THE TOPLINE: Defense Secretary Ash Carter said Thursday that the two U.S. Navy boats seized by the Iranian military had strayed accidentally into Iran's waters due to a "navigation error."
"It does appear ... that they did stray accidentally into Iranian waters due to a navigation error, so that seems to be the original cause of this," he said in an interview with Univision.
He said the ships were so close to Iranian waters because the sailors had "obviously misnavigated," and were not on a covert mission.
Carter also said it was "not abnormal" for the Iranian military to board the U.S. boats because they were in Iran's waters.
The senior ranking American on those two boats should have refused boarding. There is no excuse for what happened. You can state to the Iranians when they pull up in their little weekend bass-boat, that you agree with them: there is a problem. That everything will be done to get the boats out of their waters. Nod 'yes' a lot. Salute even when they first pull up (you and they are both in the profession of arms). That you agree with them how serious this all looks.
But no one will be boarding your boats.
We need a new root and branch process for this. Either the ROE was followed; it was not followed: there was no ROE: the ROE was garbage (as it pertains to our Navy as an armed force). Maybe if we are lucky, it was jut that the unit commander is a moron. And/or the fleet boss. Or the command post. I suspect it will be a lot of people.
I want people fired over this. I don't care what their rank or position is throughout the military and civilian chain of command.
As for dealing with the Iranians, one military has it right.
'Having none of it'
When Iranian Revolutionary Guards captured the British sailors and Royal Marines in March, it was not exactly their first attempt.
It turns out that Iranian forces made an earlier concerted attempt to seize a boarding party from the Royal Australian Navy.
The Australians, though, to quote one military source, "were having none of it".
The BBC has been told the Australians re-boarded the vessel they had just searched, aimed their machine guns at the approaching Iranians and warned them to back off, using what was said to be "highly colourful language".
The Iranians withdrew, and the Australians were reportedly lifted off the ship by one of their own helicopters.
To think that this whole area is not a war zone, would be stupid. No mission or transit is routine or low-threat. These boats should have been crewed by people willing and able to resist. The boats should have also had over-watch by other, more powerful platforms.
But back to our idiot U.S. National Security Team.
SAILORS NOT COVERED BY GENEVA CONVENTION: The State Department said Thursday the American sailors captured by Iran were not covered under protocols of the Geneva Convention because the United States is not at war with Iran.
The determination means that the Obama administration will not accuse Iran of violating the convention's protections for prisoners of war, as many critics accused Iran of doing with its treatment of the sailors.
"The Geneva Convention applies for a time of war between nations, and we're not at war with Iran," State Department spokesman John Kirby said. "So it's difficult to see how the provisions of the Geneva Convention can be applied here or us citing them as violations of it, because we're not at war with Iran.
"If we were at war with Iran or another country, then, yes I think you could look at what happened as a breach of the protocols in there," he added. "But they don't apply."
Odd, no declaration of war was given for Korea, Vietnam, Iraq and many more. Or, one can say war happens immediately when there is a hostile act. Our people had their hands behind their heads. If it wasn't a hostile act, why would they need to do that at all?
I would respectfully recommend writing your congress-person to object to this and just about any war this and other national security teams dream up. They do not respect the American people and by that: the American military person.
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