Posted on 01/04/2007 9:30:56 PM PST by nuconvert
"..A senior Pentagon official said Thursday. He spoke on condition of anonymity because the Defense
Department perfers not to publicly annouonce upcoming ship movements for security reasons."... So, why
is he telling the whole world?
In a perfect world, carrier operational secrecy might be worth something...but we don't live in that world. The carriers dock in well known ports, and their crews rtepresent a significant portion of the area population while they are in port.
Their absense is noticed.
Further, to get to amny of the trouble spots on earth, they have to pass through narrow straits, Gibralter, Suez, Indonesia/Malaysia...
...again they are noticed.
DOD may not post their plans on the front page of the Washington Post, but it only takes a very few mouse clicks to determine the location and status of our carriers. Nature of the beast.
Besides. This time around, we WANT the Iranians to take notice. However...
Moving an extra carrier in is the kind of thing you do when the bad guys do something you don't like, or when you expect the enemy to get uppity, or when you want to punish them, or if you have an op laid on and need to get assets into place without making it obvious that you're making a move...raising at least a couple of questions...
1. What, specifically did Iran do recently to piss us off?
2. Just what is the long term Bush plan for Iran and their nuclear weapon aspirations, and how does this one piece of that larger puzzle fit into place?
Before you answer, I can speculate as well as the average guy, and I'm not really looking for answers here, especially if they are less than obvious answers, the possession of which might aid some real jerks.
Just thinking out loud...
;-)
LOL.. love that new name. American military during the recent wars have created stories among locals that are sometimes not true, it scares them further. Putting this stuff near Iran will scare the Mullahs at the same time make them wonder how did that huge thing float. LOL..
They should move in a third carrier task force. Or is a third already moving in that we don't know about?
Actually, west of Gulfport is the Stennis Space Center, where LOTS of research is being done.
Apparently, the DOD disagrees. ;o)
Please FReepmail me if you want on or off my ‘miscellaneous’ ping list.
Shades of Gulf War I all over again. Kewl.
Hello Nut Meg,
This is Nitro, who the hell are you???
At first, yes; it was a sign of the times in 60's MS. He wasn't as racist as James O. Eastland, the other Senator from MS with whom he served. Nor was he the blowhard racist that Theodore G. Bilbo had been. Stennis ran for Bilbo's seat, after Bilbo's death.
By the 80's he'd become a strong supporter of civil rights. He's called the "Father of the Modern Navy" because of his support for updating the fleet. I'm sure that's why the Navy named the carrier after him.
I am an ex-squid and the normal wear and tear of a 6 month Med Cruise is rough...
we try and do a fresh water wash down to ameliorate the effects of the salt on the skin of the ship, but ....
I am a proud ex-squid and I can assure you, that the care and feeding of a US Navy aircraft carrier is a full time job for 3,000 men.
L
Yep - and there's a large munitions plant on that hunk of land, too. Fairly modern and automated, from what I can recall. I believe it was set up for 155mm artillery shell production, but there's no telling what it's tooled-up to produce these days.
That's my favorite carrier "nickname", by far. You just *know* it makes liberals hopping mad.
That's very expensive for a maintenance... but as long as it helps maintain security and order in and around the country high expenses are fine.
You're a hero man... Thanks for the service.
Stennis was a conservative on defense. I think Stennis was also one of the figures who was targetted for assassination by Scott Camill [?] and some members of Democrat Senator John Kerry's VVAW groupies back in the 70s; they put it up to a vote at one of their meetings and Kerry is said to have voted against the plot. But as it happens Stennis did get shot in January 1973 and the incident was brushed off as a mere robbery by three black men who were later convicted, though as I recall nothing was taken and the men had some questionable radical associations. In spite of Scott Camill's VVAW assassination idea Kerry apparenlty thought people had forgotten and had the guy on his campaign staff. The Swifties hadn't forgotten and they called Kerry on it in the 2004 election and so he had to rapidly disassociate himself from the guy.
Roger that, L. They've been rotating Carrier Groups in&out of there since June, 2006. Always a minimum of two Carrier Groups, sometimes three.
Doesn't seem to faze Amanutjob though. He's still crazier than a shit-house rat.
Stay well ................FRegards
Someone on another thread called him Ahmadoinjihad, which I thought was pretty clever and funny.
If I remember right, in 2004 Kerry claimed he had tendered his written resignation from the VVAW two days before the 1971 meeting where they voted on "Operation Phoenix" ...but no resignation letter has been found. Witnesses claim he had not resigned and did attend and voted the idea down.
I am no hero, I was a guy from Brooklyn who wanted to go to sea...
blame John Wayne, after all the movies..........
I would only go Navy!
John Wayne is the hero, he inspired me.
This is good news. It will get even better once the Sunnis in the ME decide that Iran cannot be allowed to gain further power in Iraq, Lebanon or elsewhere.
The Sunnis and the Shias should be encouraged to "discipline" each other.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.