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.
