| Author | Message | | Jefferson Davis | | Posted: Mon Jan 14, 2008 2:55 pm Post subject: JakartaPost.com: Iranian gunboat incident and USS Liberty |
| Jakarta Post.com: Iranian gunboat incident
January 14, 2008 http://www.thejakartapost.com/detaileditorial.asp?fileid=20080114.F05&irec=4
I find U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's response to the recent actions of Iranian gunboats in the Strait of Hormuz, in stark contrast to the U.S. government's reaction to the intentional, sustained and lethal attack on the (almost) unarmed USS Liberty, by Israeli aircraft and fast-torpedo boats in international waters off Gaza in 1967, killing 34 and wounding 173 U.S. Navy servicemen and NSA technicians.
Without doubt, the actions of the Iranian gunboats were not only "abnormal" as Rice correctly described, but illegal and irresponsible.
During the Israeli attack on the USS Liberty, yes during the attack, the U.S. 6th Fleet Commander Rear Adm. Lawrence Geis informed the Pentagon he had launched an airborne rescue mission to assist the Liberty, but was ordered to recall the aircraft by the then secretary of defense Robert McNamara, who stated emphatically to Geis: "The president (Johnson) is not going to embarrass an American ally over a few sailors."
Be assured I have absolutely no political or any other axe to grind. I am a UK citizen and an ex long serving member of the Royal Navy -- i.e. a sailor. I can put it no more eloquently than one of the USS Liberty's survivors, that all voluntary members of professional armed forces, on signing up, give a blank check to their government, payable for an amount "up to and including my life, in return those checks are expected to be spent wisely with every support and protection provided". I can hear the rustling of papers in various embassies as press attach‚s scrabble for pens to prepare flowery rebuttals and to do their historical duty, that is lie for their country. So when the letters come -- and I suspect they just might -- then let me preempt some of your points:
To the Iranians: this was a very serious incident which could have resulted in a repeat of the IS Sahand sinking in 1988. Your naval units acted in a dangerous and provocative manner with scant regard for international law and SOLAS conventions.
To the Americans: on the Iranian incident it is laudable that you have released video footage and radio exchanges, you have 2 x monitoring facilities on Musandam Peninsular so in addition to VHF#16 radio traffic you will also have taped the surface radar picture compilation, may I suggest you also publish this information and let dangerous regional bias be completely negated by the facts.
To the Israelis: I realize that any person or entity criticizing your actions, whether state-sponsored thuggery or otherwise, are immediately labeled anti-Semitic and/or neo-Nazi. | |  | | | ©2002-2009 WarWithoutEnd.co.uk | 
