Another worrisome sign, though I don’t know if it is directed at Iran, Turkey or Pakistan:
The US aircraft carrier Enterprise has been deployed to a strategic area that includes waters close to Iran.
The warship joins two carriers already in the Fifth Fleet area of operations and strengthens the US Navy’s biggest presence in the Gulf since the first Iraq invasion.
‘Enterprise provides navy power to counter the assertive, disruptive and coercive behaviour of some countries, as well as support our soldiers and marines in Iraq and Afghanistan,’ a US Navy statement said.
A Navy Times report contain statements from an anonymous Pentagon official that Enterprise will merely replace one of the existing carriers, probably the USS Stennis, which is supposed to rotate back to its home port at the end of August. Nonetheless, for the duration of the summer there will be three US aircraft carrier groups in the Persian Gulf/Indian Ocean region, and no real assurance other than an anonymous official’s word that the Stennis will leave at the end of August.
Is it just me, or do you find that the combination of this news, the continued administration rhetoric painting Iran as the cause of all unrest in the region and Homeland Security Secretary Chertoff’s gut feeling about an increased risk of a terrorist attack this Summer more than a little disconcerting? I know it’s giving me a bad feeling in the pit of my stomach this morning.
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That’s why we’re fighting the ‘terrorists’ in Baghdad and Iraq to protect the American people.
(Yr link NYT) – “Summertime seems to be appealing to them,” Mr. Chertoff said. “We worry that they are rebuilding their activities … Our edge is technology and the vigilance of the ordinary citizen.”
Other American counterterrorism officials expressed similar concerns, saying that Al Qaeda and like-minded groups have recently been able to plot and train more freely in the tribal areas along the Afghan-Pakistani border, where Osama bin Laden and his top deputy, Ayman al-Zawahri, are believed to be hiding.
Doctor’s Revenge in Glasgow for Iraq Occupation
"But I will not let myself be reduced to silence."This in today from the NY Sun, a noted neo-con stenographer, to the effect that the carriers will miraculously drop to one, with no 3 carrier cluster on station happening.
http://www.nysun.com/pf.php?id=58168&v=2534614811
I’ve also seen rumor that there will be 3 carriers for a while and then 2 will go home and later the Truman Group will deploy. This is consistent with what the Navy would like but it seems to me that Cheney is still in charge and this is worrisome give all the rumors of an all-out war breaking out from one end the area to the other. In short, I don’t believe the Sun article either but point to it for what it’s worth. It doesn’t feel right.
The Navy Times is late in reporting on this.
June 24th:
June 29th:
Ask,
Debka is very unreliable, and is often seemingly a conduit for Mossad information warfare and disinformation. It’s apparently run by Soviet immigrant Israelis and is linked to the ex-Soviet realm and the Ukrainian site is parroting an earlier Debka post, from June 21. Scott Horton, who is way more credible, had a posting to the same effect on June 23rd, citing a conversation with trusted military analyst friend.
http://www.harpers.org/archive/2007/06/hbc-90000350
I was in contact with him and he told me subsequently that he had heard from sources he trusted that 2 carriers on station was the plan. What the plan is as of now, is really unclear and it takes 3-5 weeks for a Norfolk based carrier group to show up on-station with the 5th Fleet. The scuttlebutt I keep seeing is that something’s gonna blow a lot sooner than that, starting on the Golan Heights, according to Pat Lang.
http://turcopolier.typepad.com/sic_semper_tyrannis/2007/07/build-up-in-leb.html
He thinks that Israel is planning a false-flag incident to start a war with Syria and Hezbollah and implies that this could be linked to Cheney’s plans for war with Iran.
Thanks for the clarification, John.
I am in no position to vouch for the veracity of either of those sites. What I found interesting was that the reports were out there close to 3 weeks ago, yet nothing in the MSM.
My question for all of this is, where on Earth is the Western media? When the U.S. sent in the second carrier a little while back it was all over the news for debate and discussion. Now they’re sending a THIRD carrier and it is floating along under the radar.
I searched for info on this after reading Steven’s story and found nothing on sites such as BBC, The Guardian, NYT or CNN. However, a regular google search gave a number of hits, including those I linked to above. And I think the question posed by the Ukrainan site is very relevant.
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Congress Targets Iran Instead of Iraq Today!
"But I will not let myself be reduced to silence."With just two carrier groups in the Persian Gulf the L.A. Times reported (and I blogged about) that the U.S. Navy and Iranians tiptoe carefully in Persian Gulf. There is very little room for a mistake there, and a lot of opportunity for a group in power but losing it in either the U.S. (cough Cheney – Bush cough) or Iran (Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad) to cause international mischief to shore up their internal political standing. Or even just because they are crazy (Cheney again. At least Ahmadinejad actually completed his Ph.D. without dropping out as Cheney did.)
The LA times points out that with just the two carrier groups in the Persian Gulf, the U.S. Navy already has over half its surface fleet of 277 ship there, along with the Iranian Navy’s estimated 140 naval surface ships and six submarines.