Well, looks like Bush is up to his old tricks again, doing his best to provoke an Iranian military response which would bypass the oversight of Congress and launch us into full-scale conflict with Iran before the election.
Now the details of this latest incident are particularly disturbing, as the shots were fired - not from a U.S. Navy boat - but from a "vessel contracted by the Navy".
Do we now employ proxy contractors now as surrogate war instigators?
Here's the meat of the story:
A vessel contracted by the Navy in the Persian Gulf fired warning shots Thursday on two fast boats believed to be of Iranian origin.
U.S. Navy Fifth Fleet spokeswoman Cmdr. Lydia Robertson said the Westward Venture fired upon two boats of unknown origin Thursday, but other Navy officials told FOX News that the markings of the boats and their behavior led them to believe they were Iranian and typical of those used by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard.
...
The ship was about 50 miles off the coast of Iran when the fast boats approached. The Westward Venture attempted to make bridge-to-bridge contact to warn the fast boats that they were too close.
The Military Sealift Command vessel then blew its whistle and fired flares before finally firing warning shots with the machine gun when the boats came within 100 yards of the vessel.
Bridge-to-bridge communication was established after the shots were fired, with someone claiming to be the Iranian Coast Guard contacting the Westward Venture.
The Iranian Revolutionary Guard is suspected of being involved in this incident, officials told FOX News.
Let's look up the S.S. Westward Venture. It appears to be owned by a company called TOTE, which describes the vessel as contracted to support Operation Iraqi Freedom.
Have been looking for Republican connections for this company - nothing startling on the FEC front - here is a pair of boondoggles, both Republican - to attend "christenings".
While I realize there is much to talk about on the campaign front, let's not lose our focus that the president is pulling out all the stops in trying to justify a war with Iran on the eve of the upcoming presidential election. This would have disastrous implications for the world - and it may also have disastrous political ramifications as he regains his mantle as the "War President".