The ships are said to be carrying Tomahawk cruise missiles
Posted on 03/15/2003 9:36:20 AM PST by Indy Pendance
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The ships are said to be carrying Tomahawk cruise missiles
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The US Navy is moving warships through Egypt's Suez Canal to position them closer to Iraq for possible military action.
At least seven of the ships, cruise missile-bearing submarines and destroyers, have already passed through the canal.
The move is controversial in Egypt, where anti-war demonstrators have demanded that the 105-mile (170 km) canal be made off-limits to ships that could attack a fellow Arab country.
The US military are not advertising their presence here, but I have just seen a large military destroyer thread its way slowly south through the canal, its decks bristling with military hardware and communications equipment.
It was followed by a submarine, its turret poking out of the shimmering water.
Demonstrations
Curious Egyptians are watching the craft make their way to the potential war zone, well aware of the political controversy such convoys will cause.
Egyptian anti-war demonstrators have been calling for the canal to be off-limits to the Americans.
The demonstrators do not want to be part of any military preparations against a fellow Arab state.
But a few days ago the US military commander in this region, General Tommy Franks, paid a call on the Egyptian Government and, according to western diplomats, finalised the deal to use the canal.
Once again, the strategically important Suez waterway is showing its significance for military planners.
The US ships are said by Pentagon officials to be carrying Tomahawk cruise missiles.
They are being repositioned from the eastern Mediterranean because Turkey, where the ships were originally deployed, does not want these missiles to be fired over its territory.
I wonder if these demonstrators are aware that Egypt receives $2 billion/yr. courtesy of the U.S. taxpayer?
Also those who think our troops cannot pull of a summer victory in Iraq have never witnessed our troops training in 29 Palms in the summer. Our troops are better prepared to fight in the heat than the ill equipped iraqi surrender monkeys. Our tanks and personell vehicles are probably all air conditioned. Are theirs?
A Holes
There must be a good reason why we are being so patient. We must not believe that Saddam is a real threat to attack his neighbors in the near term, but at the same time we must fear the possibility of biological or chemical weapon attacks from Iraq.
What happens if North Korea is actually insane enough to attack South Korea tomorrow? Do we take 6 months to gear up for them? The appearance of our slow response to Iraq must be giving North Korea a lot of confidence.
I'm not sure about the tanks and jeeps but just about everything else was when I was in the Marines during the early 1980s. I spent about two years at 29 Palms in the Mojave desert and I can assure you that the heat out there is very comparable to that of Iraq. I was in charge of a communications van that I would rig with all sorts of antennas when we deployed so as to facilliate ground-to-air communications. Those vans were not just air-conditioned, they were ice cold! Which made them a very convenient place to stash beers for those field deployments. Lots of nooks and crannies in those vans that the officers never knew about!
My take is that the MOAB test ("Mother of All Bombs") in Florida was not just for Iraqi education. It was also for the education of North Korea. The most dangerous aspect, today, of the NK threat is that they will send their million-man army south across the DMZ. That army would be reduced to 100,000 deaf and scared surrender monkeys, if the US carpet-bombed the DMZ with a thick layer of MOABS.
Rest assured, we are ready to deal with NK, even if they make the mistake of attacking two days after we launch the Iraq assault.
Congressman Billybob
Latest column, now up on UPI, and FR, "Once, Twice, Three Times a Moron"
How many busses were there? Three. Yes, three(3). If the pro-lifers send 33 buses it doesn't make the news, but 3 buses of anti-war protesters? Oh, that's REALLY BIG.
There will, of course, be a loud sucking sound as the Turkish economy implodes, since the $15 (or so) billion "contribution" by the US to Turkey has just gone bye-bye. "You didn't ask for it, you didn't get it. Toyota."
Congressman Billybob
Latest column, now up on UPI, and FR, "Once, Twice, Three Times a Moron"
Check your map again. from the Med, they'd have to go over Syria, unless it's a "roundhouse punch" they're after.
They could go over Israel and Jordan, but on radar, that looks like an Israeli launch, and I'm sure the US is anxious to avoid that kind of confusion.
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| Sat Mar 15, 1:59 AM ET |
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The crew maintains a close watch as the spruance class destroyer USS Deyo (DD 989) transits the Suez Canal, Friday March 14, 2003 from the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea. Deyo is the first U.S. warship to enter the Red Sea during recent movements to the Cental Command area of operations in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. The United States is moving 10 Navy ships armed with Tomahawk cruise missiles from the eastern Mediterranean to the Red Sea, senior U.S. officials said Thursday. (AP Photo/Patrick Reilly) |
DEYYYYYYYYY...o ... Daylight come .. me wanna go home .. yada yada
See all the little hatches in the bottom of the pic? Lots of toys for SaDDam to be delivered soon.
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