Larisa Alexandrovna of Raw Story apparently thinks so:
Concern is building among the military and the intelligence community that the US may be preparing for a military strike on Iran, as military assets in key positions are approaching readiness, RAW STORY has learned.
According to military and intelligence sources, an air strike on Iran could be doable in June of this year, with military assets in key positions ready to go and a possible plan already on the table.
So, what “military assets” are we talking about? India Daily explains:
The U.S. Navy aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt is on the move in Atlantic Ocean and is possibly headed towards the Mediterranean Sea. The convergence of three carrier groups in the corridor of the Middle East will send very strong message to the Syrians and Iranians. There are indications that soon US is moving two more aircraft carrier battle groups to the Eastern Mediterranean Sea and the Persian Gulf. This will spell a formidable strike force for Iran and Syria who are in defiance on issues of Lebanon and Nuclear weapons development.
Three carrier groups just to deliver a message? I don’t think so. Maybe Clinton might have done this merely for leverage in diplomatic negotiations, but we aren’t engaged in any negotiations with Iran at the moment. Past practice by the Bush administration tells us that they never deploy “assets” to the Middle East unless they intend to use them.
Update [2006-5-12 12:13:44 by Steven D]: More links on US Carrier groups moving to the Persian Gulf region: Stratfor.com, via Regime Change Iran (re: USS Carl Vinson, USS Truman and USS Theodore Roosevelt); PilotOnline.com (regarding the USS Enterprise redeploying to the Gulf):
[Dated May 1, 2006] On Tuesday, the Enterprise and its six-ship strike group leave Norfolk for the Middle East and to support the global war on terrorism.
“We’re going to be ready,” said Rear Adm. Raymond Spicer, commander of the Enterprise Strike Group. He said the group is ready for “big-time operations” during its scheduled six-month deployment.
(continued below the fold)
More from Ms. Alexandrovna’s story:
Retired Air Force Colonel and former faculty member at the National War College Sam Gardiner has heard some military suggestions of a possible air campaign in the near future, and although he has no intimate knowledge of such plans, he says recent aircraft carrier activity and current operations on the ground in Iran have raised red flags. […]
Two air-craft carriers are already en route to the region, RAW STORY has found. The USS Abraham Lincoln, which recently made a port call in Singapore, and the USS Enterprise which left Norfolk, Virginia earlier this month, are headed for the Western Pacific and Middle East. The USS Ronald Reagan is already operating in the Gulf.
In addition to aircraft carrier activity, Gardiner says, B-2 bombers would be critical.
“I would expect the B-2’s, the main firepower asset, to be flown on missions directly from the United States,” Gardiner explained. “I would expect B-52’s to be flown in strikes from the UK and Diego Garcia.”
“Finally,” he added, “a large number of cruise missiles would be fired from the carrier support ships.”
Compare the Raw Story and India Daily articles, and the possibility exists that as many as 4 carriers will be deployed within striking distance of Iran. Three in the Gulf/Indian Ocean and one more in the Eastern Mediterranean. An unprecedented show of force merely to make a statement. It looks to me like the prelude to a war, possibly sooner than anyone has previously thought possible.
What could possibly be driving the President to speed up his war plans? Perhaps this might have something to do with it:
President George W. Bush’s job approval rating has fallen to a record 29 percent in a new Harris Interactive poll, reports United Press International.
The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday that it is the lowest job approval rating of Bush’s presidency.
Wag the Dog, anyone? Any other President, I’d have to give the benefit of the doubt, but Bush long ago exhausted that level of trust. Too many lies, deceits, cover-up, half truths and non-answer answers by he and his courtiers makes me highly suspicious of any statement he might make now.
All he needs is an excuse to start the attack, and he might just have found one thanks to Iran’s actions to protect its border with Iraq against terrorist attacks by the militant Kurdish organization known as the PKK. Further evidence that Iran’s border dispute with the Kurds may be used as a justification by Bush to attack Iran now (if you need any) can be found in this story in the May 11th edition of Zaman online:
After the Tehran administration conducted operations against the terror network Kurdish Workers’ Party (PKK) by crossing the Iraqi border, the US Army in Iraq is claimed to have increased the military build up of US troops on the Iranian border.
Tehran local radio announced the US stationed army units on the Iraqi border, increased reconnaissance flights in the region, and trained anti-Iran militias in Iraq. Iranian Interior Ministry confirmed the information.
Activity on the 450 kilometer long border is gradually increasing. Tehran radio also recorded that the US aircrafts reconnaissance flights could also be seen from villages along the border. […]
The US administration, however, announced they increased the troops stationed at the border as a security measure since the insurgent’s smuggle stocks weapons into Iraq from Iran.
Oh those troops are stationed there as a security measure all right, but I doubt it has anything to so with Iranian arms smuggling. The Pentagon has been alleging Iranian arms smuggling into Iraq for months now (though it hasn’t offered any proof to the media in support of these claims). All of sudden they decided that they need to strengthen the Iraq/Iran border to stop smuggling? A move that just happens to coincide with an increased deployment of our Naval forces to the region? Please. Only devoted Bush loyalists would swallow that story.
I had always though that Bush would trumpet the threat of Iran’s nuclear program the closer we got to the Fall election season. That would fit with his and Rove’s modus operandi preceding the Iraq invasion. However, his low poll numbers and the multitude of onrushing Republican and administration scandals (i.e., Plame, NSA eavesdropping, Abramoff, DeLay, Cunningham, Hookergate, etc.) may have forced his hand. Of course, we already know, via Sy Hersh’s New Yorker article, that he sincerely believes he has to attack Iran and take out it’s nuclear facilities now, because no other President will have the guts to do so in the future.
Despots, like predatory beasts, are always the most dangerous when they are wounded. And if you don’t think Bush is a despot after all that’s recently come to light regarding his use of torture, indefinite detentions, signing statements, NSA spying on American citizens, ad nauseam, then Jack Cafferty at CNN would like a word with you.
I have some words for you too. Hang on to your hats, because Bush’s Wild Middle East Ride is about to get much bumpier and scarier sooner than we thought.
Border disputes between Kurds and Iran
