‘Filipino Monkey’ may be behind radio threats, ship drivers say

[CommunityEditor]

Five Iranian high-speed attack craft accosted a trio of U.S. Navy warships Sunday in the strategically critical Strait of Hormuz, the U.S. 5th Fleet commander said, prompting evasive maneuvers by the U.S. ships and reportedly bringing them close to opening fire.

No one was hurt and the Iranian boats withdrew before any shots were fired, but Pentagon and White House officials stressed Monday that the incident was dangerously provocative in the choke point through which about 20 percent of the world’s oil passes.

The cruiser Port Royal, the destroyer Hopper and the frigate Ingraham were in international waters on their way into the Persian Gulf around 8 a.m. local time Sunday when the Iranian encounter occurred, said Vice Adm. Kevin Cosgriff, speaking to Pentagon reporters via a satellite video uplink Monday afternoon.

The Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps attack boats approached the U.S. ships’ starboard bows, Cosgriff said, and broke left and right into two groups on either side of the Americans, even passing between the warships as they steamed in formation. The boats passed between 200 and 500 yards of the U.S. surface group, and Iranian sailors from two boats dropped “white, box-like objects” that floated in the water ahead of the Ingraham, Cosgriff said. But the U.S. captains ordered evasive turns and the three warships passed clear of the objects in the water.

Cosgriff confirmed that the Iranian sailors also sent a hostile radio message to the U.S. crews that translated approximately to, “we’re closing with you, and your ships are going to explode.” As the U.S. warships and Iranian boats maneuvered near each other, U.S. commanders warned the Iranians with radio messages and blasts of the ships’ horns. At least one ship’s captain reported he was about to open fire when the Iranians broke off, Cosgriff confirmed.

The incident was over after about 30 minutes, Cosgriff said, when the Iranian attack boats returned in the direction from which they had come. The encounter was “needlessly provocative,” he said.

“I am concerned with unnecessary and irresponsible maneuvering by the part of those patrol boats, in international waters in an area traversed by numerous ships every day. When they act that way it raises the risk of a miscalculation on their part that somebody might take it too far when we are stepping through our procedures,” Cosgriff said. He added that he was “very proud” of the way the U.S. crews behaved in the situation.

Cosgriff didn’t speculate what the white boxes were or say what weapons he thought the Iranian boats were carrying, although he did state specifically they were not armed with anti-ship missiles. All told, the encounter was “more serious than we’ve seen,” Cosgriff said, and pointed out that the three U.S. ships had passed an Iranian warship during their transit of the Strait of Hormuz and that encounter had been “correct.”

The Pentagon and the White House both criticized Iran over the incident, but their language seemed designed to keep from further escalating tensions in the Gulf. Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell called the incident “perplexing,” and a White House statement said it was “provocative” and called for the Iranians to stop.

The Revolutionary Guards Corps is a semi-autonomous paramilitary arm of the Iranian government that has been officially declared a terrorist group by the U.S.; it was blamed for supplying weapons to Iraqi insurgents, and in March 2007, its naval arm captured 15 British sailors and marines in the northern Persian Gulf. Iran exploited the troops in a propaganda coup before releasing them to the U.K. two weeks later.

The Strait of Hormuz encounter took place two days before President Bush’s planned trip to the Middle East, underscoring the issue of U.S.-Iranian relations that Bush hoped to address with leaders in Israel, Kuwait, Egypt and other Arab states.


Article: http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/0..._boat_080107a/
Video: http://www.militarytimes.com/multime...108_iran_ships

[CommunityEditor]

Update: Top admiral details U.S.-Iranian encounter (http://www.navytimes.com/news/2008/0...n_boat_080107/)

Five Iranian high-speed attack craft accosted a trio of U.S. Navy warships Sunday in the strategically critical Strait of Hormuz, the U.S. 5th Fleet commander said, prompting evasive maneuvers by the U.S. ships and reportedly bringing them close to opening fire.

No one was hurt and the Iranian boats withdrew before any shots were fired, but Pentagon and White House officials stressed Monday that the incident was dangerously provocative in the choke point through which about 20 percent of the world’s oil passes.

The cruiser Port Royal, the destroyer Hopper and the frigate Ingraham were in international waters on their way into the Persian Gulf around 8 a.m. local time Sunday when the Iranian encounter occurred, said Vice Adm. Kevin Cosgriff, speaking to Pentagon reporters via a satellite video uplink Monday afternoon.

The Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps attack boats approached the U.S. ships’ starboard bows, Cosgriff said, and broke left and right into two groups on either side of the Americans, even passing between the warships as they steamed in formation. The boats passed between 200 and 500 yards of the U.S. surface group, and Iranian sailors from two boats dropped “white, box-like objects” that floated in the water ahead of the Ingraham, Cosgriff said. But the U.S. captains ordered evasive turns and the three warships passed clear of the objects in the water.

Cosgriff confirmed that the Iranian sailors also sent a hostile radio message to the U.S. crews that translated approximately to, “we’re closing with you, and your ships are going to explode.” As the U.S. warships and Iranian boats maneuvered near each other, U.S. commanders warned the Iranians with radio messages and blasts of the ships’ horns. At least one ship’s captain reported he was about to open fire when the Iranians broke off, Cosgriff confirmed.

The incident was over after about 30 minutes, Cosgriff said, when the Iranian attack boats returned in the direction from which they had come. The encounter was “needlessly provocative,” he said.

“I am concerned with unnecessary and irresponsible maneuvering by the part of those patrol boats, in international waters in an area traversed by numerous ships every day. When they act that way it raises the risk of a miscalculation on their part that somebody might take it too far when we are stepping through our procedures,” Cosgriff said. He added that he was “very proud” of the way the U.S. crews behaved in the situation.

Cosgriff didn’t speculate what the white boxes were or say what weapons he thought the Iranian boats were carrying, although he did state specifically they were not armed with anti-ship missiles. All told, the encounter was “more serious than we’ve seen,” Cosgriff said, and pointed out that the three U.S. ships had passed an Iranian warship during their transit of the Strait of Hormuz and that encounter had been “correct.”

The Pentagon and the White House both criticized Iran over the incident, but their language seemed designed to keep from further escalating tensions in the Gulf. Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell called the incident “perplexing,” and a White House statement said it was “provocative” and called for the Iranians to stop.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates, speaking aboard the amphibious transport dock New Orleans during a visit to San Diego, called the incident “troubling.”

“This is a very volatile area and the risk of an incident and of an incident escalating is real,” Gates said. “I can’t imagine what was on their minds. ... I think that it is a reminder that there is a very unpredictable government in Tehran. And it would be nice to see the Iranian government disavow this action and say that it won’t happen again.”

Gates also said that “based on all the information that is available to me, this is a one-sided provocation.”

The Revolutionary Guards Corps is a semi-autonomous paramilitary arm of the Iranian government that has been officially declared a terrorist group by the U.S.; it was blamed for supplying weapons to Iraqi insurgents, and in March 2007, its naval arm captured 15 British sailors and marines in the northern Persian Gulf. Iran exploited the troops in a propaganda coup before releasing them to the U.K. two weeks later.

The Strait of Hormuz encounter took place two days before President Bush’s planned trip to the Middle East, underscoring the issue of U.S.-Iranian relations that Bush hoped to address with leaders in Israel, Kuwait, Egypt and other Arab states.

[CommunityEditor]

Update: Iran releases footage of PG naval check (http://www.presstv.com/detail.aspx?i...onid=351020101)

Note: To see the Iranian video, click the small camera icon at the above site.


Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) says the US-released footage of the incident is fabricated and the audio of it is fake.

Brigadier General Ali Fadavi, an IRGC senior official, has said that the US vessels' registration numbers had been unreadable to the Iranian guards.

He added that the guards approached the US ships only to examine the numbers.

The Iranian footage also includes the original radio communication between the Iranian guards and the US warship.

[CommunityEditor]

The threatening radio transmission heard at the end of a video showing harassing maneuvers by Iranian patrol boats in the Strait of Hormuz may have come from a locally famous heckler known among ship drivers as the “Filipino Monkey.”

Since the Jan. 6 incident was announced to the public a day later, the U.S. Navy has said it’s unclear where the voice came from. In the videotape released by the Pentagon on Jan. 8, the screen goes black at the very end and the voice can be heard, distancing it from the scenes on the water.

“We don’t know for sure where they came from,” said Cmdr. Lydia Robertson, spokeswoman for 5th Fleet in Bahrain. “It could have been a shore station.”

While the threat — “I am coming to you. You will explode in a few minutes” — was picked up during the incident, further jacking up the tension, there’s no proof yet of its origin. And several Navy officials have said it’s difficult to figure out who’s talking.

“Based on my experience operating in that part of the world, where there is a lot of maritime activity, trying to discern [who is speaking on the radio channel] is very hard to do,” Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Gary Roughead told Navy Times during a brief telephone interview today.

Indeed, the voice in the audio sounds different from the one belonging to an Iranian officer shown speaking to the cruiser Port Royal over a radio from a small open boat in the video released by Iranian authorities. He is shown in a radio exchange at one point asking the U.S. warship to change from the common bridge-to-bridge channel 16 to another channel, perhaps to speak to the Navy without being interrupted.

Further, there’s none of the background noise in the audio released by the U.S. that would have been picked up by a radio handset in an open boat.

So with Navy officials unsure and the Iranians accusing the U.S. of fabrications, whose voice was it? In recent years, American ships operating in the Middle East have had to contend with a mysterious but profane voice known by the ethnically insulting handle of “Filipino Monkey,” likely more than one person, who listens in on ship-to-ship radio traffic and then jumps on the net shouting insults and jabbering vile epithets.

Navy women — a helicopter pilot hailing a tanker, for example — who are overheard on the radio are said to suffer particularly degrading treatment.

Several Navy ship drivers interviewed by Navy Times are raising the possibility that the Monkey, or an imitator, was indeed featured in that video.

Rick Hoffman, a retired captain who commanded the cruiser Hue City and spent many of his 17 years at sea in the Gulf was subject to the renegade radio talker repeatedly, often without pause during the so-called “Tanker Wars” of the late 1980s.

“For 25 years there’s been this mythical guy out there who, hour after hour, shouts obscenities and threats,” he said. “He could be tied up pierside somewhere or he could be on the bridge of a merchant ship.”

And the Monkey has stamina.

“He used to go all night long. The guy is crazy,” he said. “But who knows how many Filipino Monkeys there are? Could it have been a spurious transmission? Absolutely.”

Furthermore, Hoffman said radio signals have a way of traveling long distances in that area. “Under certain weather conditions I could hear Bahrain from the Strait of Hormuz.”

Cmdr. Jeff Davis, a Navy spokesman at the Pentagon, could not say if the voice belonged to the heckler.

“It’s an international circuit and we’ve said all along there were other ships and shore stations in the area,” he said.

When asked if U.S. officials considered whether the threats came from someone besides the Iranians when releasing the video and audio, Roughead said: “The reason there is audio superimposed over the video is it gives you a better idea of what is happening.”

Similarly, Davis said the audio was part of the “totality” of the situation and helped show the “aggressive behavior.”

Another former cruiser skipper said he thought the Monkey might be behind the audio threats when he first heard them earlier this week.

“It wouldn’t have surprised me at all,” he said. “There’s all kinds of chatter on Channel 16. Anybody with a receiver and transmitter can hear something’s going on. It was entirely plausible and consistent with the radio environment to interject themselves and make a threatening comment and think they’re being funny.”

This former skipper also noted how quiet and clean the radio “threat” was, especially when radio calls from small boats in the chop are noisy and cluttered.

“It’s a tough environment, you’re bouncing around, moving fast, lots of wind, noise. It’s not a serene environment,” he said. “That sounded like somebody on the beach or a large ship going by.”

He said he and others believe that the Filipino Monkey is comprised of several people, and whoever gets on Channel 16 to heckle instantly gets the monicker.

“It was just a gut feeling, something the merchants did. Guys would get bored, one guy hears it, comes back a year later and does it for himself,” he said. “I never thought it was one, rather it was part of the woodwork.”

The former skipper noted that he warned his crew about hecklers when preparing to transit Hormuz. “I tell them they’ll hear things on there that will be insulting,” he said. “You tell your people that you’ll hear things that are strange, insulting, aggravating, but you need to maintain a professional posture.”

A civilian mariner with experience in that region said the Filipino Monkey phenomenon is worldwide, and has been going on for years.

“They come on and say ‘Filipino Monkey’ in a strange voice. They might say it two or three times. You’re standing watch on bridge and you’re monitoring Channel 16 and all of a sudden it comes over the radio. It can happen anytime. It’s been a joke out there for years.”

While it happens all over the world, it’s more likely to occur around the Strait of Hormuz because there is so much shipping traffic, he said.


Article: http://www.navytimes.com/news/2008/0..._radio_080111/

[CommunityEditor]

The Navy said Friday that one of its ships fired warning shots at a small Iranian boat in the Strait of Hormuz in December during one of two serious encounters that month.

The dock landing ship Whidbey Island fired the warning shots on Dec. 19 in response to a small Iranian boat that was rapidly approaching it, said a Navy official.

“One small (Iranian) craft was coming toward it, and it stopped after the Whidbey Island fired warning shots,” said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue.

It was the first official confirmation that the United States had fired warning shots in any recent confrontation with Iran in the Gulf.


Article: http://www.navytimes.com/news/2008/0...arning_080111/

[Rasputin]

Originally Posted by CommunityEditor

The Navy said Friday that one of its ships fired warning shots at a small Iranian boat in the Strait of Hormuz in December during one of two serious encounters that month.

The dock landing ship Whidbey Island fired the warning shots on Dec. 19 in response to a small Iranian boat that was rapidly approaching it, said a Navy official.

“One small (Iranian) craft was coming toward it, and it stopped after the Whidbey Island fired warning shots,” said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue.

It was the first official confirmation that the United States had fired warning shots in any recent confrontation with Iran in the Gulf.


Article: http://www.navytimes.com/news/2008/0...arning_080111/

And we are supossed to believe our government about his incident? The timing is really convenient, just like the Gulf of Tomkin incident, or the Pueblo in Corea, or the imminent communist takeover in Grenada and so many others "incidents" fabricated by us.

Acts of provocation like this one, if it's true, have been going on for a very long time and more than provocations they are taunting games we play with each other in that region.

Bush wouldn't like anything better than a real confrontation ir order to justify some kind of action against Iran, wether by us or by our representative in the area: Israel.

[bladerunner]

Originally Posted by Rasputin

And we are supossed to believe our government about his incident? The timing is really convenient, just like the Gulf of Tomkin incident, or the Pueblo in Corea, or the imminent communist takeover in Grenada and so many others "incidents" fabricated by us.

Acts of provocation like this one, if it's true, have been going on for a very long time and more than provocations they are taunting games we play with each other in that region.

Bush wouldn't like anything better than a real confrontation ir order to justify some kind of action against Iran, wether by us or by our representative in the area: Israel.

Some of your opinions may be accurate, but I highly doubt Bush is going to risk going to war with Iran, especially after the National Intelligence Estimate came out on Iran not too long ago saying it isnt going to acquire nukes but may have the capability and intent to do it in the future. Bush isnt going to risk going to war because of the negative effects his entry into Iraq has been. Iraq was supposed to have WMD's but turned out not to.

Now that Iran has been deemed a non-nuclear weapon producing country, Ahmadinejad sees this as an opportunity to see how far the US can be pushed, by sending small speed boats out to harass our naval warfare ships. Now, do you think our ships are going to allow some speed boats to run up on them like they did without firing warning shots? It happens everyday in Iraq when convoys roll out and a civilian vehicle gets too close. It's going to happen and the US will not tolerate anyone threatening us. And when has something like this happened before since you say it has (with Iran)?

[Rasputin]

Originally Posted by bladerunner

Some of your opinions may be accurate, but I highly doubt Bush is going to risk going to war with Iran, especially after the National Intelligence Estimate came out on Iran not too long ago saying it isnt going to acquire nukes but may have the capability and intent to do it in the future. Bush isnt going to risk going to war because of the negative effects his entry into Iraq has been. Iraq was supposed to have WMD's but turned out not to.

Now that Iran has been deemed a non-nuclear weapon producing country, Ahmadinejad sees this as an opportunity to see how far the US can be pushed, by sending small speed boats out to harass our naval warfare ships. Now, do you think our ships are going to allow some speed boats to run up on them like they did without firing warning shots? It happens everyday in Iraq when convoys roll out and a civilian vehicle gets too close. It's going to happen and the US will not tolerate anyone threatening us. And when has something like this happened before since you say it has (with Iran)?

Thank you, I get your point, but...

First: The National Intelligence Estimate changes nothing, Iran was, is and will be a danger to the world, to the United States and to the Milky Way Galaxy and beyond. This is according to our capable leader Bush after the NIE report came out, and I just jokingly paraphrased what he said.

In other words, he does not care about the report and he is still beating the drums of war against Iran, this is a man who doesn't let facts get in the way of his dogmatic fantasies. He is unstable and deluded enough to get us into a war with Iran, but you are right about the negative effects of the war in Iraq and the credibility he might have with the rest of the world, which is zero.

My point was: Was this incident real or provoked? I don't think anybody but the actors have the real answer.
We should fire warning shots if we feel we are being threatened or harassed, that's a no-brainer, my concern is, as I said before: Who is telling the truth?

[bladerunner]

Originally Posted by Rasputin

Thank you, I get your point, but...

First: The National Intelligence Estimate changes nothing, Iran was, is and will be a danger to the world, to the United States and to the Milky Way Galaxy and beyond. This is according to our capable leader Bush after the NIE report came out, and I just jokingly paraphrased what he said.

In other words, he does not care about the report and he is still beating the drums of war against Iran, this is a man who doesn't let facts get in the way of his dogmatic fantasies. He is unstable and deluded enough to get us into a war with Iran, but you are right about the negative effects of the war in Iraq and the credibility he might have with the rest of the world, which is zero.

My point was: Was this incident real or provoked? I don't think anybody but the actors have the real answer.
We should fire warning shots if we feel we are being threatened or harassed, that's a no-brainer, my concern is, as I said before: Who is telling the truth?

Its hard to determine now that Iran has a "video" (with no sound) during the incident. Right now, I would probably go with the US only because I highly doubt Bush gave the order for the ships to interfere first with the Iranians. But again, who knows?

[CommunityEditor]

A threatening radio message to U.S. warships may have been a coincidence but was taken seriously because it came at the same time Iranian vessels swarmed the American fleet, the commander of one of the American ships said Sunday.

Cmdr. Jeffery James, of the destroyer Hopper, and Capt. David Adler, of the cruiser Port Royal, would not say how close the Navy was to firing at the Iranian ships on Jan. 6 near Iranian waters in the Strait of Hormuz. But the Iranians knew what they were doing when they charged the three U.S. vessels in the Persian Gulf, they said.

“This was not a loose bunch of guys,” James said. “During this entire time, we were going through our pre-planned responses trying to warn them off before we had to take any lethal action. And fortunately for everyone involved, they turned outbound before we needed to open fire,” James said.

The two commanding officers gave a press conference Sunday at the Bahrain headquarters of the Navy’s 5th Fleet, which patrols the Gulf. Tensions between Iran and the U.S. have escalated since the incident, which occurred right before President Bush’s arrival in the region.

The U.S. released video and audio showing small Iranian boats swarming around American warships in the waters. In an audio recording, a man threatens in accented English, “I am coming to you. ... You will explode after ... minutes.”

Navy officials have not determined the source of the threatening radio call but believe it was related to the actions of the Iranian boats.

“Whether it was coincidental or not, it occurred at exactly the same time that these boats were around us, and they were placing objects in the water so the threat appeared to be building,” James said.

Iran has denied that its boats threatened the U.S. vessels, saying the incident was a normal occurrence, and accused Washington of fabricating video and audio it released. Iran’s government has released its own video, which appeared to be shot from a small boat bobbing at least 100 yards from the American warships.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini reiterated Sunday that the incident was not unusual and would not affect Iran’s policies in the region. He accused the Bush administration of trying to stir up tensions in the Gulf.

“Some political factions in the U.S. are pursuing adventurism to help Bush to spread Iran-phobia in the region,” Hosseini said at a weekly press conference. “U.S. officials should apologize to Iran, regional countries and the American people.”


Article: http://www.militarytimes.com/news/20...vyiran_080113/