Kristina Borjesson: Does The Hormuz Videotape Literally Produced by the Pentagon Mean Cue Up the War with Iran?
A BUZZFLASH GUEST CONTRIBUTION
by Kristina Borjesson
Cue The Threats. Cue The Incident. Cue The High Level Reactions. Cue The Confrontation With Iran?
Late last December, an unauthenticated audiotape, purportedly of bin Laden threatening Israel, made the rounds of the press and was, by and large, treated as if it were real. Then, right before President Bush’s trip to the Middle East, a videotape was released of a young Jewish man named Adam Pearlman now purporting to be al Qaeda, encouraging sympathizers in the region to greet Bush with bombs. That was reported without much, if any, questioning either. Then came the videotape of the Hormuz incident.
The Defense Department literally produced (as in what TV and filmmakers do) a mini-documentary of the incident between US Navy and Iranian vessels in the Strait of Hormuz. The actual incident, Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said, was 15 to 20 minutes long. The Defense Department’s mini-doc—a bit over four minutes. Asked for a preliminary assessment of the tape, Dartmouth’s forensic video analyst, Hany Farid, said that while it does not appear to be doctored in any way, "it is clear that this video has been spliced together from several clips, probably from different cameras, and that the audio and video are not synchronized."
The Iranians immediately claimed that the tape was a fake. New York Times reporter Nazila Fathi, went to the Pentagon to press for more details on their production and wrote that DoD officials couldn’t really say from where came the dire threat—"I am coming to you. ... you will explode after a few minutes"--heard at the very end of the tape. "Pentagon officials said they could not rule out that the broadcast might have come from shore," added Fathi, "or from another ship nearby, although it might have come from one of the five fast boats with a high-quality radio system."
In a bizarre twist, a report by the Navy Times suggested that the voice might have come from the politically incorrect nicknamed "Filipino Monkey," a "mysterious but profane voice. ... likely more than one person, who listens in on ship-to-ship radio traffic and then jumps on the net shouting insults and jabbering vile epithets."
Realizing that public skepticism was reaching critical mass, the Defense Department decided to report that there had been other similar incidents in the past that they just hadn’t mentioned. Then they released what they said was their raw footage of the incident. Loudly absent, of course, was the highly provocative audio of mysterious provenance. This has only served to highlight the fact that their first release was a highly deceptive—and manipulative bit of business.
President Bush rushed to use the tape to promote his Iran agenda. He quickly went before TV cameras and microphones to talk about the Iranian "provocation," and dredge up that dreaded "all options are on the table" buzz phrase for describing a scope of responses that could include military action. Then US National Security Advisor Stephen Hadley—remember him?—piled on with a dark warning: "It could have—and came very close to—resulting in an altercation between our forces and their forces," he said, "They’ve got to be very careful about this, because if it happens again, they are going to bear the consequences of that incident."
An altercation seems to be what Mr. Hadley and President Bush might be looking for. Hadley was a member of the White House Iraq Group that worked to manufacture consent for the Iraq War. He was responsible for allowing the bogus claim, about Saddam looking for nuclear material in Niger, to be included in President Bush’s 2003 State of the Union address. So this is deja vu with Mr. Hadley. His long-time ally, the currently low-lying Vice President Cheney, is probably thrilled by the renewed potential for hostilities with Iran.
Meanwhile, President Bush says he’s looking "to bring peace to the Middle East" and to contain Iran’s "hostile aspirations." Writing for Asia Times Online, M.K. Bhadrakumar reported that the President told the Israeli newspaper, Yediot Ahnronot, that "Part of the reason I’m going to the Middle East is to make it abundantly clear to nations in that part of the world that we view Iran as a threat, and that the National Intelligence Estimate [NIE] in no way lessens that threat, but in fact clarifies that threat." Here, Bush invokes the very NIE that contradicted his claims that Iran was a dire nuclear threat into a supporting document for his claims that Iran is a dire threat.
Recent events, the trail of audio and videotapes, Hadley’s comments and Bush’s comments all seem like cues. The "peace part" of the president’s mission seems like a cover story. What he’s really seeking, it seems, is a confrontation with Iran.
Kristina Borjesson is an investigative reporter and the author of FEET TO THE FIRE, The Media After 9/11: Top Journalists Speak Out.
A BUZZFLASH GUEST CONTRIBUTION
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Yep, the first thing a
Yep, the first thing a couple of friends thought about the Straits of Hormuz incident was the Gulf of Tonkin all over again.
Who?
I've been saying for years that all the Bush administration wants is a pretext for war with Iran. I'm sure it's no coincidence that this happened just before Bush's Mid-East visit to get the Arab Emirates onboard for the fight, or to at least have their Patriot Missile batteries (which we gave them) ready to defend.
At any rate, I was going to submit a correction, but I looked it up and apparently the (likely CIA black ops agent)/Queda terrorist Adam Ghadan was in fact born Adam Pearlman. I find it interesting that this article refers to him as being Jewish (rather than a Muslim convert) and uses his birth name. Was this an intentional ommission to emphasize his questionable credentials?
further context
I found this commentary to be the most informative on this issue of the Straits of Hormuz and the recent unfolding events:
http://smallwarsjournal.com/blog/2008/01/bowling-for-boghammars-2008-ed-1/
orion
We Can End The Iraq War And Prevent An Iran War
"How?"
"By our going all out for a candidate who upon being elected makes good on his or her campaign promise to both end the Iraq war and prevent an Iran war."
"But it looks like the Iran war is about to happen (what with this Straits of Hormuz reanactment of the Gulf of Tonkin incident) so how does our candidate make good on his or her promise to prevent said war if upon being elected it's already going on?"
"By demanding that (since we now know that Iran's years away from developing a bomb) that President Bush put his Iran war on hold."
"Until when?"
"The newly elected president takes the oath of allegiance."
"And then who decides whether or not there's to be an Iran war?"
"Us."
"Why us?"
"The candidate we've chosen makes good on his or her campaign promise that questions of war and peace will be left up to us."
Ending the War?
crackerjack: I admire but do not share your optimism that by electing a new President we can end the war. Unfortunately we do not elect President's anymore. That is done in secret by large corporations who "know better" than we do how to manage the bewildered masses. One thing about which we can all be certain, the shadow government that uses the neocons as its mouthpiece has already decided who will be the next President and all that is left to do is to manipulate the election process to appoint their new Presidential representative. Whether that is Huckabee, Clinton, Guiliani, McCain or someone else, we will continue in the Middle East madness, including the phony war against the phony enemy.
Hear Them Drums????
This manufactured excuse of a big bad wolf along with what the criminals in charge have been saying about Iraq/Iran for years shows how desperate they are to be able to say they didn't throw the first punch.
You ask if this is manufactured to justify an Iran attack...I ask does a bear sh*t in the woods?
Just another mess for someone else to have to clean up should dumbya decide to step down at the end of his/its term. Which based on his recent sound bites he is not likely to do.
obviously fake
I heard that audio with the voice saying "I am coming to you….you will explode after a few minutes"-- All that's missing is the laughter following. First of all, it's obviously an American using a comical voice where the accent is so sloppy it could be from the Middle east or from one of the Wild & Crazy Czechs from SNL. Anyone who doubts that these dangerous animals in the WH should be impeached immediately should wake up....please.
My first thought on hearing
My first thought on hearing the audio: Was Borat anywhere near the Straits of Hormuz last week? "You will explode after a few minutes...High Five!"
It's all quite comical, but I don't feel like laughing.
FALSE FLAG GALORE
So what else is new ;)
1846: The Mexican-American War
Abraham Lincoln Doubted Polk's Pretext for War
1898: The Spanish-American War
What Happened Aboard the USS Maine?
1915: World War I
The Sinking of the Lusitania
1941: World War II
"Smoking Gun": Provoking the Pearl Harbour Attack
1950: The Korean War
South Korea Likely Provoked War with North
1954: The Covert War Against Guatemala
Arms Shipments on the Alfhem
1959: CIA Plots Soviet Arms Deal with Cuba
1962: Plans to Create Pretexts for War with Cuba
Operation Northwoods Top Secret Documents
Pretexts to Justify Military Intervention in Cuba
1964: The Vietnam War
Gulf of Tonkin: The Lie that Launched the War
1979: The Covert War in Afghanistan
1983: The Invasion of Grenada
Military Exercise Practised the Invasion and Pretext
"Pretext Hostages" Denied they were in Danger
Same Old Recycled Pretext
1986: The Bombing the Libya
La Belle Disco: Debunking the "Libya did it" Theory
1989: The Invasion of Panama
Provoking the Pretext
Drugs, Noriega and Bush Sr.
1991: The Gulf War
Incubator Deaths: A Hill & Knowlton Fabrication
Nayirah and Other "Eyewitnesses"
1999: NATO's War Against Yugoslavia
What Happened at 'Racak'?
The Hoax that Started a War
William Walker: CIA Operative?
2001: The "War Against Terror"
2003: The New Iraq War
UN Resolution as Cover for U.S. War Plans
Iraq calls UN Resolution a Pretext for War
Inspectors fear they'll be used as Triggers for War
Future: New Covert U.S. Agency to "Stimulate" Terrorists
FULL EXPOSURE HERE...
http://coat.ncf.ca/our_magazine/links/issue50/issue50.htm
"Politics is the entertainment branch of industry" - Frank Zappa
http://www.youtube.com/JFWilliam
We Need Another War Like We Need A ...
2008: War is declared on Iran: Operation Iranian _________ (fill in the blank)
American warships attacked by Iranian patrol boats.
Mysterious voices over the radio coming from Iranian shore saying nasty things
Recession grows worse - Bush Administration needs major distraction
The usual corporations stand to make billions (like they really need the money)
U.S. forms coalition of the blackmailed - 40 countries contribute a total of 4,000 troops
(Israel sends its entire army)
Secretary of Defense Robert Gates declares the war should be "a cakewalk"
Iran found to have no nuclear bomb-making capability (surprise!)
On the other hand, Iran is found to actually have gays amongst its population
Stayed tuned for developing story ....
"War is the profit-generating branch of the industry" - to paraphrase a famous American
The Kristina Borjesson take on things
Speculation, of course, but, alas, it is logical, Ms. Borjesson’s extrapolating from what we know through hard evidence of just what this regime of ours is capable of. It’s almost as if nearly the entire sorry lot, along with their fellow-traveling and enabling neo-cons and such other civilian warriors, are seriously diseased with necrophilia. Whether as Texas governor presiding over numerous executions or as our oddly chosen President, he, as does the thrust of his regime, seems remarkably pro-death. “Peace to the Middle East”, indeed. I suspect that possibly the chief deterrent to our going to war against Iran, at least a ground war, might be our military itself. On the other hand, we do have all those airplanes in the tiny Gulf of Hormuz, which, from 30,000 feet and more, can so antiseptically drop their bombs and we can remain as undisturbed and detached as we were when Rummy’s Shock and Awe was doing in lots of Iraq’s population.
www.mybarbaricyawp.net