Posted on 05/23/2012 9:31:08 AM PDT by nuconvert
Exclusive: CentCom commander’s call for third Persian Gulf carrier group was rejected, reports Eli Lake.
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As Western diplomats meet this week in Baghdad to try to coax Iran’s leaders to disclose its full nuclear program, Gen. James Mattis will be keeping an eye on the Persian military.
Mattis wanted to send a third aircraft-carrier group to the Persian Gulf earlier this year, The Daily Beast has exclusively learned, in what would have been a massive show of force at a time when Iranian military commanders were publicly threatening to sink American ships in the Strait of Hormuz. The four-star Marine Corps general and CentCom commander believed the display could have deterred Iran from further escalating tensions, according to U.S. military officials familiar with his thinking.
But the president wanted to focus military resources on new priorities like China, and Mattis was told a third carrier group was not available to be deployed to the Gulf.
The carrier-group rebuff in January was one of several for the commander responsible for East Africa, the Middle East, and South Asia. Working for the Obama administration, Mattis has often found himself the odd man out—particularly when it comes to Iran.
(Excerpt) Read more at thedailybeast.com ...
When will barry relieve Mattis of his duties?
Besides hating America, zero fancies himself a genius at everything else, no less military matters.
Obama doesn't want to confront Iran's Islamo-fascism; he wants to enable it.See also Arab Spring.
Iran is working with Venezuela training Bolivians.
China has a football-field-sized drilling platform capable of going seven miles down and is allowed to drill in the Gulf of Mexico when U.S. companies are banned.
The problem, U.S. military leaders, is not in Tehran.
the problem is in Washington, D.C.
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So did Hitler but at least Adolf actually wore a uniform.
Carriers were developed for Blue Water operations.
Persian Gulf is NOT that operational area.
In a small area, the suicidal Iranian military has an all too high chance of sinking/severely damaging a carrier.
We can achieve military targeting and weapons delivery in any part of Iran without risking a “Pearl Harbor” in the Persian Gulf.
Beware commies in DC wanting to cause needless risk to American forces.
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