Foreign Correspondence

[StephanieVanbryce]

Gulf allies turn their backs on Bush

By M K Bhadrakumar

.. LoL , are we surprised ? ..

So, it was Filipino Monkey, after all. The Pentagon has admitted that the footage of the famous incident of January 6 when five speedboats of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC)"buzzed" three US Navy warships in the Strait of Hormuz could have been compromised.

"I am coming at you. You will explode in a few minutes" - that was what the American navy men heard. An indignant Washington announced the US Navy was on the verge of firing on the IRGC boats, but for the latter abruptly turning away. President George W Bush, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Secretary of Defense Robert Gates added their strident warning that Tehran would face dire consequences if "provocative actions" were repeated.

George W Bush, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Secretary of Defense Robert Gates added their strident warning that Tehran would face dire consequences if "provocative actions" were repeated.

But the Iranian footage of the "incident" makes a laughing stock of the US administration. The funny thing is, it was an incident that didn't happen. Commander Lydia Robertson, spokeswoman for the US Fifth Fleet in Bahrain, put a brave face, while admitting, "We don't know for sure where they [threats] came from. It could have been a shore station." Chief of Naval Operations in the Pentagon, Admiral Gary Roughhead, backed up explaining, "Based on my experience in operating in that part of the world, where there is a lot of maritime activity, trying to discern is very hard to do."

"Filipino Monkey" is the code name given by the US Navy to a mysterious but profane voice which often challenges it in the Strait of Hormuz. The voice could be, if The Seattle Times newspaper is to be believed, "likely more than one person, who listens in on ship-to-ship radio traffic and then jumps in, shouting insults and jabbering vile epithets". US Navy women are said to suffer particularly degrading treatment.


ElBaradei counters Bush

Tehran has asked Washington to apologize for "attempts to mislead public opinion". Instead, Bush has lashed out at Iran during the various halts of his ongoing seven-nation Middle East tour. But here, again, there has been a problem. He has to make the Iranians look like the baddies on the basis of counter-terrorism. The Iranians have ensured that the counter-proliferation card in Bush's pack lacks punch.

Even as Bush was swinging his way through the Persian Gulf, the region had another distinguished visitor - the director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Mohamed ElBaradei. The timing couldn't have been better fine-tuned. ElBaradei arrived in Tehran just as Bush was touching down in Kuwait. They could almost hear each other. Tehran rolled out a red-carpet welcome for ElBaradei, with senior officials repeatedly underlining that Iran's relations with the IAEA have entered a "new phase". ElBaradei's itinerary included a meeting with Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

IAEA spokeswoman in Vienna Melissa Fleming has since confirmed that ElBaradei's visit has been of a substantive nature, with Iran committing to answering all questions about its past nuclear activities within the coming four weeks, including activities that were alleged by the US as linked to a weapons program. Fleming revealed that ElBaradei was given information on Iran's "new generation of centrifuges", which was a topic of considerable interest to the IAEA for assessing the extent of Iran's technological advancement in the nuclear field. [1]

Fleming claimed ElBaradei was able to "press his case" with his hosts for a suspension of Iran's uranium enrichment. Conceivably, ElBaradei proposed to the Iranian side an exit strategy for the impasse that the United Nations Security Council currently faces. He told the media he discussed in Tehran "ways of solving the issue as well as ways to negotiate with the United Nations Security Council". He stressed his intention is "to find solutions for Iran's nuclear issue so as to turn the problem into a normal issue". The head of Iran's Atomic Energy Agency, Gholam-Reza Aqazadeh, also confirmed that "grounds are now being prepared" for resolving all issues and that Tehran has the "necessary political determination" in this direction.

gawd , how long must we suffer this fool ? , All the world is watching to see if we can return to some sanity and regain the respect we once had ..

cont'd .