Are they any less likely to get away with this type of stuff now..?
No, they are MUCH MORE likely to get away with it.
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.
Ping.
Obama FUBAR again!
Bump!
Pathetic all around.
The commanding officer of these vessels surrendered his command to a foreign power.
The public doesn’t know why.
Until his reputation is cleared, he will be cast among those who surrendered without fighting.
If he was ordered to surrender by El Presidente through a superior officer, I cannot imagine he will not demand a courts martial.
O’Bammy’s Navy
I can hear the theme song to GIlligan’s Island in the background
Thank Goodness for TVLand.
Something funny going on here. /Captain Obvious
It gets worse every day. Treason du jour and no action by Congress. From Zero’s treasonous statements on foreign soil to the Iran deal to this shocking incident, I am sickened and disgusted. Valerie Jarrett must indeed be running things.
God help us
So ONE boat was broken down.
Their GPS systems WERE working.
Their radios WERE working.
It seems amazing that they needed help at all.
You would think with the Benghazi movie out and the well-earned rage about STAND DOWN ORDERS just now, that the WH would maybe be just a WEE bit sensitive about throwing stand orders around to US forces.
But I GUESS NOT.
Is there no end to the traitorous actions of our “leaders”? Anti-Americanism is en vogue.
Remember how that poor killed Border Patrol guy was under orders to fight back using BEAN BAG rounds..?
It just seems when you back up and total up all these incidents, the pattern you see is an insulated elite who give the orders and don’t care at all about the country or the men whom they command.
I mean the cases of this are just piling up, big-time.
They’re coming FASTER. There is a PATTERN.
They were told to stand down and get captured to elevate the iranian state to Americas level
So am I to assume that Iran still has the boats?
If so, there’s your answer. Obama/Jarret wanted a technology transfer to Iran. Plus, what else was on the boats? Javelins, Stingers, Drones?
Reminds me of the Spartan noble in 300 with the pouch full of Persian gold coins.
Treason is the reason!
He MUST be impeached!
Two parts of this story are incompatible. If the Administration asked Iranian assistance for mariners in distress, then ROE, Code of Conduct, and ability to resist are moot. You do not shoot at vessels coming to your assistance. Perhaps they offered assistance and did not show any hostile response until they were completely under their control. Then, they turned the cameras on.
If this story is true, then it explains the actions of the crew, but it convinces me that this Idiot in Chief is beyond stupid. What is he going to do when the Iranians use his billions to buy nukes from the NORKs?
So. Obama took the men prisoner.
Yeah, it vaguely seems like this was another case of “MAKE IT **FAIR** for the non-American world”.
And the photos of our guys kneeling, disarmed with their hands up epitomizes that:
Rich, Bad America who stole all the wealth of the non-American world, brought to HEEL.
And the only other people enjoying those images as much as the mullahs IS OUR OWN NATIONAL LEADER...?????
Seems amazing, but I believe that’s the case, here.
Are they any less likely to get away with this type of stuff now..?
No, they are MUCH MORE likely to get away with it.
This is engineered by Team Oblama to further weaken the U.S.A. He has ALREADY knocked America off the world stage as a superpower.
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