Show Me The "Experience" Mrs. Clinton

I began looking at some of the political reactions to the incident with Iran in the Persian Gulf, and it didn't take long for me to realize, only John McCain has actually weighed in during an interview. Not a single Democrat has discussed the incident, and during all those interviews, none of the Republicans talked about it either.

There seems to be a disconnect there, perhaps the media is being nice and giving them one day after NH, but this seems like a really good issue to leverage by asking some tough questions, this incident has all the makings of a presidential political issue that would tell us a lot about the candidates. We have Iran Policy, Persian Gulf policy, and Defense Policy all wrapped up in one event, and I think we would get some good information on the issues in the commentary. We have observed strong opinions regarding the incident and what it means, and we have conspiracy theories that even the NY Times Lede has no problems reporting on.

Considering no one has asked the questions, I'll offer up the question that each candidate should be asked, but most importantly, if the media wants to be credible when repeating Hillary Clinton's line on experience, the question she absolutely needs to be asked:

"The CO of the USS Hopper was about to open fire right before the Iranians turned away. The Pentagon was reported to use the phrase "at the last second" in terms of how close it came to a shooting incident. Would the CO of the USS Hopper been right to open fire?"

There is of coarse only one correct answer to that question, and it would be Yes. In fact, there is only one answer that the "experienced" candidate in Hillary Clinton could give, if she is indeed experienced.

I'll list the 17 reasons why her "experience" leaves her only one answer.

* Hull Maintenance Technician Second Class* Kenneth Eugene Clodfelter, 21, of Mechanicsville, Va.
* Electronics Technician Chief Petty Officer* Richard Costelow, 35, of Morrisville, Pa.
* Mess Management Specialist Seaman Lakeina Monique Francis, 19, of Woodleaf, N.C.
* Information Systems Technician Timothy Lee Gauna, 21, of Rice, Texas
* Signalman Seaman* Cherone Louis Gunn, 22, of Rex, Ga.
* Seaman James Rodrick McDaniels, 19, of Norfolk, Va.
* Engineman Second Class Marc Ian Nieto, 24, of Fond du Lac, Wis.
* Electronics Warfare Technician Second Class* Ronald Scott Owens, 24, of Vero Beach, Fla.
* Seaman* Lakiba Nicole Palmer, 22, of San Diego, Calif.
* Engineman Fireman Joshua Langdon Parlett, 19, of Churchville, Md.
* Fireman* Patrick Howard Roy, 19, of Cornwall on Hudson, N.Y.
* Electronics Warfare Technician First Class* Kevin Shawn Rux, 30, of Portland, N.D.
* Mess Management Specialist Third Class Ronchester Manangan Santiago, 22, Kingsville, Texas
* Operations Specialist Second Class Timothy Lamont Saunders, 32, of Ringgold, Va.
* Fireman Gary Graham Swenchonis Jr., 26, Rockport, Texas
* Ensign Andrew Triplett, 31, of Macon, Miss.
* Seaman* Craig Bryan Wibberley, 19, of Williamsport, Md.

Never Forget.

I don't know about the rest of undecided independent America, but for me I question how "experienced" she really is, and whether she has learned from her experiences at all. This question would at least give the media a chance to test that experience for the serious independent voters living in the real world.

For those who would choose to debate the technicals of the incident and disagree there is only one answer, it is time for the tactical discussion of the video.

There are two excellent, professional discussions on this incident taking place on the web that are must reads if you have watched the video of the incident, which given the TV time we imagine most Americans have. The comments section both at Lex and CDR Salamanders in those discussions are chalk full of professional details you won't find anywhere else on this incident. The combination of insights by the professional contributors, both active duty and retired, is a case study in how the Navy blogsphere works. For the amateurs, this is the basic explanation.

The video is about 5 minutes, for those who aren't aware, the Pentagon cut 15 minutes of it for OPSEC reasons, and that includes the section near the end when the small boats dropped boxes in front of the USS Ingraham (FFG 61) forcing her to take evasive maneuvers. If you haven't watched it with sound, you need to, because while pictures say a lot, the audio on the bridge does too.

If you follow the progression in the first minute and half of the video, you'll hear several things. The communications for the first 1:20 of the video includes a radio query to the small boats, followed by a radio statement of "transit passage" (a legal term the LOTS crowd really should bite into), followed by a radio warning with instructions, finally followed by blasting of the horn. Also heard in the background are various spotters updating information, including axis of approach, and what sounds like the helicopter doing a radio call with some specific identification details including color of the small boats. By now, if you have seen the incident reported by the TV news, or have seen the AP video, you have heard the comments from the Iranian. This appears to take place early in the encounter during the warnings that are shown in the first 1:20 of the video. That means the Navy operates for several minutes, perhaps up to 10, after hearing the Iranian threat.

The video shows the 3 ship group in a tactical formation, of which they stay throughout the video shown. Leading the formation is the USS Hopper (DDG 70), followed directly behind by the USS Ingraham (FFG 61). The USS Port Royal (CG 73) appears to be in a position back and between both ships, putting it in a position between the USS Ingraham (FFG 61) and Iranian coast. This is because the USS Port Royal (CG 73) is the strongest vessel, and in that position the ship has the clearest firing axis for inbound threats from the threat axis, which the US Navy obviously believes is Iran.

The Iranian boats appear to approach from the front of the formation, and move to form a line on the weak side, the side away from the USS Port Royal (CG 73), and do some maneuvering. It appears that some of the boats then break off and begin to surround the USS Ingraham (FFG 61), and as the video shows the range appears to be in the range of the 200-400 yards reported by the media, which is where the video ends.

We know there is 15 more minutes somewhere on film of this incident, but all we can go on is the details as reported. As we understand it, the encounter ends with the boats we see flanking the USS Ingraham (FFG 61) on the Oman/UAE side crossing her bow and dropping objects in the water in her path, resulting in the USS Ingraham (FFG 61) taking evasive maneuvers. At that point, the USS Hopper (DDG 70) CO is reported to have given or was about to give the command to fire, but the small boats then speed away opposite the direction the group was heading.

How dangerous was this really? Prior to the NIE release on Iran WMD almost every anti-war group in the world had issued an editorial regarding a conspiracy by the Bush administration to attack Iran. Virtually every casual naval observer we know has seen these editorials, because those editorials usually came around every time a naval strike group would deploy. Virtually every anti-war person I know has seen these editorials as well, because they follow the talking points.

In almost every one, those anti-war groups would predict a doomsday scenario where Iran would retaliate from a Bush attack by shutting down the Strait of Hormuz. As we looked over dozens of those anti-war publications, we noted almost all, and there are probably hundreds, mentioned Iran would use suicide boats. When even the hard core anti-war left acknowledges the IRGC will deploy suicide boats, it invalidates the argument that some on the left have tried to make regarding this incident that suicide boats wouldn't be a major concern on the minds of those ships when IRGC small boats approach US Navy warships at high speed in the Strait of Hormuz.

Some on the fringe left want it both ways, they want to describe an Iranian small boat tactic including geographic location for their leftest conventional wisdom conspiracy theory, then deny when they see a video of the scenario developing almost exactly the same way they predicted, by the same people they predicted would do it, in the same geographical location they predicted it would happen.

At top speed, those fast boats can reportedly do around 50 knots on those calm morning seas. Start calculating based on range, and that is how many seconds the Navy has to react to a suicide attack. 30 knots at 400 yards gives the ships 30 seconds to react. 50 knots at 400 yards gives those ships about 15 seconds to react. The reported estimated range at some points during the encounter, which video appears to confirm, was around 200 yards. Depending upon speed, between 30 - 50 knots at 200 yards, the ships would have between 7-15 seconds respectively for the E6 to call the order to fire, and the gunner to aim true before another Cole incident takes place.

When you look at the relatively benign pictures close to the end of the video, you are actually watching what amounts to 7 to 15 seconds from a life or death situation for those sailors. Think about it, had those been suicide boats, like the ones the anti-war left has been telling us about, and they had charged the ships those sailors only had 7 to 15 seconds to stop an attack at the time taken during those pictures.

Those ships walked a very thin line in a life and death situation. Life and death decisions is what being president is all about. I want to know which presidential candidate is ready to say the USS Hopper (DDG 70) CO didn't have the right to open fire, or even responsibility for that matter, to open fire under the conditions of the question we presented above. Does the media have the guts to ask the questions? Do the candidates have the guts to answer the questions? The issue of suicide boat attacks against the Navy is directly related to actual, real world, year 2000 experience for then first lady Hillary Clinton, or so she claims records in a certain library would reveal. Show me the "Experience" Mrs. Clinton. As co-president during the USS Cole attack, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, and a member of the Emerging Threats and Capabilities Subcommittee, one would expect that you would be pushing the media towards this topic, if all that implied experience is real.