[Peace-discuss] Fwd: [Iran01] AP: Iran says confrontation audio and video fabricated

[Karen Medina]

I agree with Barbara. Every day they are in office is a day they can and WILL DO horrible things. There is no doubt in my mind that horrible things await us in the upcoming year.

And RE: the discussion (with Carl, Jenifer, and the others) about Bush's campaign platform, in 2000 we knew W and Cheney were following in the Reagan/Bush, Bush 1 succession, but with even less regard for diplomacy and more ignorance about foreign policy. 

In 2004, W's platform was "stay the course" and "don't change horses mid-stream" yet almost half of the people voted for them again.

That is the real problem. That the people of the United States are, for whatever reason, not well-educated in history nor active in civic engagement enough to have seen the dangers. And that includes all the current presidential candidates as well. You can fool 50% of the people some of the time, and W is proof of it.

-karen medina

---- Original message ----
>From: "Barbara kessel" <barkes at gmail.com>  
>
>This is toremind us: Don't count the President out of office while he
>is still in it even if he has little support. Barbara
>
>---------- Forwarded message ----------
>
>This is beginning to smell more and more Tonkinesque all the time. I
>have no idea about the authenticity of the tapes, but what the
>Iranians were alleged to have said seems rather far-fetched. How many
>naval vessels announce their intention to attack and hence make
>themselves a target? Especially against a far superior force.
>
>Mike
>
>
>Gulf Video "Fabricated," Iran Says
>    The Associated Press
>
>    Wednesday 09 January 2008
>
>    Iran on Wednesday called video and audio released by the Pentagon
>showing Iranian Revolutionary Guards boats confronting U.S. warships
>in the Strait of Hormuz "fabricated," an English-language state-run
>television station reported.
>
>    State TV did not give the name of the Revolutionary Guard figure
>and did not offer more details about how the official knew the footage
>was "fabricated."
>
>    The Pentagon on Tuesday released a four-minute, 20-second video
>that included audio showing small Iranian boats swarming around U.S.
>warships in the Persian Gulf. In the recording, a man speaking in
>heavily accented English threatened, "I am coming to you.... You will
>explode after ... minutes."
>
>    The Iranian boats appeared to ignore repeated warnings from the
>U.S. ships, including horn blasts and radio transmissions, according
>to the video, which was shot from the bridge of the destroyer Hopper.
>
>    From the Hopper, after spotting the approaching Iranian boats, a
>U.S. Navy crew member says over the radio: "This is coalition warship.
>I am engaged in transit passage in accordance with international law.
>Intend no harm."
>
>    The audio and video recordings were made separately but were
>pulled together by the Navy. Often uneven and shaky, the video
>condenses what Navy officials have said was a 20-minute or so clash.
>
>    The top Navy commander in the Persian Gulf has said the Iranian
>fleet of high-speed boats charged at and threatened to blow up the
>Navy convoy as it passed near but outside Iranian waters on Sunday.
>The Iranian fleet "maneuvered aggressively" and then fled as the
>American ship commanders were preparing to open fire, Vice Adm. Kevin
>Cosgriff said. No shots were fired.
>
>    In Tehran, Iran's Foreign Ministry has suggested that the Iranian
>boats had not recognized the U.S. vessels. Spokesman Mohammed Ali
>Hosseini played down the incident. "That is something normal that
>takes place every now and then for each party," he told the state news
>agency IRNA.
>
>    On Wednesday, Iran's Defense Minister Mostafa Mohammad Najjar
>reiterated that the incident was not unusual.
>
>    "The identification of vessels passing through the Strait of
>Hormuz by Iranian navy units is a natural occurrence," the official
>IRNA news agency quoted Najjar. "Islamic Republic of Iran Navy units
>always put questions to passing vessels and warships at the Strait of
>Hormuz and they need to identify themselves. This is in accordance
>with the normal procedures."
>
>    Najjar called Western news reports that the boats threatened to
>blow up the U.S. warships as "mischief."
>
>    "[Iranian] Navy units ... asked them to identify themselves. They
>responded accordingly and continued their path," IRNA quoted Najjar as
>saying.
>
>    President Bush on Tuesday denounced the incident as a "provocative act."
>
>    "It is a dangerous situation," Bush said during a White House news
>conference. "They should not have done it, pure and simple.... I don't
>know what their thinking was, but I'm telling you what my thinking
>was. I think it was a provocative act."
>
>    Cosgriff also has disputed Iran's claims that the incident was a
>routine encounter, saying Iran's "provocative" actions were "deadly
>serious" to the U.S. military.