Did you think the Bush administration had given up thoughts of another military intervention in the Middle East? Guess again:
WASHINGTON, Dec 18 (Reuters) – The Pentagon is planning a major buildup of U.S. naval forces in and around the Gulf as a warning to Iran, CBS News reported on Monday. […]
Citing unidentified military officers, CBS said the plan called for the deployment of a second U.S. aircraft carrier to join the one already in the region.
The network said the buildup, which would begin in January, wad not aimed at an attack on Iran but to discourage what U.S. officials view as increasingly provocative acts by Tehran.
The report said Iranian naval exercises in the Gulf, its support for Shi’ite militias in Iraq and Iran’s nuclear program were causes for concern among U.S. officials.
Hey, what are war planes, bombs and missiles for if you can’t take them out of the Presidential toy chest every once in a while to rattle around? Of course, the “senior Defense Department officials” anonymously quoted by Reuters about the CBS story call it “premature” and “speculative” but they didn’t exactly deny the CBs report either. Which means someone lower on the totem pole leaked this information much earlier than the Bush administration desired. I’m sure they would have preferred to have announced this build up in the Persian Gulf after it was already a fait accompli, perhaps sometime early next year. Too bad for them, eh? Just another sign that not all the Generals and Colonels at the Pentagon are fully on board with Dick Cheney’s plan for a “Greater Middle East Co-Prosperity Sphere.”
