Posted on 01/11/2012 5:25:15 PM PST by Sub-Driver
U.S. military moves carriers, denies Iran link 5:28pm EST
By Phil Stewart
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. military said on Wednesday that a new aircraft carrier strike group had arrived in the Arabian Sea and that another was on its way to the region, but denied any link to recent tensions with Iran and portrayed the movements as routine.
The shift in the powerful U.S. naval assets comes at a moment of heightened tensions with Iran, which has threatened to close the Strait of Hormuz - the world's most important oil shipping lane - if U.S. and EU sanctions over its nuclear program cut off its oil exports.
The U.S. military has said it will halt any blockade of the strategic strait and the top U.S. naval officer acknowledged on Tuesday that preparing for a potential conflict there was something that "keeps me awake at night."
Still, the Pentagon denied any direct link between recent tensions and the movement of aircraft carriers.
"I don't want to leave anybody with the impression that we're somehow (speeding) two carriers over there because we're concerned about what happened, you know, today in Iran. It's just not the case," said Captain John Kirby, a Pentagon spokesman.
Military officials said the USS Carl Vinson arrived in the Arabian Sea on Monday to replace the outgoing USS John C. Stennis carrier strike group, which Iran last week warned not to return to the Gulf after departing in late December.
The Stennis was due to return to its home port in San Diego but the Pentagon did not say when that would happen.
(Excerpt) Read more at reuters.com ...
And what is below the surface............?
the Good Humor man! in a sub!
By the way, is Obama Shia or Sunni? It might matter.
It looks like the kind of sub a country like the Grand Duchy of Fenwick would have. :-))
too early for an “October surprise”
However, given der leader’s disdain for the Constitution, one can only guess whether or not he would seek any judgment from Congress before he acts, though one is inclined to believe that an offensive action by Iran many NOT precede ours.
We will see the mass hypocrisy of the Dims and the Europeans when he does not seek a UN resolution either.
A small diesel boat on batteries is very hard to find; Especially in shallow water.
What bothers me more is small zodiac-type boats with IED’s in swarms attacking at night or during rain storm.
They only have to get lucky once.
The USA should vaporize the runt’s plane on the way back to iran from South America, as a warning.
http://www.neptunuslex.com/2012/01/11/2-0/
“Vinson replaces Stennis, and Lincoln – another PACFLEET carrier – is on its way west through the Indian Ocean. Vinson deployed in November of last year, and Lincoln – which deployed for a round-the-world cruise in December of 2011 in order to make a scheduled overhaul in Newport News, VA this August. A peacetime, rotational presence, no doubt. Fortunate happenstance. Luck o’ the draw.
Still, that’s an awful lot of firepower.
And Stennis isn’t home yet.”
Oh, look what someone built in their garage! How cute!
Given his bow to the Saudi Sheik, I’d guess Sunni.
Those mid-Atlantic ITCZ thunderstorms can be nasty.
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Several times over the last four years the USA has concentrated assets within range of Iran amid speculation that “this” time we are going to do the deed and each time those assets slowly filtered away with no deed performed. We marched up the hill then we marched back down again.
I believe he is Sunni. That would make an attack on Iran proper for him as Iran is the Shia power with designs to establish a World Caliphate. An attack next summer would be just right to ensure his re-election and would neutralize his Shia rivals at the same time.
Several nations have experimented with painting their subs blue (Israel, UK - for a long time the Italians used two tone black and white), so if it helps to hide it, why not green?
Why couldn’t we have had an American president, not some alien zebra whose adolescent ties left him a total alien to American culture?
His roots are deeply embedded in a culture totally contrary to ours!
You have to have the balls to blast them before they get too close. I'm not sure this administration has them.
“The USA should vaporize the runt’s plane on the way back to iran from South America, as a warning.”
Ask Admiral Yamamoto about that....I’ve long not understood why we haven’t used F117s and B2s to send a few 2000lb JDAMs through the bedroom windows of the mullahs and Imadinnerjacket. Worked with Khadaffy Duck, after all.....
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