Posted on 01/17/2016 1:57:49 PM PST by Taxman
CENTRAL VIEW for Monday, January 18, 2016
Iranian coup: A tale of two U.S. Navy vessels
Last week, the U.S. Navy dispatched two of its fearsomely armed Riverine Command Boats (RCBs) to patrol between Kuwait and Bahrain. Somehow, the RCBs were seized by the Iranian Navy; the crewmembers arrested, and -- even though the U.S. and Iran are not technically at war -- treated as Prisoners of War (POWs). How could this happen?
The Swedish-designed, U.S.- manufactured RCBs cost $2.8 million per copy. Each RCB carries six machine guns, to include a .50 caliber Gatling gun, plus grenade launchers. Covered with armor plating able to deflect AK-47 fire, the RCB’s 49.4 mile-per-hour top speed means RCBs can outrun every known surface warship.
To guard against surprise attack, RCBs carry the Sea FLIR III infrared sensor system, thermal imaging, a laser rangefinder, and long-range radar. Navigation is by a top-of-the line GPS and chart plotter system, along with traditional chart and compass back-up. The RCB’s world-wide communications gear nets with ships, aircraft, and ground forces.
Operating in pairs, the RCBs provide each other with mutual fire support. If one RCB is disabled, the other RCB can tow it to safety. Thus, the question arises: How could two RCBs lose their ability to navigate at the same time and stray into Iranian waters? And how could two world-class weapons platforms be seized by the, arguably, inferior Iranian Navy?
Apparently, one of the RCBs had a propulsion problem and radioed U.S. 5th Fleet in Bahrain for assistance. Congressman Louis Gohmert (R) of Texas claims the Obama White House intervened, asked the Iranian Navy to provide assistance, and ordered the U.S. 5th Fleet to stand down.
By long-standing naval custom, disabled boats found in territorial waters are rendered assistance, and simply escorted back into international waters. Their crews are not subjected to POW treatment or put on world-wide video display, looking like criminals.
But, instead of being treated as distressed vessels exercising the mariners’ right of innocent passage, the Iranians arrested the crew members, treated them as POWs, and, somehow, got the officer-in-charge to make filmed statements praising the Iranians and saying the treatment the crew received was: "Fantastic."
Absent Congressman Gohmert’s explanation -- citing White House intervention -- it appears Articles II and V of the U.S. military’s Code of Conduct were violated. Article II states: "I will never surrender of my own free will. If in command, I will never surrender the members of my command while they still have the means to resist." Article V reads: "When questioned, should I become a prisoner of war, I am required to give name, rank, service number, and date of birth. I will evade answering further questions to the best of my ability. I will make no oral or written statements disloyal to my country and its allies or harmful to their cause."
Alternatively, could it be that the White House-imposed Rules of Engagement (ROE) robbed the RCBs of their "means to resist"? Were the RCB’s awesome weapons even permitted to be loaded? Congress should demand to see the Operations Order under which the two RCBs left Kuwait for Bahrain and demand copies of all the communications between the RCBs, U.S. 5th Fleet, and the White House. Meanwhile, the RCB crews are left twisting in the wind.
Nationally syndicated columnist, William Hamilton, is a laureate of the Oklahoma Journalism Hall of Fame, the Colorado Aviation Hall of Fame, the Oklahoma University Army ROTC Wall of Fame, and is a recipient of the University of Nebraska 2015 Alumni Achievement Award. He was educated at the University of Oklahoma, the George Washington University, the Infantry School, the U.S Naval War College, the University of Nebraska, and Harvard University.
©2016. William Hamilton.
I like the way you think!
Please educate me: what does “Take it ALL Reggie” refer to? I am drawing a total blank on that one!
A demand to surrender by another nation's warships at sea or an attempt to board a US warship without permission is by defination a hostile act
There's three ways this went down.
1. Someone on our side in the chain of command ordered this lieutenant to surrender his two boats.
2. The lieutenant was out of communications (due to jamming or malfunction) and took it upon himself to surrender without firing a shot
3. The lieutenant was in communications - was told to use his descretion - and surrendered without firing a shot
HOW those boats got to the point of confrontation (mechanical malfunction, GPS error, fuel miscalculation - accident or design ...whatever) matters less than what occured after the confrontation took place
Two US Navy vessels that possessed the means to resist surrendered to the Iranians without firing a shot
THAT is the most important fact of this incident.
It didn't matter if they were outnumbered or if they were outgunned, it didn't matter if their ships had maneuverability issues.
They were afloat - they had functioning weapons
They had the duty to defend their vessels from being boarded and taken. Either they were told to stand down and surrender by higher authority or they failed to discharge their duty as sailors in the US Navy.
There needs to be an open congressional hearing on this incident and the sailors need to pe given congressional immunity to negate the non-disclosure agreements I am sure they have been made to sign by now
There also needs to be an article 32 investigation. The officer who gave the order to surrender should face courts martial. The US Navy - surrendered two vessels without firing a shot
I like Obama less than venereal disease but he didn't surrender those boats.
A naval officer did - I'd like to know who the officer was that gave those orders
At no point in history has any government ever wanted its people to be defenseless for any good reason ~ nully's son
Nut-job Conspiracy Theory Ping!
To get onto The Nut-job Conspiracy Theory Ping List you must threaten to report me to the Mods if I don't add you to the list...
If it looks like a duck, swims like a duck, and quacks like a duck, then it probably is a duck.
Looks like Treason to me!
I was never in the Navy.
I would guess that these Sailors received some kind of briefing before they went on this mission. It would be something like the Army’s Five Paragraph Operation Order (OPORD).
They would have been told about possible actions by the Iranians and how to deal with them.
My guess is that there is a written OPORD for this mission.
The Commander of the mission will be measured by how he followed the order.
This was a fairly long mission. The Commander and maybe all of the Sailors would have been briefed before leaving. Everyone would know the score.
I’m betting that there is an order with very strict guidelines for directions and radio procedures and so forth.
The Sailors didn’t just hop in the boats and head south.
Valerie Jarrett arranged this whole thing, soup to nuts.
Those are some great graphics!
When Ophonybama goes down, VJ goes down!
Taffy 3. One of my favorite WWII stories.
Of course, 0Muslim would have cr@pped himself in his haste to surrender...
There will be payback!
The American people are getting pissed!
Hitler and Tojo found out what pissed off Americans can do!
Ophonybam and his LIEberal thugs will find out, too!
See my post #111.
See my comments at #111.
Says it all!
Reggie Love, 0Muslim's former "body man" [I guess that what they call it in San Francisco these days...] and a "wide receiver" in college...
I wouldn’t get into a plane if I were them. They don’t want these guys talking and they have a well used strategy for that.
One thing I remember from the story which I think was shown on the History Channel, was of Capt. Evans.
The last one of the other destroyers saw of him was him badly wounded, manning the aft controls because the bridge had been shot away.
He ordered “abandon ship” and was never seen again. He was awarded the Medal of Honor.
Something for sure. This all goes back at least to the Sentennel 170 that mysteriously was taken over and landed in Iran in tact.
The wolverines defended their cubs from the Grizz.
LOL!
Well played!
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