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| Iraq |
| American armada prepares to take on Iran |
| 2007-02-23 |
| # Israel seeks all clear for Iran air strike # In pictures: On board the USS Eisenhower # Audio: Damien McElroy on the deck of the US flagship It is four and a half acres of US power in the middle of the Arabian Sea but the influence of USS Dwight D Eisenhower stretches hundreds of miles. The aircraft carrier, backed by its sister vessel, a handful of destroyers and a shoal of support ships, has placed a ring of steel around an increasingly unstable region. While the Eisenhower is ostensibly assisting US operations in Afghanistan and Iraq, it is increasingly occupied by the looming threat of Iran. Recent tensions between the US and Iran over Teheran's meddling in Iraq and attempts to build a nuclear bomb have raised the prospect of its third regional war in a decade. The addition of a second aircraft carrier to its strike groups has fuelled the belief that the US is gearing up for a fight with Iran. Not since the Iraq war in 2003 has America amassed so much fire power around the Persian Gulf. As flagship of the Fifth Fleet, the Eisenhower welcomed the arrival of the second Nimitz-class nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, the USS John C Stennis, and its accompanying destroyers on Tuesday. Captain Dan Cloyd, the Eisenhower's commanding officer, compared the situation with the international tension of the Cold War. "There was a time when we had two aircraft carriers in the Mediterranean," he told The Daily Telegraph. "The world changes and we adapt." The quietly spoken Capt Cloyd embraced the suggestion that the dual deployment is at the forefront of efforts to stop Iran getting a nuclear bomb, pointing out that his maritime assets have been tasked to quash any challenge to global security. "Our presence here is an affirmation of our resolve to engage with the nations of the region either where we share common goals or where we face challenges." The Eisenhower has more than 5,000 people on board and its range of missions is virtually limitless. As it patrols the shipping lanes of the Strait of Hormuz, the Eisenhower ensures the safe passage of oil tankers. It also prevents the trading routes being used to transport materials that would help rogue nations build a nuclear weapon. Capt Cloyd said: "Our maritime security mission is about denying the use of the seas to any potential spread of weapons of mass destruction." Iran's belligerent posture has increased the challenges facing the Eisenhower since it was deployed to the Middle East last October. Vice Admiral Patrick Walsh, the commander of the Fifth Fleet, issued a stark warning that Iran risks triggering an "accidental war" during aggressive military manoeuvres. During the Great Prophet 2 missile test in November, the Islamic Republic fired a Shabab missile into the six-mile corridor of shipping lanes in the Strait of Hormuz. In such a constricted corridor, the results could have been disastrous. With Teheran's real strategic intentions unclear, the US takes the threats made very seriously. "They threaten to use oil as a weapon. They threaten to close the Straits of Hormuz," Adml Walsh said. "It is the combination of the rhetoric, the tone, and the aggressive exercises in very constrained waters that gives us concern." US commanders ascribe the increase in instability to increasingly deliberate aggressive actions by Teheran. For that reason the deployment of the carriers is designed to intensify pressure on Iran to step back from the brink. Great picture of a crewman mask. |
| Posted by:Anonymoose |
| #4 Most Gulf oil is piped to the Red or Med seas. If Hormuz is shutdown it will hit East Asia the most. |
| Posted by: phil_b 2007-02-23 22:55 |
| #3 See also WND.com > STARTRIBUNE.com [Minneapolis-ST.Pauk, MN]> Lady Congressperson > Agreement to give Iran roughly 1/2 of Iraq. |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2007-02-23 22:54 |
| #2 That's right, Joe. We only get a fraction of the US oil from the Gulf. But a lot of countries get a big chunk of their oil from there, and like it or not, they are in it, too. The MSM tries to spin it of as a US thing, but it is much bigger than that. |
| Posted by: Al Aska Paul, Resident Imam 2007-02-23 22:46 |
| #1 CNN > Saudi Arabia does have an East-to-West national pipeline that can be used to ship oil to the Red Sea, but its unreliable and in dire need of total modernization. And even wid moderniz, te costs of transhipment thru the deserts and unto Red Sea will be protractively cost-prohibitive for any International company or Govt. While the Nile is secure, at the other end of the Red Sea [Arabian Sea/Indian Ocean]the sectarian conflict in Ethiopia + Somalia-Etriea alone will drive up costs of ground, air and naval security, espec from regional Muslim PIRATES. CNN > IT IS THUS VITAL AND IN NATIONAL SECURITY INTERESTS OF THE USA FOR THE USDOD [Navy] TO PROTECT STRAITS OF HORMUZ AND CONTAIN IRAN. |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2007-02-23 21:01 |