The Keystone Kops Play Brinksmanship

For those of you breathlessly following the apparent standoff between Iranian fast boats and U.S. warships earlier this month in the Straits of Hormuz in the hopes that it would trigger a war, each succeeding revelation about the incident leaves the Pentagon – and by extension the White House – looking more and more like a bunch of smacked asses.

In the latest installment of The Keystone Kops Play Brinksmanship, it turns out that a heckling audio recording was spliced onto the now famous video of the fast boats, a decision made by no less a personage than Secretary of Defense Robert Gates and other Pentagon bigs.

The voice has been identified as that of "Filipino Monkey," an equal opportunity heckler who frequently cuts into VHF ship-to-ship channels in the region to make threats or rude comments.

It is safe to say that Gates and Company were trying to put a fast one over on an American public – and our dear friends in the Persian Gulf as President Bush was about to set out for a trip there to shore up his . . . um, legacy.

Well, the ruse failed, so the red meat crowd will have to wait a little longer for another lame excuse to start a war.

A final thought or three:

* Am I the only one who continues to believe that the ability of the U.S. to gather intelligence, especially in an ostensibly grave situation like a naval showdown with a foe, is pretty awful?

* The goodwill that Gates has engendered since taking over from the draconian Donald "Stuff Happens" Rumsfeld goes poof as he is revealed to be just another shameless hack for the Leader of the Free World.

* This would be the would-be leader who prattled on his Mideast trip that he didn't agree with the recent National Intelligence Estimate on Iran so he is going to pretty much ignore it and continue to pursue a policy that is predicated on saber rattling.

* I'm so freaking sick and tired of our brave men and women in uniform being used as political pawns, as well as being repeatedly lied to by my government over matters of national and global security.

How about you?