We previously discussed how the government has kept 28 pages classified in the 9-11 Report to protect Saudi Arabia from a public backlash of its alleged involvement (or at least the involvement of Saudi officials) in the attacks. Now, a report on the treatment of U.S. sailors by Iran in seizure of Navy boats earlier this year will reportedly remain classified for some time. That is rather curious since Iran already knows how it treated the sailors. Again, there is a suspicion that the Administration simply does not want the public to know the full details of the mistreatment, which Rep. Randy Forbes (R., Va.), a member of the House Armed Services Committee, says are far worse than has been made public. Recently, the Navy fired the commander in the incident.
The 10 sailors were captured and their high-speed special boats were seized when they drifted into Iranian waters around Farsi Island. They were held for 16 hours and the Iranians used videotapes of sailors apologizing and crying for propaganda purposes.
Now, Forbes (who was given a classified briefing) alleges that the Administration is keeping details of the incident classified for a year or longer. He stated “I think that when the details actually come out, most Americans are going to be kind of taken aback by the entire incident, both how Iran handled it and how we handled it.”
I fail to see why the description of the treatment cannot be released immediately. I can understand the need to review and potentially classify the conditions leading to the seizure. There are issues of communications and diplomatic exchanges are likely sensitive. However, the full details of the treatment of the sailors after they were taken into custody is obviously known to Iran . . . it is simply not known to the American people.
Source: Fox
“If an Iranian gun boat came within our territorial waters without permission, we’d treat it as friendly?”
Well, let’s see, my father was present when a French air force plane got lost and needed to land. And…nope…we didn’t make him cry, put him in a hijab, force him to read a statement, and send the recording out on national news.
We just gave them a boatload of money, and are practically building their nuclear enrichment program for them. Kerry has done his best to convince us that we’re bosom buddies. This is not the action of an ally.
You may not be aware, but other vessels turn up in our waters all the time. When’s the last time you saw them crying out an apology on the news?
Why do people justify this behavior?
If we were at war with Iran, that would be one thing. But we just injected their economy with cash and have paved the way for them to get nukes. And…people don’t have a problem with them treating our sailors like POWs in violation of the Geneva Convention?
Karen, you’re analogizing a french vessel to an Iranian vessel entering US waters without permission?
Is Trump now arguing no French immigration or no French nuclear power?
“If an Iranian gun boat…”/ “Well, let’s see, my father was present when a French air force plane …” ???????
“You may not be aware, but other vessels turn up in our waters all the time. When’s the last time you saw them crying out an apology on the news?”/ ????????????????
“If we were at war with Iran, that would be one thing.”/ NOPE, WE JUST PUT ECONOMIC SANCTIONS ON THEM…WE JUST CALL THEM ROGUE…WE KEEP URGING BOMBING RUNS ON THEM… WE KILL THEIR SCIENTISTS…WE KEEP LET VIRUSES INTO THEIR SYSTEMS…
“But we just injected their economy with cash and have paved the way for them to get nukes.”/ NICE TRY, WE GAVE THEM BACK SOME OF THEIR MONEY FOR COMPLYING WITH THE TERMS OF THEIR AGREEMENTS. AND NOOOOOOOOO, WE MADE SURE THEY COULD NOT HAVE NUKES….
“And…people don’t have a problem with them treating our sailors like POWs in violation of the Geneva Convention??/ AAAAHHH, NOPE, THEY DIDN’T…
As usual, the other, THEM are the problem, the log in thy eye, karen stops you from seeing asking…uh…what were we doing in their waters?
On the other hands, when Palestinian fishermen are within THEIR OWN TERRITORIAL WATERS, they get machine gunned by Israel. Not hearing you complain on their behalf????? 🙂
That’s correct robert. You can pick a thousand other stories that illuminate the negative over-classification tendencies of this administration than this one which is actually perfectly understandable and no doubt correct.
https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20160411/07141334150/obama-word-classified-means-whatever-we-need-it-to-mean.shtml
It is common practice to classify the treatment of captured personnel and the tactics used by the captors, as well as the counter tactics used to deny a captor useful intelligence or information. Everything is debriefed thoroughly and analyzed by the people that teach survival, and resistance training, so it can be incorporated into future lessons. There is really no useful purpose to declassify the report, other than idle curiosity, and declassification could reveal things that would harm US personnel that were incvolved in this incident or future incidents.
The NPT allows ALL nations the right to enrich uranium by the way.
“Death to America” doesn’t really mean “Death to America.”
In other news, The Affordable Care Act totally makes Care Affordable. Promise!
Remember, kids, “Death to America” chants are just a fun thing that Iranians like to do together. So, no worries!
Facts that might get in the way of The Narrative: CLASSIFIED.
Journalists totally understand that.
AMartel – the reason it is classified is that it prove that unicorns are real.
steveg:
“Erdogan’s government shoots down a Russian fighter in its airspace. Not a word from Karen S.” Are you kidding? I hammer Erdogan whenever he’s the subject of the Professor’s posts. The man’s a maniac.
Our deal with Iran implied that we were resuming diplomatic relations, or at least would shake hands on the street. When you provide someone with buckets of cash, you expect them to treat you with a modicum of politeness. We pick up drifting foreign nationals all the time. We do not make them cry, force them to read a statement we prepared to broadcast it to the nation, force the women to wear religious garb against their will, and whatever else shenanigans went on. We give them blankets and water.
The treatment of our sailers clearly indicates Iran believes us to be the enemy. And we have given them the green light on centrifuges!!!!! That’s the real problem. Is Iran our enemy or not. Because Obama and Kerry tell us it’s all rainbows and it’s perfectly fine for them to enrich Uranium, while Iran laughs at us and chants Death to America on TV.
This does not inspire confidence in our leadership’s ability to keep us safe.
Karen writes, “The treatment of our sailers clearly indicates Iran believes us to be the enemy.” If an Iranian gun boat came within our territorial waters without permission, we’d treat it as friendly?
China is our biggest trading partner. If China sent a gun boat to within 12 miles of the California coast, we’d be sending out a a basket of french hard roll, cheese, and a Bordeaux?
Conversely, the US sends a missile cruiser into the South China Sea to intimidate the military installations on the disputed artificial islands, and you think China would be friendly?
I read the Faux news story, and even that does NOT mention that it is ONLY the treatment of the sailors that is still classified. It says that the treatment MAY have been worse according to the Congressman. The news story cited that details of the situation are still classified, and THAT is because of an ongoing investigation. So please try and read the whole story and not cherry pick facts to suit your prejudices.
I fail to see what the problem is here.
If a “journalist” whats to report on what happened, they can simply ask the persons involved. Those people can cooperate if they want to, without restriction by the military.
I don’t know why anyone would expect the DoD to release a classified account of an incident and/or the assessment of foreign behavior and practice. That’s not normally done, following any incident.
If they release the info now, it may very well make Barack Obama and John Kerry look like idiots. If they release it next year, the guano will hit the fan on someone else’s watch. And, I bet Obama’s hoping that person will take the blame.
Long story short: Information that will piss off the American public and make it more likely to vote for a Republican is CLASSIFIED. TOP SECRET. EYES ONLY.
OTOH, information that will earn Hillary Clinton more free money … free for all.
Want more insight?
Watch the James Bond movie, “Tomorrow Never Dies”
Media mogul Elliot Carver (Jonathan Pryce) uses his media empire [and stealth boat] to fuel flames of war between UK [US?] and China [Iran?]. Carver screws with global GPS system and causes UK warship to drift into China territorial waters. James Bond travels to China to stop him with help of Chinese secret agent Wai Lin.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120347/
Obviously the unfortunate sailors were under direct orders to sail into Iranian waters and get captured and the administration would then, hat in hand, thank the Iranian government for the rescue. All these new a good relations made possible by the Iran Deal and the farsightedness of the White House, a heart warming narrative that would be understood and loved by all. But the Iranians decided it would be much more fun and productive for them to play hardball instead of badminton and so things went south in a hurry.
Karen writes, “One is to recall that we have given Iran access to millions of dollars and are practically building their nuclear reactor for them. Should their behavior come out (such as what Iran itself has released on video), the American people might reconsider our actions.”
Erdogan’s government shoots down a Russian fighter in its airspace. Not a word from Karen S. Iran hands over sailors who ::ahem:: drifted into Iranian territorial waters. Damn those oogah-boogah Iranians, even if they didn’t treat US servicemen poorly. Right?
This is a situation where we can call Obama, Obumbo.