Showdown Looms in Persian Gulf as US Sends 2nd Aircraft Carrier

Arutz Sheva - IsraelNationalNews ^ | 1/16/7 | Gil Zohar

[SmithL]

Is the United States gearing up for an attack on Iran?

The deployment of a second U.S. aircraft carrier to the Persian Gulf has analysts speculating that President Bush means to stop Tehran's nuclear ambitions by force if necessary.

The USS John C. Stennis was scheduled to sail Tuesday from its homeport of
Bremerton, Washington. When the second carrrier arrives in the Middle East next month, this will be the first time since the U.S.-led Iraq invasion in 2003 that the United States will have two carrier battle groups in the region, according to a U.S. Navy official.

The increase in U.S. forces is a show of strength by Washington in the face of Iran's growing regional assertiveness and a perception among U.S. adversaries that the United States is vulnerable in Iraq, U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Monday.

The Stennis is a Nimitz-class carrier, with approximately 3,200 sailors. It will stop off in San Diego to pick an air wing of more than 80 planes, including F/A-18 Hornet and Superhornet fighter-bombers.

After a monthlong voyage across the Pacific and Indian oceans, the Stennis will join the aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower, which is already tasked to the U.S. Navy's Fifth Fleet, based in the Gulf sheikhdom of Bahrain, said Cmdr. Kevin Aandahl of the Fifth Fleet.

Once in Middle East waters, the second aircraft carrier will significantly boost U.S. air power in the region and serve as a reminder of U.S. firepower to Iran.

"This demonstrates our resolve to do what we can to bring security and stability to the region," Aandahl said. "That's obviously to dissuade others from acting counter to our national interest."

Washington will maintain two carriers in the Middle East "as long as the
situation demands it," Aandahl said. A typical carrier deployment lasts six months.

In a related matter, the U.S. recently deployed a Patriot air defense missile battalion in the Middle East.

As well, at least 16 US F-16 fighter aircraft arrived January 12 in Turkey's strategic Incirlink air base for the first time in three years. According to local Cihan News Agency, the F-16s were accompanied by an early warning system AWACS airplane and tanker airplanes from an American base in Germany. An official at the US embassy in Ankara said the planes had arrived for joint exercises with the Turkish military.

On Thursday, US forces in Iraq detained five suspected members of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards operating out of the northern Iraq town of Irbil in Kurdistan.

[defenderSD]

That could be...there could be a covert program in place training Israeli pilots in carrier landings. But I can't see the advantage in using Israeli pilots instead of our pilots.

[musicman]

Do these folks get to "come out & play" FINALLY????

http://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/systems/ssbn-726.htm

[RightWhale]

The location of the carrier group is secret and changes every minute. Even Google Carrier Fleet is way behind current.

[ConorMacNessa]

USS John C. Stennis Carrier Strike Group

[thinking]

more like a referee, we don't want our little buddy, Israel, to get beat-up too much....

[musicman]

[Red Badger]

Plausible denial in case of capture......

[jrooney]

While you are politely asking the terrorists not to attack, enslave our women and children, kill the innocents because they will not give up all their freedoms and pray to Allah, I will be defending our freedoms and the naive like yourself with my assault rifle, my tactical shotgun and my glock handguns.

[jveritas]

So you want to appease the islamic terrorist regime in Tehran for fear of oil prices going up? Shame on you.

[Ben Mugged]

Ever see Islam's definition of peace?

[Cheburashka]

How about Israeli marked US jets piloted by Israelis?..........
---
If the pilots aren't trained for carrier takeoffs and landings, no, they won't be taking off from U.S. carriers.

[MediaMole]

President Bush does not have the political strength to sell an attack on Iran to Congress. This build up is saber rattling.

With the current political climate, Iran will have to provide a clear military provocation before the US will attack.

There will be no more preemptive strikes. The "Bush lied" crowd has won and we will face a nuclear Iran within five years.

[Ieatfrijoles]

It is quite ghastly indeed.

[taxed2death]

Hey, that's capitalism!

Quarterly profits above all else!

Free trade rules!

What are you a commie?

[finnman69]

They don't have to land on the carriers........

I could see IDF planes making pit stops on desert bases in Iraq.

[BMC1]

Where is the white flag? They need to be holding one.

[Popocatapetl]

Tactically, what is important for US forces in the ME is first and foremost, a layered ballistic missile defense. Its primary defenses are directed at first protecting our fleets, second, protecting our bases in Iraq and Afghanistan, third, protecting Israel in exchange for their not retaliating with nuclear weapons, and fourth, to protect the Iraqi and Saudi oilfields.

Our ground forces are anticipating a Tet-style offensive in which several thousand Iranian agents organized into networks attempt to destabilize southern Iraq enough so that an Iranian army may invade, thus keeping the three US divisions tied down in fighting there and unavailable for invading Iran.

We are also very aware of Syria, and how Iran intends for them to be a second front against US and Israeli forces. For this reason, the rapid conquest of Damascus may be already part of our battle plan. This would essentially turn Syria over to their 80% or so Sunni majority, taking power away from the Iran and Hezbollah-allied Alawite Shiite minority that rules Syria.

A ground invasion of Iran directed towards Persia is unlikely. However, that may not be necessary, as once the Iranian nuclear infrastructure, military and Revolutionary Guard has been reduced, they would be unable to reconstitute their nuclear program if deprived of the resources to do so.

This would be done by partitioning three or four minority regions of Iran, and giving them over for protection to their respective adjacent nations. Iranian Kurdistan would join with Iraqi Kurdistan; Iranian Arab Khuzestan, with most of Iran's oil, would be joined with Arab Iraq; and mineral rich Iranian Baluchistan would be joined with Pakistani Baluchistan. And possibly even the Iranian Azeri territories joined to Azerbaijan.

This would avoid the need to invade Persia, which would be a most difficult effort, yet would prevent the Persians from rebuilding their nuclear program. And because the partitioned territories are closely related, they would be strongly defended by their adoptive nations.

[redgolum]

One replacing the other? Is this just a shift change?

[Gritty]

I love that one!

[jveritas]

You are the commie and terrorist appeaser. You are complaining that another aircraft carrier is heading to the Gulf region because such a move according to you will increase oil price and according to you this is done because the oil traders are not making enough money. So in other words you want to appease the islamic terrorist regime in Iran because you are afraid that oil prices will go up.

Shame on you.