Free Republic

<p>SAN DIEGO — The assignment of the carrier Nimitz and its battle group to the Persian Gulf means the U.S. military soon will have an unprecedented floating air force within striking distance of Iraq.</p> <p>The Nimitz will leave San Diego with its eight-ship battle group and 8,000 sailors and airmen Monday. It is expected to take at least a month to reach the Gulf, where it will join five other carrier battle groups operating in the area, although the Nimitz may replace one of them, the carrier Abraham Lincoln.</p>

My firm's offices overlook San Diego Bay. As I write this post, the USS Nimitz and its crew of 5500 sailors and airmen is rounding North Island and heading for the Gulf. A prayer or two would probably be in order.

Nimitz ordered to Persian Gulf

A US sixth aircraft carrier and B-2 stealth bombers have been ordered to deploy as part of the unrelenting US military buildup against Iraq, officials said amid proliferating signs that war is rapidly approaching.Iraq's elite Republican Guards were on the move inside Iraq, apparently to shore up the regime's defenses in the Sunni heartland, according to US officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity.US forces in the Gulf region and the eastern Mediterranean swelled to 225,000 this week, including 111,000 in Kuwait, where US soldiers and marines have been staging for a possible invasion, a US defense official said,...

UNITED NATIONS/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States dismissed Baghdad's agreement to destroy its al-Samoud 2 missiles and pressed on with its war preparations against Iraq, deploying a sixth aircraft carrier and B-2 stealth bombers.

<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>

U.S. military forces in the Persian Gulf region are prepared now for a war against Iraq but could wait for months at a high state of readiness if necessary, the military's top officer said Wednesday. "We're ready now. The Iraqi regime should have no doubt," said Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Some have questioned how long the tens of thousands of U.S. forces now assembling in the Gulf region could keep their edge if President Bush decided to give diplomacy more time to persuade Iraq to disarm, as several U.S. allies and some in Congress...