Gulf prankster at issue in Iran dispute

Gulf prankster at issue in Iran dispute

news.yahoo.com

Sailors in the Persian Gulf have known him for years: a radio operator who taunts and insults passing ships. The rants are heard and logged, then mostly forgotten.
But now the phantom voice has taken center stage in the latest flurry of claims and counterclaims between Iran and the United States following a tense high seas confrontation — raising new questions about whether Washington could have gotten a key element of the story wrong.

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Thanks for almost instigating another war **SNIP**!

This guy needs to be taken off the air and prosecuted. He could have started world war 3!

What is his friggin deal?

Such renegade broadcasters are called by the ethnically offensive moniker, "the Filipino Monkey" — a name used by mariners around the globe for someone who uses a radio for unnecessary or inappropriate transmissions.

I mean no offense to my Philippine ATS friends, but that is the term used to describe such a douche bag for whatever reason.

Last week, U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said there had been two or three similar incidents over the past year, but "maybe not quite as dramatic" as the Jan. 6 confrontation. None had been publicized until the eve of Bush's trip to the region, even though in one, in December, a U.S. ship actually fired warning shots toward an Iranian boat.

So all you saying Iran was the instigator, what do you have to say now?

Are they still a threat to world peace, or are your war mongering buddies the ones at the top of the anti-peace list?

The airwaves on the sea are full of rogue broadcasts. Many are dismissed as harmless snippets or remarks, but the one heard during the encounter with the Iranian craft was taken seriously.

Still, the Navy has said it cannot pinpoint the source. Over the decades, neither the location or the nationality of the Gulf radio prankster — or pranksters — has been determined.

The Navy has no idea where this dude is, yet they seem to know what he's up to...Trying to disrupt communications and act like a complete asshole at the expense of others.

news.yahoo.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

[edit on 17-1-2008 by Crakeur]

Yeh it's all very serious and that but cum on what a joker! He must have sum balls to do this the nutter!

I think it would be in the best interests for us to work with the Iranians to find this guy and put a stop to his antics. I can't imagine most of the people in Iran want a war either so it might be a good time to set aside our differences for a change before someone gets blown to pieces.

A separate audio recording of that voice, which came across the VHS channel open to anyone with access to it, was spliced into a video on which the voice apparently could not be heard. That was a political decision, and Lieutenant Colonel Mark Ballesteros of the Pentagon's Public Affairs Office told IPS the decision on what to include in the video was "a collaborative effort of leadership here, the Central Command and navy leadership in the field".
[ex/]
thetruthseeker.co.uk...

Might want to do some digging on this link, but what it is saying is pretty damaging to the Pentagon (leadership) case. It actually makes the Force commanders in the field look good which is exactly the situation I suspect.