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That's why we're fighting the 'terrorists' in Baghdad and Iraq to protect the American people.

"But I will not let myself be reduced to silence."

This in today from the NY Sun, a noted neo-con stenographer, to the effect that the carriers will miraculously drop to one, with no 3 carrier cluster on station happening.

http://www.nysun.com/pf.php?id=58168&v=2534614811

I've also seen rumor that there will be 3 carriers for a while and then 2 will go home and later the Truman Group will deploy. This is consistent with what the Navy would like but it seems to me that Cheney is still in charge and this is worrisome give all the rumors of an all-out war breaking out from one end the area to the other. In short, I don't believe the Sun article either but point to it for what it's worth. It doesn't feel right.

The Navy Times is late in reporting on this.

June 24th:

Ukranian anti-censorship Web site LIEH3OP (censor.net.ua) is reporting that a third U.S. Carrier, the nuclear-powered USS Enterprise Strike Group, is currently en route to the Persian Gulf where it will join the USS Nimitz and USS Stennis already stationed there. The USS Enterprise CVN 65-Big E Strike Group is the largest aircraft carrier in the U.S. Navy, and its addition to the Persian Gulf will mark the largest buildup of U.S. forces against Iran ever -- including more aircraft carriers than during the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

In addition, LIEH3OP adds that during his Middle Eastern tour in May, U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney made assurances to Gulf and other Middle Eastern nations that the U.S. would eventually have four carriers in the region to protect serve its interests:

    Washington is considering deploying the fourth US carrier for the region in the Red Sea opposite Saudi Arabian western coast to secure the three US carriers in the Gulf from the rear as well as the Gulf of Aqaba and Suez Canal.

My question for all of this is, where on Earth is the Western media? When the U.S. sent in the second carrier a little while back it was all over the news for debate and discussion. Now they're sending a THIRD carrier and it is floating along under the radar.

June 29th:

According to DEBKAfile's military sources, the US naval build-up off the shores of Iran marks rising military tensions in the region, accentuated by last week's Hamas victory which has endowed Iran with a military foothold on Israel's southwestern border.

The USS Enterprise CVN 65-Big E Strike Group will join the USS Stennis and the USS Nimitz carriers, building up the largest sea, air, marine concentration the United States has ever deployed opposite Iran. This goes towards making good on the assurances of four carriers US Vice President Dick Cheney offered the Gulf and Middle East nations during his May tour of the region.

The "Big E" leads a strike group consisting of the guided-missile destroyers USS Arleigh Burke DDG 51, USS Stout DDG 55, Forrest Sherman DDG 98 and USS James E. Williams DDG 95, as well as the guided missile cruiser USS Gettysburg CG 64, the SS Philadelphia SSN 690 nuclear submarine and the USNS Supply T-AOE 6>

[...]

DEBKAfile's military sources report Washington is considering deploying the fourth US carrier for the region in the Red Sea opposite Saudi Arabian western coast to secure the three US carriers in the Gulf from the rear as well as the Gulf of Aqaba and Suez Canal.

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Congress Targets Iran Instead of Iraq Today!

"But I will not let myself be reduced to silence."

With just two carrier groups in the Persian Gulf the L.A. Times reported (and I blogged  about) that the U.S. Navy and Iranians tiptoe carefully in Persian Gulf. There is very little room for a mistake there, and a lot of opportunity for a group in power but losing it in either the U.S. (cough Cheney - Bush cough) or Iran (Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad) to cause international mischief to shore up their internal political standing. Or even just because they are crazy  (Cheney again. At least Ahmadinejad actually completed his Ph.D. without dropping out as Cheney did.)

The LA times points out that with just the two carrier groups in the Persian Gulf, the U.S. Navy already has over half its surface fleet of 277 ship there, along with the Iranian Navy's estimated 140 naval surface ships and six submarines.

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