ubettcha13

If we treated them like Frankfurt or Hamburg we will be done with war for another long period of time If we do the video game clean kill like the leftys like we will never have peace War is suppose to be ugly making it nice and neat doesn't put enough urge in the people getting pounded to put an end to it

plugmeister

A gnat on an elephant's ass, not worth swatting----yet. My first thought is: 1) how many brave, patriotic, well trained young lives are at risk on those ships and 2) how many of our tax dollars did those ships cost? Who here remembers the Pueblo and the Mayaguez??

ARCTEKJim

coming off the tail end of the lybia conflict. we would not of even of hesitated to blast a hole or 2....or 3 or whatever. being a gunners mate in the early 80 s . it was a BALLSY time to play games with the us navy. should of taken care of biz . jim uss john king ddg-3 USS John King DDG-3 Association

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Philly Doug

I could not agree more. The Japanese were just as fanatical as these guys. In fact, they were the original suicide bombers. Took out a few cities and they became quite meek. We were actually able to occupy the county. We simply no longer have the political will to do what's necessary.

Grunt

This has been the most censored war in US History. We do not know the whole story. I have no doubt those Sailors have as much balls as any of us. The do have procedures and policies to follow that none of us are privey to. I would certainly not question their competence or commitment.

-just a related comment comes to mind - Our updated policy towards Iran surely comes into play. Iran was the only country in the Mideast to have spontaneous demonstrations against the terrorists and for the US after 911. Even their leaders followed a few days later with a statement of support. The people love the West and Western Culture and technology. Its sorts the opposite of the rest of that area. The Government seems to hate is but the people love us. In the other countries the people hate us and we are friendly with their governments. We don't need nor can we afford another enemy or war over there. We don't need to fight another war for Israel or Oil (as greenspan says) . You'd' a thought we coulda got them on our side in the Iraq war as they certainly hate them much more than us. And since I started down this comment path - That Israeli lobbiest Lieberman and these other draft dodging hypocritical neo-con chickenhawks beating the Iranian war drums ought to send THEIR kids there first.

They did show some videos today - jeeze hard to believe those were military boats. They looked like Formulas or some other glass speed boats.

Randy Stinchcomb

the "standing orders" should read Shoot to Kill

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Reel Draggin' Tackle

You can bet that every CO and every Gunner with his finget on the trigger is itching to swat the friken fly. I wouldn't question their will, desire or capability to make some sawdust.

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Scup

Thanks guys, at least now I know that I am not nuts. I saw that film of the those speed boats today and they looked like fast pieces of junk to me. Remember, before the USS COLE was hit, the year before there was a previous attack on one of our destroyers that went nowhere. They had so loaded down the sucide boat with explosives that it was swamped and sunk. Those speed boats I saw on the film were moving just too fast to be loaded down with anything. If I can see that, probably our Destroyer's CO could see it as well and knew they were only bluffing. The second thing I was thinking about is we have three blue water ships there that were designed to fight in mid ocean. Two hundred miles off the coast, they would not have let those pieces of junk get anywhere near them. Where this happened, they were within a rock's throw of Iran and shore based missiles. I now think our Navy was making a show of strength by parading big warships that are impressive but not designed for a close-in fight. You do not shoot a million dollar missile at a piece of junk. Iran called our bluff by doing their own bluff and won the hand. We simply had the wrong hardware there for playing out the scenario. If we had opened up on them, there could have been shore based or air based incoming missiles in the air heading for our ships. I do not like this business of playing games with a potential enemy. Way too easy to get into a real shooting war. We do not want war, but if it came to that, we should have our ships on the turf where they would be the most effective. They should not be in a bath tub where they would be sitting ducks. Perhaps our navy would be wise to start thinking about using our own small gunboats that could easily take out those pieces of junk without placing our best in harms way. The more I think about it, if Iran did take out our ships because we fired first, Bush at most would have given Iran a very stern warning not to do it again. Things have now been pushed to the point where a shooting war could very easily erupt over this game playing. It is time both sides should start to think carefully about what they are doing.

Grunt

Iran said today that it never happened and we made it up. I guess that is their way of backing down and de-escalating. Who knows maybe they just screwed up and those were rogue units???

It was good to see this outcome - it could have been blown up into a major incident.

Anyway - I was an army grunt and not in the Navy - but I am guessing those ships had 50 cals or other appropriate arms for those boats (no doubt choppers and other air support nearby also)- and if need be a missle could certainly be used. I would guess when you got all the firepower and support in the world on your side and they other guys have plastic boats it takes lots of restraint to keep your hands off the triggers.