Posted on 06/28/2010 6:46:24 PM PDT by Star Traveler
Submitted by Tyler Durden
06/27/2010 12:50 -0500
As we first reported last week, in an article that was met with much original skepticism, the Pentagon has now confirmed that a fleet of 12 warships has passed the Suez Canal, and is now likely awaiting orders to support the escalation in the Persian Gulf. The attached image from Stratfor shows the latest positioning of US aircraft carrier groups as of June 23: the USS Harry Truman (CVN-75) is now right next to USS Eisenhower (CVN 69), both of which are waiting patiently just off Iran.
As for the catalyst the two carriers may be anticipating, we provide the following update from the Gulf Daily News where we read that Israel may be on the verge of an attack of Iran, with an incursion originating from military bases in Azerbaijan and Georgia.
Israel is massing warplanes in the Caucasus for an attack on Iran, it was revealed yesterday.
Preparations are underway to launch the military attack from Azerbaijan and Georgia, reports our sister paper Akhbar Al Khaleej, quoting military sources.
Israel was, in fact, training pilots in Turkey to launch the strike and was smuggling planes into Georgia using Turkish airspace, they said.
However, Turkey was unaware of Israel's intention of transferring the planes to Georgia, the sources said.
The unexpected crisis between Israel and Turkey following an Israeli commando raid on an aid flotilla bound for Gaza Strip hit Israeli calculations.
Azerbaijan-based intelligence units, working under the cover of technicians, trainers and consultants, have helped with the preparations, the sources said.
Military equipment, mostly supplied by the US, was transported to a Georgian port via the Black Sea.
Georgian coastguard and Israeli controllers are co-operating to hide the operations from Russian vessels, said the sources.
They point out that according to Israel, it will not be in a position to launch a strike on Iran without using bases in Georgia and Azerbaijan due to the limited capabilities of its nuclear submarines stationed near the Iranian coast.
Meanwhile, Iran's Press TV reported that a very large contingent of US ground forces had massed in Azerbaijan, near the Iranian border. The independent Azerbaijani news website Trend confirmed the report.
Those reports came just days after the Pentagon confirmed that an unusually large fleet of US warships had indeed passed through Egypt's Suez Canal en route to the Gulf. At least one Israeli warship reportedly joined the American armada.
Press TV also quoted Iranian Revolultionary Guard Brigadier General Mehdi Moini as saying that the country's forces are mobilised and ready to face Israelli and American "misadventures" near its borders.
* Iran last night said it has cancelled plans to send an aid ship to the Gaza Strip as Israel "had sent a letter to the UN saying that the presence of Iranian and Lebanese ships in the Gaza area will be considered a declaration of war on that regime and it will confront it," Irna said.
We caution readers to take this news with a grain of salt as the Gulf Daily News' sister publication, Akhbar Al Khaleej, has a slightly less than stellar credibility rating. Then again, this is what some, Breaking News Online most notably, said about last week's carrier news, urging readers to ignore it.
This same story gets posted every time there's a carrier turnover in the Gulf. Only the dates and the names of the boats change.
I’d wager that Israel’s intelligence services have concluded that short of using tactical nuclear weapons, an Israeli airstrike(s) will not affect/effect Iran’s nuclear weapons program — i.e.: because they (Israeli intel.) have determined that Iran’s nuclear weapons program is too far along to halt....again, short of using tactical nuclear weapons.
But hey, proof is in the pudding thus far: 1) Isreal has yet to strike Iran....after years of knowing Iran had a nuclear weapons program; 2) reports are already circulating that Iran has enough enriched materials to build 2-5 nuclear weapons. Therefore, an Israeli strike(s) will amount to being folly and unproductive towards that alleged “no uncertain terms” Israeli assertion, which was no doubt given under different and applicable circumstances and different from what they are now as they relate to Iran’s current nuclear weapons program. Besides, 1) Iran would simply unlease its proxies on Israel - Hamas and Hezbollah; 2) an Israeli strike or multiple strikes would set the Middle East more on fire x100 than it already is.
My best advice for some here is to stop waiting and/or hoping for an Israeli strike(s) on Iran until they do actually happen; then, some here had better buckle their seatbelts or hop a ride to Israel cause Israel will need all the manpower it can get.....but then again, one well placed nuke would essentially wipe out Israel.....food for thought.
Israel will attack, and BHO will feel he has no choice but to finish the job.
Never ,ever will happen. BO is a Muslim
Should a war or fracas with Iran ensue it should provide a good diversion for the American public from a rotten economy, kept rotten by that “Wonder child” and his “Playmates” in Washington.........that is not to say that Iran should not be cut down a notch or two as it sponsors most of the trouble in that region!
Should a war or fracas with Iran ensue it should provide a good diversion for the American public from a rotten economy, kept rotten by that “Wonder child” and his “Playmates” in Washington.........that is not to say that Iran should not be cut down a notch or two as it sponsors most of the trouble in that region!
“I have a hard time believing that China dances to international puppet masters”
Goes back to the opld saying, “When you borrow $100,000 from a bank, they own you” “When you owe the bank $10 million, you own them”
Bullshit! If obama is going to do anything, he is going to side with the muslims.He has already made that known, from his own mouth.
Or Arizona.
Don't worry. In six or seven months when the Truman's relief shows up then we can have posts like this again.
Wishful thinking on your part.
Yes, he's going to order the military to stop the Israelis from doing anything.
At this point with so many trillions of debt . . .
I think that the numbers are increasingly a joke . . . the PTB will end up doing whatever they wish as though it were all Monopoly money . . . which is . . . essentially . . . what they’ve made it.
Could I get a source for the “we” put Mao in charge?
Sorry, that was several computers & crashes ago.
You might be able to search
for
“CIA + MAO”
OR
“CIA + FUNDING + CHINA + MAO”
or some such.
Just a hint of such is available in these quotes:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/religion/2519352/posts?page=2#2
Note Rockefeller’s ecstatic praises of Mao’s China.
Don't worry. In six or seven months when the Truman's relief shows up then we can have posts like this again.
Oh... I wasn't talking about waiting for the next time around... I was talking about seeing if it "sticks around" in the meantime ... :-)
Yes, he's going to order the military to stop the Israelis from doing anything.
Ummmm... not from the reading of all those other articles I've included here ... :-)
When Carrier Strike Groups transit the Suez, it's no secret. When they transit Bab el-Mandeb, it's no secret. When they transit Hormuz, it's no secret. They're huge. They can be spotted from land and from air all the while trying to dodge the countless fishing dhows and cargo ships in the area. And every fisherman, deckhand and goat-herder living in a tent has got a cell phone these days. They all know where we're going.
Yes, it's kinda silly for anyone to think that these things are really "secret" ... all you can do is a sort of "fake maneuver" and hopefully draw an enemy's attention to one spot and go at him from another spot.
Ordering the US Navy to attack an ally like the IDF would present quite a problem for US forces.
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