Five Iranian speedboats swarmed U.S. Navy ships in the Straits of Hormuz over the weekend. As the video above clearly shows, these boats were well within firing range and could potentially have been suicide, U.S.S. Cole style bombs. This is a serious incident in one of the most vital sea corridors in the world. Much of the world's oil passes through that area of the Persian Gulf, and obviously our navy's presence there is vital to our troops on the ground on Iraq for both supply and combat air elements. It calls into question procedures for dealing with small, fast boats in close proximity to much slower warships that provide large targets. In addition, it is not wise to allow the Iranians to conduct operations of this nature anywhere near the United States Navy. The time has come to take aggressive action against Iran.
The first step has to be clarifying and announcing our exact rules of engagement to the mullahs in Tehran and the rest of the world. With a clear set of standards in place, there is far less chance of an accident or attack that might lead to American casualties. The rule should be short and sweet: non-allied naval vessels that approach to within 500 yards of a U.S. Navy vessel will be warned only once, and if they do not immediately alter course, they will be engaged without the courtesy of a warning shot. We cannot afford the loss of a major warship to what basically amounts to a cigar boat packed with explosives. Our vessels were operating lawfully in international waters and definitely have the right to defend themselves. The video also shows how fast the Iranian boats are in relation to the large American ships. Permitting these small, fast boats to approach as close as they did is not a solid defensive posture. Let's hope the rules are made plain to all involved before American sailors are killed or wounded. Remember, we're talking about the Iranians, who are already responsible for the death of U.S. troops in Iraq.
One more little incident should provoke the destruction of the Iranian navy and all it's facilities. The overwhelming power of the U.S. Navy should be brought down with full air and naval force. If the Iranians cannot conduct themselves lawfully and peacefully in international waters, they should forfeit the right to deploy a naval force at all. No doubt those plans already exist, and American naval commanders should be prepared to begin that operation immediately if not sooner. Puny little powers like Iran cannot even be given the opportunity to challenge our forces in any way. Tolerating their shenanigans only encourages further dangerous interplay and risks the lives of our young men and women. Repeated occurrences also diminish the future effectiveness of threatening naval action.
This incident coincided with President Bush's trip to Israel, so it was contrived and planned. Why the President is seeking to establish a terrorist state along side Israel is another matter. The facts are that the leader of Iran has repeatedly called for the destruction of Israel while relentlessly pursuing a nuclear weapons program. Iran has long provided various forms of support to Hamas and Hezbollah and has supplied terrorists in Iraq with EFPs to punch through American armored vehicles, resulting in U.S. casualties and deaths. That is tantamount to material support for Al Qaeda and should carry all the ramifications that entails. We have allowed Iran to take all these provocative actions without a meaningful response and are thus inciting further dirty deeds. It's time to lay down the law to Tehran about endangering our military forces. President Bush, in Israel on Tuesday, promised "serious consequences" and said "all options are on the table" to protect American ships. That having been said, Bush may have to back that up with action sooner rather than later to curtail the Iranians. Or maybe we should just wait on Old Europe to talk the mullahs into playing nice.
"Close enough," was my first reaction. Close enough to get blasted. The United States Navy should not pussyfoot around with these terrorists. The next time such a scene takes place, the Iranians should lose some boats and sailors. It looks like they are seeking a demonstration of American power, so let's oblige them.
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