AP: Iranian-US naval incidents weren't publicized until Bush's ME trip

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/01/14/world/main3708398.shtml

Bush Trip Deepens U.S.-Iran Propaganda War
Mideast Visit Dominated Not By Gaza Talks Or Iraq But By President Talking Up Tehran Danger

(AP) U.S. President George W. Bush's trip to the Mideast is suddenly dominated not by Iraq or the push for Israeli-Palestinian peace but by a renewed and ferocious U.S. and Iranian propaganda war.

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The fierce Iranian-U.S. squabbling also poses a danger of spilling over into real conflict, perhaps by accident, as jittery U.S. Navy leaders in the Gulf's narrow Strait of Hormuz try to gauge Iran's intentions in real time.

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After the Jan. 6 confrontation, when five small Iranian boats swarmed in a threatening manner toward three U.S. warships, U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates revealed there had been two or three similar incidents - “maybe not quite as dramatic” - over the last year.

None had been publicized until Mr. Bush's trip.