Carter: Navigation error may have led to Gulf incident with Iran

Stars and Stripes ^ | 1/15/16 | Baldor and Burns

[pabianice]

TAMPA, Florida — Defense Secretary Ash Carter said Thursday it appears a navigational error caused the crews of two Navy boats to stray into Iranian waters in the Persian Gulf, where they were detained overnight by Iran and released.

"It does appear — the information that they have given us and through their commanders — that they did stray accidentally into Iranian waters due to a navigation error," Carter said in an interview in Miami with Fusion network. Later, he flew to Tampa to meet with leaders of U.S. Central Command, which oversees the U.S. military in the Middle East.

[jpl]

Not buying it. Something about this whole incident stinks to high heaven.

[Berlin_Freeper]

Bought my child a working compass in the toy shop.

[ObozoMustGo2012]

The boats must have been using TomTom instead of Garmin...

[pgkdan]

Either that or Iranian jamming of the GPS and communications on those boats.

[SIRTRIS]

MAY !?!?!?

[Truth29]

Bring the crews before a Congressional committee, put them under oath and demand a moment by moment description of what happened, what navigation equipment they used, what there orders were, the ROEs, any higher command instructions prior to the videotaped apology, etc. Somebody will crack and trip up the Administration spin.

[null and void]

Ash alert!

[TexasCajun]

And we have the most advanced military on the planet?

Did they get lost or break down, I've heard both?

[DuncanWaring]

Somebody will crack and trip up the Administration spin.

And it will have the same effect as the tripping-up of the "internet video caused the Benghazi riots" Administration spin.

[CIB-173RDABN]

Our government can not longer be trusted to tell the truth.

The only safe thing is to assume they are lying and try to figure out why.

[The Sons of Liberty]

Not buying it. Something about this whole incident stinks to high heaven.

I agree! Just speculation, but looking at what we have been told (not much and who knows the veracity)

1.the Iranians didn't conduct their usual extended propaganda routine and returned the sailors relatively quickly;

2. No one appears to have been harmed.

My theory (PURE SPECULATION) is that Hussein 0bama and JFing Kerry wanted a stage to portray the Iranians as "civilized" to give them some cover as they handed over $150 BILLION for them to pursue their nukes.

[TTFlyer]

Bull.

[DuncanWaring]

Defense Secretary Ash Carter said Thursday it appears a navigational error caused the crews of two Navy boats to stray...

I know of at least one former SEAL who once did this sort of thing for a living who says this claim is absolute BS.

[Right Brother]

Actually it was a Google Maps app on their Android.

[sport]

I think that it was set up. I don't know why, but I believe that it was pre arranged and I smell obama and Valery Jarrett in there somewhere. it could be that it is another indication of how far we have gone down as a Nation. What I do know is that a Nation whose people elect bastards like Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, and barrack Obama to rule them cannot stand the test of time. Since they are as corrupt as the sons of bitches they select to lead them, they will collapse from wihin.

[Durbin]

So both boats at the same time just happened to have navigation errors? Please. Not buying it.

[kidd]

If I were to believe this story,

I would then ask if the Iranians gave a warning that they were in their waters, or did they detain them without warning?

Did the Americans try to change direction? Why not or why were they not allowed to?

[alloysteel]

Diversion on the night of the State of the Union Address.

Oh, look! Squirrel!

Somewhere along the line, the wrong coordinates were fed into the guidance devices of these two small craft, whether in error or deliberately. If deliberately, it would be collusion with an unfriendly power, and if in error, it points to grievous incompetence, not something the US Navy should be tolerating if they are to be a combat-ready military force. GPS guidance systems have been up and running for some time now, and the military has ALWAYS had the most accurate spotting capability available.

Blame and excuses we have had always, and every time, they have proved to be futile exercises. Results we want, and with results, accountability.

[Bruce Campbells Chin]

My WAG is that those sailors were on what amounts to a joyride, maybe the boats were racing or thinking they'd find someplace to swim. The Pentagon/Administration doesn't want to admit that even this small a unit was that undisciplined, so they're keeping it mum. But I can't think of another explanation that makes sense. The sailors attempted the weak excuse of mechanical problems, which makes no sense because one boat could have towed the other if that was the case, or made a distress call.

If they were doing something covert, there are a thousand smarter ways to do that than to send to openly military boats into Iranian waters in the middle of the day.

And the false flag thing -- that the Administration did this on purpose so as to try to make the Iranians look good -- is just too tin-foil hattish. Far too much of a chance for a scheme like that to eventually become public, and there are less risky ways to accomplish the same thing.

So until I hear otherwise from some of my buddies still in, I'm going with joyride.