Posted on 08/23/2012 7:31:28 AM PDT by matt1234
The Bremerton-based aircraft carrier, the USS John C. Stennis, will deploy four months early to the Persian Gulf.
To thank sailors for their service, U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta visited U.S. Naval Base Kitsap at Bremerton Wednesday.
Speaking to the more than 2,000 men and women of the Stennis strike group, Panetta said U.S. military needs them.
"I understand that its tough, we're asking an awful lot of each of you. But frankly, you are the best I have and when the world calls we have to respond," he told them.
Panetta will spend the rest of the day on base, meeting with the sailors and their families.
The deployment comes as tensions rise between Iran and Israel. Many consider it a strategic move to position the Stennis strike group in the Middle East to deter Israel from striking a nuclear-capable Iran.
According to retired U.S. Army General Barry McCaffrey, it's a way of telling the Israelis there is no need to attack.
The Stennis will be deployed for eight months, twice as long as originally planned.
The Stennis strike group returned to Bremerton in March after a seven-month deployment to the Persian Gulf and Arabian Sea.
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Transcript: Media Availability with Secretary Panetta Aboard the USS John C. Stennis, Bremerton, Wash.
STAFF: Afternoon, sir. How are you?
SECRETARY OF DEFENSE LEON E. PANETTA: Thank you very much. Good to be here. Spent some time at Fort Lewis a long time ago when I was in ROTC at Santa Clara. So ever since then I've spent a lot of time up here in Seattle.
From a defense point of view this is really a -- a community that is one of the -- one of the -- the very best in terms of supporting the military mission. There are a lot of different missions that are supported here, and I have tremendous thanks and respect for the people of Washington and the way they support our military mission.
So I'm glad to be here and happy to answer your questions.
Q: (Inaudible) -- shifted Navy or other assets to the Mediterranean or Syria region at this time?
SEC. PANETTA: Not at this time. We've -- we have deployed a force to the Middle East, and obviously the Stennis will -- will join that force. And the focus of that is to be prepared to deal with any contingency that develops in the Middle East.
Q: How much of this has to do with the conflict between Israel and Iran? Is this a positioning effort?
SEC. PANETTA: It deals with a lot of threats in the Middle East right now. Obviously Iran is one of those threats that we have to -- we have to be able to focus on and make sure that we're prepared to deal with any threats that could emerge out of Iran.
Secondly, it is the turmoil in Syria, and we're obviously following that closely as well.
There also are tanker threats that come from Iran that threaten some of the tanker -- the oil traffic that goes through the straits, and that's another concern.
So there are a number of issues in that region. It is -- you know, we're gone through the Arab spring there. The results of that present both challenges and opportunities. And all of that is the reason we maintain the force that we have in the Middle East.
Q: (inaudible) -- two-carrier requirement that was going to end in September and now is definite or is there a new end date?
SEC. PANETTA: You know, we're looking at what we need in order to deal with the potential challenges that we face in the Middle East. I can't give you a time frame as to how long we'll have to maintain that -- that presence. But clearly maintaining two carriers in that region was important to us in order to have the ability to confront any contingency.
Q: Do you have any more details about the kind of assistance the military can provide to Jordan or Turkey in the case of Syrian refugees?
SEC. PANETTA: You know, dealing with Syria, obviously we've tried to focus on three areas of importance. One is to do what we can to assist on the humanitarian effort, and I think the president pointed out we've done about $81 million, $82 million.
But we're also working with Jordan and with Turkey to try to deal with the refugee flows and try to help them as best we can.
Secondly is the -- the whole threat of chemical and biological weapons. There are sites in Syria. We're concerned about the security of those sites. So we're continuing to monitor those sites and work with both Turkey, as well as Jordan and Israel to ensure that -- that none of those weapons fall into the wrong hands.
STAFF: Couple more here, guys.
SEC. PANETTA: And let me just mention, the third one is the -- is obviously working with the opposition to try to give them what assistance we can. Basically we're providing nonlethal assistance at this time, but we're working with other countries to try to give them what support they can get in order to try to confront the Syrian army.
Q: Is there any possibility for a no-fly zone in the region at this point?
SEC. PANETTA: Well, you know, we've developed contingency plans for all kinds of possibilities there. But as I -- as I said, that's not on the front burner right now.
Q: Sir, is the U.S. any closer to declaring whether or not the Haqqani Network is a terrorist organization?
SEC. PANETTA: That's -- that's a decision that the State Department has to make with regards to making a recommendation on that. And I think it's probably best one that is addressed to them.
Q: Mr. Secretary, you testified that you're having -- you've called for investigations into the system-wide review of PTSD diagnoses. Is that close to being completed, or when might we see results from that?
SEC. PANETTA: Well, obviously, it -- you know, the concern sprang out of a situation here at McChord that told us that there was some misdiagnoses that had taken place.
Actually as a result of that I've asked all of the services to review all of their diagnosis to see just exactly whether the same thing has occurred elsewhere, and that's -- that's ongoing right now.
Also, there is an ongoing investigation here as to what took place at McChord, making sure that -- that we do everything possible to find out what happened and try to make sure we're taking steps to avoid that happening in the future.
I sent, obviously, high level individuals from the Pentagon who have visited here to try to look at the situation. We've made some changes. I'm awaiting further recommendations as to what we can do to do everything possible to make sure that that kind of misdiagnosis doesn't take place.
STAFF: Last one. Anyone?
Q: (Inaudible) -- for this region. (Inaudible) -- Pacific Rim.
SEC. PANETTA: I would assume that Bremerton's going to stay busy for a long time to come as a result of having to focus and project our force into the Pacific. That's -- that's going to -- we're going to need the kind of shipyards and maintenance and backup that Bremerton provides.
STAFF: Thank you all very much.
SEC. PANETTA: Okay.
Prepared by Dept. of Defense.
Everybody seems to think that the Israelis have to use their F-15s, F-16s, etc. to attack Iran and take out their nukes.
They don’t.
If they feel the threat is real enough, and extreme enough, they have other means to do so in a pre-emptive strike, either from land, or from their own subs.
We are pushing Israel into just such a scenario by not only trying to stop them, but not helping them to make sure their planes can get through to do the job with our assistance.
We should pressure the Saudis, despite whatever they may say publically, to have a system “breakdown” to allow both Siraeli and our own strike packages access across their airspace. Or, failing that, we should provide the re-fueling to allow them to go around.
Our own Tonahawk missiles and stealth strike packages should take down the Iranian Air Defense and establish corridors...however many are necessay, to allow the ISraeli strikes to go in, and our fihggters...F-18Fs, F-15s, even F-22s (which would be their debut in combat) should provide air cover to take out any intruding Iranian aircraft.
otherwise, we will push Israel to safe themselves from annihilation, which the nut case in Iran is openly calling for, in any way they can.
I pray in Novemebr we have Romney and Ryan win and that they then issue very strict ultimatums to Iran, like Bush did to Saddam, and then follow that up with the necessary air attacks to get the job done. And we should focus on the Iranian CandC...all the way to the top...in the process.
Just my opinion and thoughts on the matter.
AMERICA AT THE CROSSROADS OF HISTORY
http://www.jeffhead.com/crossroads.htm
THE NECESSARRY US MILITARY BUILDUP AND RECONDITIONING AFTER 2012
http://www.jeffhead.com/buildup/
Trying to force Israel to re-play the USS Liberty?
Never in my lifetime has an election been as important as the one in November.
A majority though it was time and voted for Obama. We did not get the wise Black Man from TV’s “24.”
CVN
The CVA designation stopped being used in June of 1975.
———We should pressure the Saudis-——
We do not know what we do not know.
Saudi’s never tip their hand. The recent public acknowledgement of Saudi support of Syrian rebels is most unusual. They prefer to act behind the scenes in a low key manner.
We do not know the real position of the GCC with regard of imminent hostilities with Iran. We do not know their current involvement on the ground in Iran using American trained special operations forces. We just don’t know.
Republicans don't create policy based on who votes for us... 'paying back' voters for votes is a bribe of sorts. We support Israel because they're the only democracy in the region - our only friend in the region - and they've got the moral high ground. We don't back them based on how many Jewish votes we get in the United States.
There was also an anouncement last week by the Saudis that they would not permit Isaeli aircraft to cross their airspace to attack Iran.
Announced or not...we simply will need to ensure that there is a back channel “understanding” in this regard.
And that is something I know that can happen...and has happened in the past.
IMHO,
Netanyahu is a really smart guy. He knows that the only way he can whack Iran and get any help from the US is to make it look like BARRY DA MAN! YEA.
Barry WOULD (at least make it look like) support Israel if he thought it would get him re-elected. I believe this is Israel’s gamble. And the window of opportunity is small and getting smaller.
They can’t wait and hope that Mittens wins the election. If Mittens loses, then all hope of getting US support is gone forever.
Israel CANNOT take that gamble. Their whole existence depends on it.
But would Barry do ANYTHING for re-election? Now THAT’S a good hand to play.
I can see BeeHOe now: “Israel, you didn’t do that, I did!”
At this point, Netanyahu doesn’t really care if we are saddled with BeeHOe for 4 more years, in his opinion, he probably thinks the idiot voters here deserve it.
Letting BeeHOe take credit for wiping out Iran? oh hell, who cares as long as they are gone.
It looks like we may have a whole bunch of carriers already in or near the ME at this time. The Stennis may just miss the party.
No way we will be telling Israel to stand down.
With the convention starting in a few days, and a major storm impacting the southeast, things may just go pop in the next few days.
As usual, the laws of unintended consequences (or quite possibly, in the case, the INTENDED consequence) will be to keep the Israeli's from protecting themselves FROM Iranian nukes, allowing Iran to complete their announced intentions of acquiring nuclear weapons with which to "wipe Israel off the map."
Positioning the Stennis there will in effect, protect Iran's nuclear facilities from an Israeli attack.
Ahm-a-nut-job must be laughing his ass off!
Mark
Obama’s lies are fully justified. It says so in the Koran.
“voted into the history books” or voted into making a status change in the Presidency.
Countdowns in Tehran and Jerusalem
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2921878/posts
Israel is politically and militarily weak and they have no political will to fight a log protracted war which an attack on Iran will bring. They will sue for peace because that is there only viable option. The leaders of the Israeli cabinet and military intelligence have already come to this conclusion. The rest is just psyops to keep Iran guessing.
Good points. If need be, to win the election, Obama will do the absolute least he can to help Israel. He has no choice but to do something, if the time comes, if he wants to win. He’s anti-Israel ideologue, but he also loves the perks of office, which are akin to how a billionaire lives.
Only if the IDF uses aircraft. They have other means..
Israel has to strike before the US election.
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