Editorial: Mystery voice on video muddles Navy’s message

[unhappycamper]

Editorial: Mystery voice on video muddles Navy’s message

~snip~

At the end of a Navy-released video showing Iranian speedboats menacing three U.S. warships Jan. 6 in the Strait of Hormuz, the screen goes black. Then comes the voice: “I’m coming to you. You will explode in a few minutes.”

The ominous voice made for dramatic TV, but it didn’t sound like it came from a speedboat skipping across the Navy ships’ wakes. Missing were the sounds of wind, waves, motor and shouting — sounds that should have been unmistakable in Hormuz, a strategic choke point at the mouth of the Persian Gulf. However threatening the words were, they sounded fake.

No sooner had the Navy released the video, edited down from more than 30 minutes to four, than the Iranians charged the Navy with fakery and released a video of their own showing an Iranian speedboat officer trying to hail the cruiser Port Royal on the same radio frequency.

Meanwhile, experienced Navy ship handlers said the voice likely belonged to any number of people in the region who get on the open emergency radio channel and heckle passing ships. For at least 25 years, the nasty, sometimes raunchy comments broadcast over that channel have been attributed to the “Filipino Monkey.”

~snip~

It should be a bedrock American value that our armed forces and our other public institutions speak the truth, and that when they release a video or audio recording, the content and context is clear. In this case, the voice was real, but the threat that it suggested is in doubt. Including that voice in the video without providing the necessary context — that prank radio calls in that region are common — proved to be a significant strategic error, one that wrongfully handed victory in the court of international public opinion to Iran at the expense of the U.S.


Rest of article at: http://www.navytimes.com/community/opinion/navy_editorial_iranvoice_080128/

[shraby]

1. Not only that, but I'm sure the Navy boys could

have shot the boxes right out of the water with no trouble..those boxes were no threat at all.

[Turbineguy]

2. The "Filipino Monkey"

has become something of an icon in modern seafaring lore. But I don't think it's one person. The story had it that he was a Radio Officer (they always had a lot of time on their hands). But there aren't many of those guys left because of technology changes (GMDSS).

[lvx35]

4. You'd think they'd have radio localization for that channel

to pinpoint where a given signal came from, seems like it would be somewhat relavant information.

[acmavm]

3. Our government, our military, and our intelligence services (?) are all

corrupt.

We are the old Soviet Union.

[Algorem]

5. pretty sure it's Baboo from Seinfeld