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A US warship, which was deployed off Lebanon in February amid concern over Beirut's political crisis, crossed Egypt's Suez Canal on Sunday on its way to the Mediterranean, an official with the canal authority told AFP. “The USS Cole has crossed the Suez Canal and is headed to the Mediterranean,” the official said, adding he did not know its exact destination. The United States sent the guided-missile destroyer to waters off the coast of Lebanon on February 28, in what US officials said was “a show of support for regional stability” amid concerns over Lebanon's protracted political crisis. US Secretary...

WASHINGTON, March 26, 2008 – U.S. 5th Fleet officials today expressed regret for the death of an Egyptian citizen who died the night of March 24, an apparent result of warning shots fired at a small boat approaching a ship chartered by the U.S. Navy. “We express our deepest sympathies to the family of the deceased,” Vice Adm. Kevin J. Cosgriff, 5th Fleet commander. “We are greatly saddened by events that apparently resulted in this accidental death. This situation is tragic, and we will do our utmost to help take care of the family of the deceased.” The U.S. Navy’s...

WASHINGTON, March 25, 2008 – A ship on short-term charter to the U.S. Navy's Military Sealift Command fired warning shots at a small boat approaching the ship as it was preparing to transit the Suez Canal last night, military officials reported. There were no reports of casualties from the ship, the Global Patriot. Officials said several boats approached the Global Patriot while it was preparing to transit the Suez Canal. The boats were hailed and warned by a native Arabic speaker on the Global Patriot to advise them to turn away. Other warning steps, including a signal flare, were used...

Excerpt - The US embassy in Cairo on Tuesday denied reports that a US Navy chartered ship opened fire on Egyptians near the Suez Canal and killed one person, insisting no one was hurt. The Global Patriot "fired warning shots at a small boat approaching the ship as it was preparing to transit the Suez Canal Monday evening," an embassy statement said. "Initial reports from the Global Patriot indicate that no casualties were sustained on either vessel." US warships in the Middle East have previously been harassed or attacked by small boats. ~ snip ~

ONE Egyptian was killed and two wounded when a US military ship about to cross the Suez Canal opened fire on barges of hawkers that approached their boat today, a security source said.

One Egyptian was killed and two wounded when a US military ship about to cross the Suez Canal opened fire on barges of hawkers that approached their boat on Monday, a security source told AFP. The ship, Global Patriot, was preparing to travel from the Red Sea to the Mediterranean when a group of Egyptians seeking to sell merchandise approached the boat on small barges, the source said. Americans on board told the barges to stop and opened fire when they continued to approach.

An American nuclear submarine has crossed the Suez Canal to join the US fleet stationed in the Persian Gulf, Egyptian sources say. Egyptian officials reported that the nuclear submarine crossed the canal along with a destroyer on Friday and Egyptian forces were put on high alert when the navy convoy was passing through the canal. An American destroyer recently left the Persian Gulf, heading towards the Mediterranean Sea; earlier Thursday, a US Navy rescue ship crossed the canal to enter the Red Sea. The deployment comes as recent reports allege that US Vice President Dick Cheney is seeking to rally...

British Foreign Secretary Selwyn Lloyd speculated that some of his fellow Conservatives would hand him a bowler hat and maybe an umbrella because of his conciliatory tone towards the Egyptians at the U.N. Security Council. But regardless of the impression of a peaceful resolution of the Suez issue in the offing, the push for a plan of action was underway. France wanted a quick meeting to finalize details and timetables for the military operations involving the Anglo-French forces as well as the Israelis. The French were totally committed to action although it concerned them that British generals held all the...

On October 5th, 1956 the top songs in the country included both sides of Elvis Presley's RCA 45rpm record ("Hound Dog" and "Don't Be Cruel") as well as Doris Day's "Que Sera Sera." The Brooklyn Dodgers hosted the New York Yankees for Game 2 of the World Series at Ebbets Field. And a jury in Boston convicted the Brinks robbery suspects. This same day the United Nations Security Council met in New York to consider the Suez Canal matter. The long list of diplomats included Selwyn Lloyd, British Foreign Secretary, the French Foreign Minister Christian Pineau and America's Secretary of...

Israeli Chief of Staff Moshe Dayan arrived in Paris on September 29th, 1956. Four staff officers joined him and would remain in France to plan the pre-emptive attack on Egypt. British Prime Minister Anthony Eden wanted the French to get assurances from Israel that they would not attack Jordan. He was worried that a Nasser-like coup might occur and about pro-Nasser forces winning an upcoming election. Another member of the Israeli delegation, defense official Shimon Peres told the French there would be no attack but strong reprisal raids for the terror attacks coming across the Israeli border from Jordan. A...

Secretary of State John Foster Dulles was firmly committed to stopping Britain and France from going to war over the Suez Canal. Dulles himself started the cycle of events by cutting off a loan to Egypt for the Aswan Dam. The cutoff occurred because of increasingly close relationship Egypt had with the Soviets. Dulles knew Egypt would probably take the canal from the Anglo-French Suez Canal Company but figured a possible shutdown of the canal would not stop oil from reaching the United States or Europe because tankers could use alternate routes. United States foreign policy featured a lot of...

USS IWO JIMA , At Sea (NNS) -- USS Iwo Jima (LHD 7) and USS Nashville (LPD 13), both assigned to the Iwo Jima Expeditionary Strike Group (ESG), successfully and safely transited the Suez Canal, Aug. 20. As part of Commander, Task Force 59, both ships, and Marines assigned to the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit (Special Operations Capable) (MEU(SOC)) provided crucial departure assistance to American citizens in Lebanon looking to leave the troubled region. USS Cole (DDG 67) and USS Whidbey Island (LSD 41) remained on station off Lebanon, ready to provide additional assistance as needed. “Every Sailor and Marine...

Anthony Eden held an emergency cabinet meeting at 10 Downing Street into the early morning hours of July 27th, 1956. Eden told the American diplomatic representative at the meeting that "The Egyptian has his thumb on my windpipe. Tell Mr. Dulles I cannot allow that." Eden had promised that his deals with Nasser would make the Egyptian ruler more friendly. Seizure of the Anglo-French owned canal proved that promise wrong. He spoke that night by phone with the French Foreign Minister Pineau. The French were eager to work with their newfound friends in Israel to launch military action against Nasser...

Fifty years ago this past week, on July 26, 1956, the Egyptian dictator Gamal Abdel Nasser nationalized the Suez Canal. Nasser's act would lead to an international crisis, a regional war and ultimately to the resignation of a British prime minister. "Suez" would become a lesson and a warning against Western meddling in the Middle East. But the lessons and warnings of Suez look very different after 9/11. In 1956, the Suez Canal was owned by the British government and a consortium of British and French private investors. Two-thirds of Europe's oil traveled through the canal, protected by British troops....

The Suez Canal crisis began with an American-led decision to deal with Soviet influence in Egypt. John Foster Dulles was part of "power family" in 1950's Washington. He was Secretary of State and his brother Allen was Director of the Central Intelligence Agency. Foster Dulles has been historically reviled for his profession of Christianity and his opposition to Communism. He was also attacked for his "brinksmanship" policy of using diplomatic pressure to deal with America's enemies as part of the official "containment" policy. I can't honestly comment on Dulles's Christianity but his verbal anti-Communism was real enough. However, it always...

"The sun never sets on the British Empire" was a cliche that rang true 100 years ago, but as the 20th Century unfolded Britain's power and influence declined. By 1945 an emotionally and economically drained nation picked up the pieces after World War II by electing the Labor Party to power. This was the first time that the Labor Party exercised real power and ruled on the basis of its socialist ideals. In foreign affairs, the Labor Party led the way in the process of decolonizing and getting Britain out of places where British rule was violently opposed like India...

The Arab nations vowed to "drive the Jews into the sea" when the United Nations partition plan for Palestine came into force in May 1948. But the new nation of Israel survived the onslaught with arms smuggled in from all kinds of places including Eastern Europe (Czech arms). Communists apparently saw some hope in Israel's Socialist founders. However, the Soviet's were able to spread Communist influence into Israel's Arab neighbors with ease by the middle of the 1950's with Syria and most notably Egypt. The flow of Soviet arms provided a sobering picture to Israel's leader David Ben Gurion. Israeli...

For many people including humanists who worhsipped France as a "modern secular state", the sudden fall of that nation to the Nazis came as a shock. When the German blitzkrieg took out France in little more than a month, many asked why. Treason from the Right was a common theme from liberals. France's conservative government was unwilling to fight Nazis as much as Communists and put many of them in jail when the war began in 1939. Historian-Journalist William L. Shirer also took note that the Left was unwilling to fight too because they were sympathetic to the Soviets, then...

History marks many anniversaries but this year marks the 50th Anniversary of events that showed how impotent the free world at that time was in the face of Communist expansion. It took the West time to regain moral and political strength to take on the relatively easy job of standing ground and seeing the Communist "Evil Empire" led by the Soviet Union collapse in Europe. Fortunately that happened in the 1980's. But in the 1950's the "Cold War" was in full swing. "Cold War" I guess because that the name the liberal elites in media, education, politics etc. have given...

ISMAILIYA, Egypt (AFP) - A Liberian-flagged tanker lost 3,000 tons of heavy fuel in the Suez Canal after a collision with a quay caused a leak, an official at the canal authority told AFP. The Grigoroussa 1 which was headed south from the Mediterranean suffered a technical failure and drifted before hitting a quay on the canal's western bank, the source said on condition of anonymity. Approximately 3,000 of the 58,000 tons of heavy fuel the tanker was carrying toward the Red Sea leaked into canal waters. Tug boats pulled the tanker in order not to block traffic while an...

Cargo ship blocks all traffic in the Suez Canal A 93,000-ton cargo ship blocked the Suez Canal on Wednesday, stopping all transit of the waterway between the Mediterranean and the Red Sea, a Suez Canal Authority official said. The Hong Kong-flagged ship drifted at right angles to the canal while passing through the waterway near Ismailiya, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. The incident happened at about 11 a.m. local time, the official said. (AP) (02.08.06, 14:48)

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Egypt has closed the Suez Canal as severe storms continue to wreak havoc in the eastern Mediterranean. All traffic through the key shipping route linking the Mediterranean and the Red Sea was suspended early on Friday because of high winds and strong waves. Airports and roads elsewhere in Egypt were also closed because of sandstorms which reduced visibility to zero. The Turkish authorities have closed the Bosphorus and Dardanelles straits, leaving dozens of vessels stranded. Thousands of Turkish motorists were trapped in their cars as the second day of gales and snow storms shut roads around the country. In the...

Israel will build a railway between Ashdod and Eilat, allowing ships that dock at the Red Sea port to transfer goods to the ports of Ashdod and Haifa and from there to Europe via the Mediterranean Sea, in an attempt to compete with the Suez Canal, Finance Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said Sunday. Speaking to investors at the fifth Go4Europe business conference at Tel Aviv's Hilton Hotel, organized by investment bank Cukierman & Co., Netanyahu said that big ships arriving from the Far East are now forced to transfer their goods by land to an Egyptian port on the Mediterranean from...

Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmad Maher was quoted as saying on Wednesday that press reports over Israel's plans to build a canal linking the Aqaba Bay with the Mediterranean as an alternative to the Suez Canal were a mere "illusion." Maher told the Syrian daily Tishreen "We've heard this many many times and it's a mere illusion." He stressed that the Suez Canal "has and will always be historic and serves the world economy." "If some do not like this ... that's their business, but I affirm that the (Suez) Canal is bigger than being played down by anyone," Maher said....