originally posted 2008-06-06 12:32:35 -0500; bumped by Carol in hopes everyone pitches in to help promote Jeff's book.

From Carol White's review of Jeff Huber's Bathtub Admirals:

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Those of you familiar with Jeff Huber's commentaries on U.S. political and military ineptitude — they appear regularly on ePluribus Media and on Pen and Sword — may be partially prepared for this incredible saga, but the story he has to tell is much worse than you expect and much funnier. He has written a hilarious parody of the U.S. Navy and an antic send-up of the modern military fiction.

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Intrigued?

Then read on, and come back here to discuss.

Kevin Hall/McC: U.S. confirms Russian jet flew low over Nimitz task force
In Saturday's incident, the Tupolev fighter bomber flew below 3,000 feet and was intercepted by U.S. fighter jets and escorted away. The jet managed to fly over the U.S. carrier fleet and the Nimitz, Cartwright confirmed.

Buzzing a battle group is strange behavior indeed, given the totally awesome power of the U.S. Navy. Unless of course the Navy is underfunded, overtasked, wearing out, and spread thin. Or as the Republicans like to call it: "strong on defense".

The story of the incident between U.S. and Iranian naval forces in the Strait of Hormuz Monday morning may tell us more about the nature of today's news reporting than about the prospects for war and peace in the Middle East.

Veteran military reporter Robert Burns's account of the incident for the Associated Press opened with a bang:

An Iranian fleet of boats charged at and threatened to blow up a three-ship U.S. Navy convoy passing near Iranian waters and then fled as American commanders were preparing to open fire.

The lead paragraph by Andrew Grey of Reuters sounded eerily similar:

Iranian boats aggressively approached three U.S. Naval ships in the Strait of Hormuz, a main shipping route for Gulf oil, at the weekend and threatened that the ships would explode, U.S. officials said on Monday.

Even more alarming was the top of the article in The Australian:

A Pentagon official said that US forces were "literally" on the verge of firing on the Iranian boats as they passed through the strategic Strait of Hormuz, and had moved to man their guns when the Iranians turned and sped away.