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The move followed more than 72 hours of coordinated rescue efforts and nearly three dozen search and rescue flights to look for the wreckage, the Navy’s Pacific fleet said in a Saturday statement. The names of the sailors were being withheld until their next of kin have been notified. Also injured on Tuesday were five other sailors who were on board the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier where the MH-60S helicopter was operating on the deck before the crash. An investigation into what caused the crash about 70 miles (112 kilometers) off San Diego is ongoing, but the fact that...

Michael DeLong's memoir of his three years as deputy commander of Central Command (CentCom) is fascinating and frustrating. Fascinating, because CentCom ran the Afghanistan and Iraq campaigns, putting DeLong in the thick of events. Frustrating, because this memoir is too brief. Unlike Bob Woodward, who fires vast, ill-focused barrages, DeLong writes briskly and pointedly. DeLong firmly rejects that the Iraq war jeopardized the War on Terror. No resources were taken away from counterterrorism. Indeed, the United States began a major operation in Afghanistan on the same day it launched the liberation of Iraq. DeLong's argument is all the more compelling...

"It was like hanging out with an old buddy." That's how Kane native Lt. Ryan Phillips describes his three-hour side-by-side experience with President George W. Bush, who addressed the nation Thursday from the USS Abraham Lincoln. Phillips, a 1994 graduate of Kane Area High School, sat directly behind the President in the four-man Navy S-3B Viking combat jet that landed on the deck of the giant aircraft carrier. Phillips, the son of Ray and Polly Phillips of 405 W. Hemlock Ave., Kane, had the duty of helping the President don his flight suit and escorting him to the plane for...

Considering the expense to the American taxpayer and use of American men and women as 'extras' for this media stunt, President George W. Bush should pledge that his USS Lincoln landing not appear in any 2004 Presidential Campaign Commercials and Videos.Press release recieved at the National Journal May 9

Jackie Calmes of the Wall Street Journal weaves this seamlessly into her 'Washington Wire.''Top Gun' backfires but on Whom?Democrats demand probes follwing reports that President Georeg W. Bush didn't have to fly a jet aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln, as the White House said, but was near enough to a helicopter, and that the troops could have come home a day earlier.'If that had been Bill Clinton,' says former [Presidential] spokesman Joe Lockhardt, the subpoeanas would have been flying, and there would be blood on the floor from Republicans fighting over who gets to investigate.'President Bush and his aides dismissed...

Sen. Bob Byrd's outburst Tuesday, criticizing the president's trip to the U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln, had the same desperate tone as Tom Daschle's speech decrying the failure in diplomacy which, he claimed, had brought us to war. Byrd's remarks were outrageous. Subbing for Ollie North on his radio show on Wednesday, I thought the audience would be interested — maybe Byrd's remarks would make for a good half-hour of programming. Almost three hours later, some calls actually had to be cut off because we ran out of time. I'm sure Byrd never anticipated that his ravings would provoke such a...

Murray Praises Crew at U.S.S. Lincoln Homecoming Celebration For Immediate Release: Tuesday, May 6, 2003 WASHINGTON, D.C.) - Yesterday, U.S. Senator Patty Murray addressed the crew of the U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln as it returned home to Everett from a ten-month deployment. The Abraham Lincoln was scheduled to return home in December 2002 after completion of a six-month mission in the Persian Gulf supporting the Global War on Terrorism when it was ordered to make a “U-Turn” back to the Gulf to support what would later become Operation Iraqi Freedom. Over the ship’s public address system, Rear Admiral John M. Kelly...

One Democrat moaned yesterday as he watched the cable news programs replay hours of footage of President Bush on the carrier with audio about Democratic complaints.'Im watching him get high fived and buzz the tower again,' the Democrat said. 'The White House should have thought of this controversy themselves!'Democratic questions about Bush's jet landing made the front page of USA Today complete with the 'Fly Boy' photo that will have Mike Deaver smiling.Along these lines, a Senior Administration Official told the ABC Political Unit 'The more time the President talks about defense and security issues, the more he hurts Democrats...

It's driving liberals nuts — the image of President George W. Bush in a flight suit on the deck of the U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln. There he was, slapping officers on the back, posing for pictures, joking with sailors and aviators. You can bet your bottom dollar these images will be used during the 2004 campaign — they'll make Bush harder to beat. But those who are complaining loudest, who are fixated on the political use of the images, are apparently deaf to their historical resonance. Historically, Americans tend to elect presidents with military experience, the more heroic the better....

<p>WASHINGTON (CNN) --The White House on Wednesday strongly defended President Bush's national address last week from an aircraft carrier, rejecting Democratic criticism that the president's dramatic arrival on the USS Abraham Lincoln was little more than a campaign event for a president up for re-election in 2004.</p>

Title: "Bush Makes Hairy Landing on Aircraft Carrier for End of War Speech" MAY 04, 2003 22:08 by Jung-Ahn Kim of DONG-A ILBO DAILY, Seoul, Korea (credo@donga.com) U.S. President George W. Bush landed on the deck of the USS Abraham Lincoln. Wearing a pilot’s uniform, Bush showed two thumbs up like a pilot returning from a mission which he had successfully completed. Seeing their president`s hand gesture, the solders cheered with glee. President Bush then, during a speech to the sailors, announced the official end of the Iraq war.A Republican political specialist defined President Bush`s announcement, which was aired on...

<p>ABOARD THE USS ABRAHAM LINCOLN – President George W. Bush didn't have to make a dramatic tailhook landing on this aircraft carrier. He could have flown by helicopter as presidents normally would, the White House said Friday.</p> <p>Officials also acknowledged positioning the massive ship to provide the best TV angle for Bush's speech, with the sea as his background instead of the San Diego coastline.</p>

U.S. President George W. Bush (news - web sites) gives a thumbs-up as he walks with Vice Admiral Mike Malone (C), Commander Naval Air Forces and Captain Dave Landon, commanding officer Naval Base Coronado, upon arriving at Naval Air Station North Island in San Diego May 1, 2003. The President will board an S-3 Viking to fly out to the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln to greet the 5,000 sailors aboard the Lincoln as they return home from the war in Iraq (news - web sites). REUTERS/Mike Blake Wearing a flight suit, U.S. President George W. Bush walks with NFO...

A bit of a humorous moment on CNN on Wednesday afternoon when Kyra Phillips, their reporter aboard the Aircraft Carrier USS Abraham Lincoln, realized, "I hate to say it," that the TVs in the pilots' ready-room were tuned to the Fox News Channel. Phillips quickly dismissed it as part of the Navy system in which "you've got to get a little bit of every network." MRC analyst Ken Shepherd caught this candid moment which occurred at 1:13pm EDT as Phillips relayed a question from anchor Miles O'Brien, about how the pilots watch landings, to a Navy pilot who explained that...

The USS Abraham Lincoln must be much closer to Hawaii than the Philipines at this point. It is unclear how far it is from San Diego, which I believe is this ship's home port. It seemed to take quite a while to transit from the Arabian Gulf to the Arabian Sea to the Indian Ocean. Now it is listed as being in the Pacific Ocean -- a very large body of water. But let us hope that it is very close to the ship's home port as this is being written, and will be there before next Sunday -- God...

Our place in the world: Letter from the USS Abraham Lincoln By THOMAS L. GIBBONS LIEUTENANT, U.S. NAVY The Hollywood crowd has gone entirely too far. It is time to stand up to them and tell them to put personal agendas aside so our nation can be united. I respect personal opinion but believe it should be well-informed. But personal opinion should be put aside in an effort to appear cohesive and less of a circus act to the rest of the world. The public display of president- and administration-bashing is out of control. I am writing this from the...

Gradually, the USS Nimitz aircraft carrier has made its way halfway across the world. It would be wrong for me to speculate on where it will be positioned. It has left the Indian Ocean, and according to US Navy sources, is now somewhere in the Arabian Sea -- technically now one of four carrier groups operating in the Arabian Sea. It is shortly going to be in a position to relieve the USS Abraham Lincoln -- currently 3 months past its 6 month normal deployment. That might be reason for where and when it is deployed. Or there may be...

Vincent Laforet/The New York Times Lt. Dewaine Barnes, who became a pilot after learning about the Tuskegee Airmen, is aiming to lead a team in combat. ABOARD THE U.S.S. ABRAHAM LINCOLN, in the Persian Gulf, March 28 — After all the briefing, the training, the flying, the waiting, the war with Iraq has not unfolded as Lt. Dewaine Barnes had anticipated. The campaign started unexpectedly with the cruise missile strike aimed at killing Saddam Hussein. The dedicated air war, dominated by precision-guided bomb strikes, shifted within just days to a riskier scenario that focused on close air support for fast-advancing...

Two U.S. Navy cruisers ordered home from Gulf ABOARD USS ABRAHAM LINCOLN, Gulf, March 28 (Reuters) - Two U.S. Navy cruisers that have been firing Tomahawk cruise missiles at Iraq over the past week received the order to return home on Friday after more than eight months at sea. The Mobile Bay and Shiloh, both part of the Abraham Lincoln battle group, are among some 30 ships that have been bombarding Iraq with missiles since the U.S.-led war started on March 20. The news was greeted with cheers on the Mobile Bay, whose normal six-month deployment was extended because of...