Posted on 10/01/2001 7:34:57 PM PDT by kattracks
WASHINGTON, Oct 1 (Reuters) - The United States on Monday deployed another aircraft carrier in a growing military buildup for its war on terrorism.
But in an unusual step, the USS Kitty Hawk steamed out of port near Tokyo without its normal force of 70 warplanes to support the U.S. military response to Sept. 11 attacks on New York and Washington.
U.S. officials, who asked not to be identified, said that one option under consideration was to put the Kitty Hawk in the Indian Ocean south of Afghanistan and use it as a possible helicopter base for forays by elite American special operations troops into that country.
That move would put four U.S. carriers within possible striking distance of Afghanistan. The other three, already in the region, carry a total of more than 200 warplanes.
Last month's attacks using hijacked airliners which smashed into the Pentagon and New York's World Trade Center have led to the biggest U.S. mobilization since the 1991 Gulf War. The carriers Carl Vinson and Independence were already in or near the Gulf and the Theodore Roosevelt was believed to be in the Mediterranean.
Heavy U.S. B-52 and B-1 bombers, other warships and elite special forces have already moved to the Gulf, Central Asia and Indian Ocean region near Afghanistan.
QUADRENNIAL DEFENSE REVIEW
The prime suspect for the attacks, Saudi-born Osama bin Laden, is believed to be hiding in Afghanistan, protected by the Taliban rulers. The United States has warned the Taliban to turn over bin Laden or face possible military attack.
The Defense Department also announced that an additional 3,427 part-time Army, Air Force and Navy reserve and National Guard troops had been called to active military duty in an ongoing effort to bolster homeland defense and support the overseas deployments.
The troops, including elite Army special operations soldiers, military police and air defense personnel, brought to more than 20,000 the number of reservists activated since the attack under an authorization signed by President George W. Bush allowing the Pentagon to call up to 50,000 troops to active duty.
The Pentagon on Monday also sent Congress its "Quadrennial Defense Review" report on a major three-month study of future strategy and forces to face new threats in the 21st century.
It was mostly completed before the attacks, which reinforced advocates of radical change in U.S. planning to reflect the end of the Cold War and the emergence of other threats, including terrorism.
GROWING IMPORTANCE OF ASIA
The review stressed the growing importance of Asia in U.S. security, called for the world's only superpower to spend more on "homeland defense" and military intelligence and for retaining the current level of 1.4 million active duty troops and 12 aircraft carrier battle groups to patrol the oceans.
Pointing to shifting global security challenges after the Cold War, the Pentagon said it had ordered the Navy to increase aircraft carrier battle group presence in the Western Pacific region and to explore options for three or four additional warships and submarines capable of carrying cruise missiles in the area.
As part of the current build-up, defense officials said on Monday they were moving to transfer more unmanned intelligence aircraft to the area near Afghanistan in an attempt to get more information on the possible whereabouts of bin Laden.
The Taliban claimed earlier that their forces had shot down such a drone. Rumsfeld confirmed that one was missing, but there was no indication how the plane was lost.
"USS Kitty Hawk departed Yokosuka (near Tokyo) on Monday to support tasking as assigned by the National Command Authority in response to Operation Enduring Freedom," a spokesman for the U.S. Naval Forces Command in Japan told Reuters.
Operation Enduring Freedom is the U.S. code name for its military buildup in response to the Sept. 11 attacks using hijacked airliners which were rammed into the Pentagon and New York's World Trade Center. Nearly 6,000 people are dead or missing from the coordinated strikes.
Of course, my daughter is hoping that they only need three there and that the one which has been deployed the longest gets to come home soon. What a coincidence. That would be the ENTERPRISE.
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