The hawks’ weird story about Iran’s seizure of 2 US navy boats

Summary: Iran’s arrest of US sailors in their waters provides opportunity for our hawks to wave a fake bloody shirt, hoping to make the US public fear and despise Iran. That this daft jingoism is considered acceptable, even routine, fare in our newspapers shows how much we’ve adopted Imperial thinking — and abandoned common sense. {2nd of 2 posts today.}

Today’s output from the war-monger industry:  “At the Pentagon, General Chaos is in Charge” by Ray Starmann at US Defense Watch (“News, Opinion and Analysis on US Defense issues and politics with a conservative viewpoint”), 26 January 2016 — Opening…

The surrender of two US Navy vessels of war and their crews to the Iranians without firing so much as a shot and the subsequent and sickening apology by the commanding officer, speaks volumes about the current fighting spirit, training and state of readiness of the US military in 2016.

The conduct of the US Navy officer in charge, Secretary of State John Kerry and Secretary of Defense Ash Carter was nothing less than a complete and utter disgrace. No doubt the order to surrender came from the Pentagon; and at the Pentagon, General Chaos is in charge.

Typical of the one-sided news we receive, USA Today said {link added}:

“{A}n emerging consensus of U.S. legal experts believe the provocative act was a dangerous violation of international law that has so far gone without repercussions.

“The U.S. riverine boats had the right to pass expeditiously through Iran’s territorial waters under the right of innocent passage without being boarded and arrested so long as they weren’t engaged in a military operation such as spying. Pentagon officials have said the riverine boat crews mistakenly entered Iran’s waters in the Persian Gulf due to a “navigation error” while en route to a refueling.”

… “This should be very concerning for the Navy community,” said James Kraska, a maritime law expert at the U.S. Naval War College. “This says that U.S. vessels don’t have innocent passage and that their sovereign immunity is not respected.”

This is bizarrely biased. The US has attacked Iran — staging the first electronic Pearl Harbor —  a cyberattack that destroyed the infrastructure of another nation, without a declaration of war. The US, or its client state, Israel, has assassinated Iran’s scientists. US political and military leaders routinely advocate bombing Iran. We are past the point at which we can claim a presumption of innocence for military action in Iran’s waters.

Given these circumstances, Iran seizing the US craft was both rational and appropriate. For the US craft to have opened fire in Iranian waters would be an act of war — and quite mad. The US apology for being in their waters is just good conduct. We’re fellow citizens of the world, not tyrants or gods.

If we continue listening to these “hawks” — mostly professional war-mongers — will inevitably get us into even more and worse trouble than they have so far in Afghanistan, Iraq, Yemen, and Libya.

Another mad note

“Only last week, Ash Carter announced that he is considering demoting American hero, General David Petraeus.”

The author seems unaware this America is a nation of laws before which we are all equal. There is no special pass for a “hero”. Many serving in the military have been broken for violations of info handling smaller than that of Petraeus.

Make that “we should be equal before the law, but aren’t”: “Pentagon won’t demote Petraeus” from The Hill today.

Pled guilty to mishandling CLAS while on active duty. Military punishment = None. Accountability is for the suckers. https://t.co/QtVfT8h9f5

— Col. Morris Davis (@ColMorrisDavis) January 30, 2016

 

For More Information

If you liked this post, like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter. See all posts about our conflict with Iran, and especially these…

• Iran will have the bomb in 5 years (again) — Forecasts of an Iranian bomb really soon, going back to 1984.
• What does the IAEA know about Iran’s nuclear program? — Their reports bear little resemblance to reports in the news media
• What happens when a nation gets nukes?  Sixty years of history suggests an answer.
• What happens if Iran gets nukes? Not what we’ve been told.