golden finger wrote that on the wall of the Oval Office, Bush still wouldn't understand. Democracy does not simply arise when tyrants are overthrown and particularly not when overthrowing them demolishes the country, its institutions and half its people.
Lester:
I have to admit I couldn't have put it better.
"Green Onions" was the first song played on the radio of my first car, the first time I drove it.
I just had to mention that.
Don't even try to leave me out of this nostalgia fest for Booker T & the MGs.
This Bush trip to the Middle East -- almost certainly his last -- is really Warner Brothers Cartoon-class loony and comical. He's pushing his bizarre mouth music of bringing Democracy to the Middle East in a series of cozy picnics with the last of the world's absolute monarchs -- guys who can still say "Off with his head" and "Wash that one and bring her to my chamber."
And who have utterly no intention of giving away any of that absolute power to the people in democratic or parliamentary reform.
Would you give that kind of power and lifestyle away if you had it?
But these are our allies in the tinderbox we ignited. Absolute monarchs vs. fundamentalist theocracies, and Bush merrily selling Pennsylvania-style democracy to all of them, Or Else.
Does anybody still ask what Bush's legacy will be as if it's still some kind of open question?
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