Posted on 01/14/2016 4:27:28 PM PST by mandaladon
The young Navy lieutenant who apologized to the Iranians after U.S. boats entered Iran’s territory has been identified as Lt. David Nartker.
The 27-year-old grew up in Chicago and now lives in Ohio. Videos on his Facebook page show him firing weapons.
Read: Iran Releases Humiliating Photos of Captured U.S. Sailors On Their Knees
Nartker was among the 10 U.S. sailors who were captured by Iran earlier this week. The sailors were later released.
But he found himself at the center of an international uproar after Iran released footage showing an interrogator haranguing him about being in Iranian waters.
“It was a mistake,†Nartker is heard responding. “It was our fault and we apologize for our mistake.â€
On Sean Hannity's show on Fox on Wednesday, there were questions over whether the apology could be a violation of the U.S. Military code of conduct.
But former Navy SEAL Chris Heban told INSIDE EDITION: "It is quite possible they were coerced or threatened into an apology. It certainly doesn't make us look good."
The Iranians also released images of his crew kneeling in submission with their hands locked behind their heads. A female sailor was forced to cover her head in keeping with Muslim law.
Senator John McCain, who lived through six years of torture as a P.O.W. in Vietnam, did not hide his anger at the “humiliating†incident.
“This is one hell of a propaganda coup,†he said.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
Will we ever see Lt. David Nartker being interviewed by the media??? Obama will make it IMPOSSIBLE!
Elsewhere, Travis McGee noted that their Rules of Engagement were probably “Do not fire unless fired upon”.
You get a swarm of faster boats surrounding you, and then getting closer, you cant fire without orders. If they come within a few feet and reveal they have bombs that can blow you all up, or just enough firepower to kill all your men, then you have no option but surrender.
That, IIRC, is what the Iranians did to the British.
Lt. David Nartker should have stated his name serial number and told them to kiss his ass period.
I read a recounting of the incident that stated they got the boats back MINUS the GPS.
Thanks. I hate rumors.
Even if he goes ahead and punches out, at least he will be able to reflect that no American lives were lost to no purpose on his watch.
It is of no wonder or surprise to me that our brave young men are returning from their military commitments with PTSD, and so many mental disconnects that they cant operate in 'normal' society.
I read a recounting of the incident that stated they got the boats back MINUS the GPS.
Sorry, he needs to be sitting behind a desk, not commanding a ship in a hostile zone.
Perhaps discretion was the better part of valor in this situation; we don’t know the full story yet so I’m holding my thoughts on it until then. Thank you for your service.
Remember back during Clinton admin. we had China launch some of our satellite carrying rockets?
Loral (a Clinton buddy owned company) had the MIRV technology on one of the rockets.
Seems that rocket 'crashed' on launch and much of the technology was never recovered.
Rumor was it was a technology transfer ruse as the Chinese hadn't perfected multiple warheads for their ICBMs.
My conspiracy funnybone is got me thinking this may have been a setup to transfer military GPS technology to Iran. Apparently military and civilian GPS has some differences.
A post from FB on Allen West’s article:
Matt Bracken’s thoughts: “I rarely pull out my dusty old trident, but in this case, here goes. I was a Navy SEAL officer in the 1980s, and this kind of operation (transiting small boats in foreign waters) was our bread and butter. Today, these boats both not only had radar, but multiple GPS devices, including chart plotters that place your boat’s icon right on the chart. The claim by Iran that the USN boats “strayed into Iranian waters” is complete bull$#it.
For an open-water transit between nations, the course is studied and planned in advance by the leaders of the Riverine Squadron, with specific attention given to staying wide and clear of any hostile nation’s claimed territorial waters. The boats are given a complete mechanical check before departure, and they have sufficient fuel to accomplish their mission plus extra. If, for some unexplainable and rare circumstance one boat broke down, the other would tow it, that’s why two boats go on these trips and not one! It’s called “self-rescue” and it’s SOP.
This entire situation is in my area of expertise. I can state with complete confidence that both Iran and our own State Department are lying. The boats did not enter Iranian waters. They were overtaken in international waters by Iranian patrol boats that were so superior in both speed and firepower that it became a “hands up!” situation, with automatic cannons in the 40mm to 76mm range pointed at them point-blank. Surrender, hands up, or be blown out of the water. I assume that the Iranians had an English speaker on a loudspeaker to make the demand. This takedown was no accident or coincidence, it was a planned slap across America’s face.
Just watch. The released sailors will be ordered not to say a word about the incident, and the Iranians will have taken every GPS device, chart-plotter etc off the boats, so that we will not be able to prove where our boats were taken.
The “strayed into Iranian waters” story being put out by Iran and our groveling and appeasing State Dept. is utter and complete BS from one end to the other.” - Matt Bracken
Because the GPS could prove they were not in Iranian waters?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.