Pentagon Says Threat May Not Have Come From Iranian Boats

Think Progress:

Earlier this week, the Pentagon said that three of its Navy ships in the Strait of Hormuz had been harassed and provoked by Iranian speedboats. The Navy said it had felt so threatened that it was about to open fire on the boats. A four-minute video of the episode provided to the public by the Pentagon contained one particularly harrowing moment...

...Some bloggers were immediately skeptical, noting the voice did not sound Iranian. Iran released its own video, arguing the footage did not show any Iranian boats approaching the U.S. vessels, nor any provocation. Today, the Navy acknowledged that the verbal threat made in the tape may not have been Iranian:

Read the whole story: Think Progress

Comments

[Stirner]

Another "Gulf of Tonkin" incident? One, only one, of the dreaded Republican candidates warned of this sort of false provocation to initiate a war with Iran, and who then tried to say that the whole Hormuz incident was blown out of proportion... but he was laughed down by the others. Republicans want another Bush. Keep smiling.

[loki]

In just a few days, this has pretty much dropped from all media coverage. Isnt that funny. It is however typical of what happens when Bush scams fall on their faces. Well, except for the Iraqi invasion. That one just keeps going on, and on and on.

Dont worry. In a month or so, they will try again. This time bigger and more deadly Im sure. And if that ones fails like this one did, they will escalate the next one, and so on. They are not giving up, even if they have to just do it without false provocation. I would bet we will be Iran if they have to do it on the last day of Bush's term, they will.

[ajax2]

This boat wouldn't look threatening on Walden Pond.

[OckhamsElectricRazor]

The real threat comes from a war-mongering US president!

[sarnold49]

And this is supposed to surprise who?

[Sumocat]

Wow, this is shocking news. Here I thought that video of speedboats randomly zipping around and fake-sounding audio was totally real.

[vippy]

You mean another goof up by Bush threatening Iran over a tape that was not Iranian?
We did not need the Pentagon to tell us that
because we already knew it was a manufactured
video.

[UnrulyPeasant]

Some guy down in the engine room was scoping a porn flick and it carried over the intercom..

[geekkid101]

These Clowns-In-Charge can't even get a simple staged threat right.
Thanks God for that, WWIII avoided till…..

[bookish]

Amateur hour.

As if we'd believe them anyway, but the low production values are just insulting.

[Independent voter]

More US credibility down the toilet.

[normathumb]

Time for a phony Persian Gulf of Tonkin Resolution on the heels of phony WMD's, lies about an Iraq - Al Qaida connection and on and on. Honestly, I don't believe anybody believes a thing that comes out of the mouths of this junta. The people who say they do are liars also. Like children with fingers in their ears screaming "la la la" to drown out the truth they don't want to hear. We have attacked, on phony pretenses, once again, killed tens of thousands including nearly 4,000 of our best, wasted billions of dollars, ruined our relations with our allies and our reputation as a nation of laws and upholder of human rights. That there are still people proud to call themselves Republican is shameless.

[Cedman]

Damn, the man in the undisclosed secure location could not get to the phone in time to launch a full scale counter attack! Oh well, there is always Super Tuesday

[Justtellthetruth]

Now just a second here!
It is a well known Historical fact that Japanese Kamikaze Pilots would often radio ahead to US ships and say " I will explode in a million peices on your imperialist ship momentarily."
this is a strategic flaw common to many aggressive nations and a big part of why the US has prevailed in so many conflicts.
Many people don't know it, but our enemies often phone their hostile intentions in ahead of their arrival, and the Iranians are no exception. Again, we, America, as a nation, are just lucky that way I guess.
To suggest that this is anything less than a serious and terrifying ( if not utterly stupid and counterintuitive) provocation worthy of at least a stern talking to of the Iranians is just Liberal bunk

[MajorKong]

The phone call is coming from inside the ship!!!