whose credibility is at stake?

Idiots in the blogosphere continue to cast doubt on the gravity of the incident in the Strait of Hormuz between American warships and Iranian Revolutionary Guard speedboats.

The latest installment comes from the HuffPo, in which the New York Times is accused of doing a “Judy Miller” on the incident—namely, publishing hysterical propaganda:

 Two days after the blogosphere had largely unravelled the military’s original story and the Navy itself was starting to backtrack, the paper-of-record felt compelled to trumpet the threat on its front page with a piece titled: Iran Encounter Grimly Echoes ‘02 War Game. (Link.) And then yesterday, more than a week-and-a-half later, The Times not only returned to the subject with more saber-rattling, but with a visual display of impressive disproportion.

In an op-ed piece in the Week In Review by one David B. Crist — ID’d as a Marine Corps reservist who served in Iraq in 2003 — the headline touts: Iran’s Small Boats Are a Big Problem. (Link.)

I have yet to see evidence from any of those crying “Gulf of Tonkin” that Iran’s speedboats in the Strait of Hormuz do not present a problem for the United States Navy.

Instead, every attack on this story (and on the Pentagon) carries the insinuation that our military is just too uptight.