Raw Story reported yesterday on the "incident" of the Navy's 'Blackwater USA' of the high sea's cargo ship firing on boats approaching it the Persian Gulf, which led to a $119 barrel of oil:
"More than one Iranian 'fast boats ... were approaching this vessel at a high rate of speed,' in the Persian Gulf, MSNBC's Pentagon correspondent said. US military personnel on board fired eight .50-caliber rounds and three warning shots from M-16s when the boats got within 100 yards of the cargo ship. After the shots were fired, the ships veered off, according to MSNBC.
Miklaszewski said the military believes the Iranians were mostly trying to harass the ship and perhaps see how close they could get before being fired upon."
http://www.rawstory.com/news/2008/UScontracted_ship_fires_on_Iranian_boat_0425.htmleve
Those damn Eye-ranians, they're really asking for it! It WAS the Iranians right? No?
A report by Reuters today says:
"U.S. defense officials, speaking only on condition of anonymity, first said they suspected the boats were Iranian.
But a Fifth Fleet spokeswoman quickly backed away from that charge.
'We cannot speculate on who they are. We just don't know. We have no proof of who they were,' said Lt. Stephanie Murdoch, another spokeswoman for the Fifth Fleet.
In Tehran, an Iranian navy source denied that any confrontation had occurred with a U.S. ship in the Gulf. But the source, quoted by a journalist for Iran's state-owned Arabic Al-Alam TV channel, said any shooting that may have occurred could have targeted a non-Iranian vessel."
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/usa_iran_navy_dc
And, that may certainly be true. If we will all recall, another Navy contractor ship also fired "warning shots" at fast boats approaching them in the Suez Canal back on March 25. In that incident these "warning shots" killed one man on the boat and wounded two others, according to the Egyptian government. In that case, the offending boat was manned by Egyptians, couldn't pin it on the Iranians that time (damn it!).
Reuters reports that in the Suez: "Small boats selling cigarettes and other products often swarm the civilian ships moving through the canal. These waterborne merchants know not to approach military vessels but the 'Global Patriot' looked like a civilian, said the official, speaking on customary condition of anonymity."
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/03/25/world/main3965227.shtml?source=RSSattr=World_3965227
And the Iranians aren't the only ones that use the Strait of Hormuz, but we've got a war to start, so . . .
The fact that the Fifth Fleet is saying they don't know who was on these boats hasn't stopped the belligerent talk coming from the administration and now the JCS.
Reuters:
"The latest incident came as America's top military officer charged Iran with increasing support for Iraqi militias and warned that the United States had military options to force Tehran to stop.
"When I say I don't want to take any military options off the table, that certainly more than implies that we have military options,' said Adm. Michael Mullen, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff. 'That kind of planning activity has been going on for a long time. I think it will go on for some time into the future,' he told reporters."
Looks like they have all their ducks in a row at the Pentagon now that Admiral Fallon has been made an example of. Fallon and Petreaus didn't see eye to eye on the whole global aspect of the situation. Fallon was looking toward the problem of AQ in Pakistan etc. Petreaus sees everything within the prism of Iraq and the Iranian threat, just like W.! Fallon is out and Petreaus is taking over his job very soon. You do the math. 
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