Farsi Island Incident, One Week On

If you thought by now that Big Navy would let us know exactly HOW our two small boats found themselves hosted by the Iranians for a day, you are sadly left wanting.

Trust me, "Big Navy" knows, it just hasn't reached the point that it wants everyone else to know right now. No conspiracy, just the bureaucratic slug needs to slime its way to a decision.

Until then, there are still items coming out that will keep you up to date. If you are in a hurry, you can in a balanced way get an update from two places.

First, Marina Korin at TheAtlantic;

CENTCOM said the small boats stopped in the Gulf because of a “mechanical issue in a diesel engine” in one of the vessels. “This stop occurred in Iranian territorial waters, although it’s not clear the crew was aware of their exact location,” the statement said.

The two riverine command boats departed Kuwait at 9:23 a.m. GMT on January 12, the statement said. They were scheduled to stop and refuel alongside the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Monomoy at about 2 p.m. But at approximately 2:10 p.m., Navy command received a report that the sailors were being questioned by Iranians. By 2:45 p.m., the military lost all communication with the boats. ...
All weapons, ammunition, and communication gear on the boats were untouched, but two SIM cards appeared to have been removed from two handheld satellite phones, CENTCOM said.

Unaware in broad daylight. Ahem. That about sums it up, and tells me about all I need to know, but I'll let that card be revealed in due time, and the Navy's investigation take its course. That really isn't what is important anyway.

A more interesting take is from our friend Jerry Hendrix over at NationalReview;

Two thousand years ago, a Roman could wander the known world confident that he would be unmolested by local unruly elements, protected only by the statement “Civis romanus sum,” I am a Roman citizen. His confidence stemmed from a demonstrated assurance that any group that dared attack a Roman would trigger a response in the form of a Roman legion, which would deal swift and brutal justice. Juxtapose this image of a previous world-spanning hegemon with the image of ten American Sailors kneeling on the deck of their own vessel with their hands clasped together over their heads. It is an image of indignity and failure that is accompanied by the smell of rotting power.
...
This is where we find ourselves today, kneeling on the world’s stage, with our hands clasped over our heads, all the while trying to convince ourselves that this new position demonstrates our strength and earns respect. Civis americanus sum, I am an American citizen. Let the molesting begin.

Very much the undesired effect from what I laid out for you at USNIBlog last week.

If you are only interested in putting up political firewalls or get scope-locked in legalism and inner-focused bureaucratic processism, then you are missing the real story. It is how this impacts our image, reputation, and standing in a world that is encouraged by weakness, and only respects power.

That is the story.