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U.S. commander in Gulf predicts quick victory ABOARD USS ABRAHAM LINCOLN, Gulf, March 21 (Reuters) - A top U.S. military commander in the Gulf on Friday predicted a swift victory in the war against Iraq. "We're into this now, we're going to win it and we're going to win it fast," said Rear Admiral John Kelly, commander of the USS Abraham Lincoln battle group and of all Navy aircraft in the Gulf. He told reporters Iraqi air defences against Tomahawk cruise missiles and aircraft had increased significantly in response to U.S. air attacks on key targets in the Iraqi capital...

The latest breaking news from DEBKA: US warplanes taking off from the USS Abraham Lincoln are bombing Iraqi military targets along the US-UK line of advance. DEBKAfile exclusive: Kurdish sources confirm that Iraqi deputy prime minister Tareq Aziz is in their hands and is being questioned by US intelligence officials. Earlier, as American and British forces began invasion of Iraq, DEBKAfile’s military sources reported persistent rumor that two leading powerbrokers of Saddam’s regime had fled Baghdad: deputy prime minister Tareq Aziz, who is thought to be hiding in Kurdistan in northern Iraq, and vice president Taha Yassin Ramadan who has...

Barbara Starr at the Pentagon reports that planes from the USS Abraham Lincoln have attacked and taken out communications facilities in western Iraq. She additionally quotes Pentagon officials as saying that barring bad weather and sandstorms, the full attack will begin tonight.

A B O A R D U S S L I N C O L N, March 14 — The media who have been "embeded" with military units have been promised unprecedented access to cover the build-up to a possible conflict with Iraq and a war itself, if it happens. But less than a week into the embedding, there is already a lot of bristling among some of the journalists aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln, an aircraft carrier deployed to the Gulf region. Some of them — us — began muttering when we were told we had to be accompanied...

ABOARD THE USS ABRAHAM LINCOLN, March 10 -- From his blue upholstered swivel chair on the bridge 90 feet above the flight deck, Capt. Kendall Card knows the signs of fatigue among the 5,655 men and women under his command. The sailors who scurry around the deck seem a little haggard. On Sunday, the wing of one combat plane moving around on the deck brushed the wing of another -- only enough to scrape paint. But a "crunch" is a rare event on the Lincoln. Pleas by the American Red Cross for emergency leave for sailors, to deal with family...

For education and discussion only. Not for commercial use. ABOARD U.S.S. ABRAHAM LINCOLN, Gulf (Reuters) - Evelyn "Vonn" Banks is known as "Grandma Navy." As command master chief of the airwing aboard the carrier U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln she has more than 2,000 sailors to worry about, not to mention five grandchildren back home. "I've never been home for any of the births. I'm the grandma that comes home after everything," Banks says. Her latest granddaughter Ashlyn was born Nov. 5 and another is due in August, by which time she is hoping to be back home in Memphis, Tenn. More...

<p>The aircraft carrier Nimitz has received deployment orders, and is set to leave San Diego with its battle group early March, bound for the Persian Gulf. A Navy official, who asked to remain anonymous, said the Nimitz will relieve the carrier Abraham Lincoln, which has been deployed since July and is already more than a month overdue returning to its homeport of Everett, Wash.</p>

The U.S. military buildup in the Gulf now includes the biggest concentration of American aircraft carriers in the region since the 1991 Gulf War. The USS Abraham Lincoln, one of five aircraft carriers preparing for a possible military campaign in Iraq. For many of the 5,500 men and women aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln, the Persian Gulf is familiar territory. For the past 12 years, the carrier and its 70 aircraft have participated in Operation Southern Watch, the name given to coalition patrols of the no-fly zone over southern Iraq. The no-fly zone was established after the 1991 Gulf War...

ABOARD U.S.S. ABRAHAM LINCOLN (Reuters) - As some of Washington's allies hesitate to send forces to join a war against Iraq, U.S. Navy pilots in the Gulf say their warplanes could overwhelm Iraq without help if necessary. "It would be much more difficult (to fight a conflict without a coalition) than if we would fight it with a coalition. Could we do it without a coalition? Yes," Scott "Notso" Swift, deputy commander of the air wing on the aircraft carrier U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln, said on Sunday. "Could we do it alone with Naval Forces? Yes, we could do it alone...

PORT SAID, Egypt: Seven US warships crossed the Suez Canal on Tuesday heading to the Gulf to join the US military buildup in preparation for a possible attack on Iraq. The seven amphibious ships, based in Norfolk, Virginia, carry more than 4,750 sailors and 7,000 Marines from the 2nd Marine Expeditionary Brigade. They are the USS Kearsarge, Bataan, Saipan, Ponce, Gunston Hall, Ashland and Portland. In Washington, defence officials said on Monday that the USS Abraham Lincoln, one of the Navy's latest Nimitz-class carriers with more than 5,000 sailors and naval aviators aboard, had re-entered the Arabian Sea over the...

WASHINGTON -- With international support for the Bush administration's war plans seemingly on the wane, the Navy confirmed Tuesday that two more aircraft carriers -- including the Norfolk-based Theodore Roosevelt -- have been ordered to move within striking distance of Iraq. The Roosevelt and its battle group, currently training near Puerto Rico, could be steaming toward the Mediterranean in about a week if commanders are satisfied that its sailors and equipment are ready, officials said. Officials also suggested that deployment of the Roosevelt likely would mean that the George Washington, another Norfolk-based carrier, will not redeploy soon. The GW and...

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has ordered two additional aircraft carriers to deploy to the Persian Gulf region in preparation for possible war with Iraq, which defense officials told NBC News on Tuesday could begin with a full-scale invasion within a month...

Two More U.S. Carriers, 37,000 Troops Going to Gulf Tue Jan 21,12:12 PM ET By Charles Aldinger and Will Dunham WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Pentagon has ordered two more U.S. aircraft carriers and another 37,000 combat troops to deploy to the Gulf region for a possible war with Iraq, defense officials said on Tuesday. The moves by Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld will bring to four the number of U.S. carriers within striking distance of Iraq and boost to more than 100,000 the number of U.S. troops ordered to the Gulf this month, the officials told Reuters. The USS Abraham Lincoln...

GOTTA SEE THIS - War for Enduring Freedom 9/17/02 BREAKING: Messages from Saddam and the USS Abraham Lincoln Incirlik, USS Abraham Lincoln, Hussein's letter, Baghdad, Bagram, Uddin, Jeza, brick factory, Kabul, market, potter, Mazar-e-Sharif, Mazar Hotel, Jalalabad garrison, Terrorits in Ramallah, Beit Lahia, Arafat's Al Aqsa, American flag burning, Lebanon, Wazzani river, Cairo, Egypt, Great Pyramid's door, Doha, Qatar, Al Udeid Air Base, Lukman, Usama Matar, Hizb ut-Tahrir (The Liberation Party), Kamal Derwish sought ===================== Turkey =================== In Turkey, at the Incirlik air base, heroes check missiles on F-16 fighters as other heroes patrol the No-Fly Zone in Northern Iraq...