January 21, 2008: The recent incident
in the Persian Gulf, where five armed Iranian speedboats hurled threats at
passing U.S. warships, appears to be a misunderstanding. The cause was one or
more locals (probably English speaking Arabs) who monitor ship-to-ship radios
(used mostly for navigation in crowded Persian Gulf shipping lanes), and
transmit their own rude comments, for their own amusement. These clowns came to
be called the "Filipino Monkey" (after several incidents where the interloper
let loose some nasty remarks about Filipino sailors who crew many of the ships
passing through the Gulf.)
This stuff has been going on for about
two decades, and several people are believed to be involved. Most ship crews
consider the Filipino Monkey a nuisance. But never enough of a nuisance to try
and track them down. That may change now. The recent Iranian incident could
have led to the Iranian speedboats getting shot up, and caused a nasty
diplomatic situation. Tracking down the Filipino Monkey would require the use
of some electronic warfare aircraft, and the cooperation of police in the Arab
states bordering the Persian Gulf. That should be no problem as the Arabs fear
the Iranians, and don't want anything going on that would cause more aggressive
behavior from the east bank of the Gulf. Then again, one, or more, of the
Filipino Monkeys could be Iranian. Unlikely, but possible. Getting your hands
on a marine radio is not all that difficult if you have the money and black
market connections. Plenty of that on both sides of the Gulf.
