[US Naval Central Command]-War will be 'Breathtaking'

Channel 24 ^ | South African Press Agency staff

[ewing]

A war against Iraq would be unlike anything that has come before it the Commander of the Uunited States Naval Forces in the Persian Gulf said on Wednesday.

'The campaign will be unlike any we have ever seen in the history of warfare, with breathtaking precision, almost eye watering speed, persistence, agility and lethality, Vice Admiral Timothy Keating told reporters aboard the USS Kitty Hawk.

Keating said naval aviation 'will play a huge role' in the military campaign, which has been a year in the making.

He did not say how long the war would last.

Commander of the both the United States Navy's Central Command and the Fifth Fleet, based in Bahrain, Keating is in charge of more than 70 United States warships massed in the region

[ewing]

Show me now, please. Tally ho!

[Chad Fairbanks]

He got the 'eye-watering' part correct, but 'Breath-taking'? This guy has obviously never worn NBC Gear... ;0)

[Frank_Discussion]

Sounds like we'll be needing to keep missile and JDAM production at 110 percent for a while!

[Oldeconomybuyer]

Wed Mar 19, 9:34 AM ET

The USS Harry S. Truman aircraft carrier cruises in eastern Mediterranean Sea Wednesday, March 19, 2003.

[hawaiian]

I'm psyched, BUT anything short of this is going to be deemed a colossal failure by the media. Why are we raising expectations!?

[Admin Moderator]

Please read this message from Jim, posted last night. Thanks

Announcement Regarding the Breaking News Posting Category

[SauronOfMordor]

US Military: take LOTS of video footage. Sell tapes and DVDs. It will pay for LOTS of new JDAMs

[ewing]

Nah, the 45 day chem suits are already opened...

[ewing]

I think this was more of a 'pre game' pep talk to the boys...

[Fury]

These adjectives are getting so tiring on how the war will be. "Shock and awe", "eye-watering", "breathtaking", etc. War is a sobering experience and the media and others are treating it like a big sporting event. Geesh...

[PISANO]

EF.........the media. IT will be obvious to US if the mission is successful or a failure. The leftists ALWAYS find something to bitch about or criticize. Like I said ......EFF em.

[jjm2111]

"These adjectives are getting so tiring on how the war will be. "Shock and awe", "eye-watering", "breathtaking", etc. War is a sobering experience and the media and others are treating it like a big sporting event. Geesh..."

My thoughts, exactly. War blows. It might be necessary, it might be the right thing to do, but it still blows.

[ewing]

Its a nautral human emotion (adreline rush) that is quickly tempered, I agree with the sentiment of 'the big game' aura but it will wear off fast.

[ewing]

And new recruits...

[EaglesUpForever]

I agree. But not only should they have a more sober perspective on the fact that this is war (and no matter how technically amazing it is waged, it inevitably includes tragedy and grave danger - war is not a video game), they should also not be raising peoples' expectations like this.

For many things could go wrong. For example, even if the war produces amazing "shock and awe" and minimum US/civilian casualty, if it is simultaneous with a terrorist attack against the US, the overall experience will be one of tragedy, not joy. A single American life lost would make this a very sad occasion, in my book, regardless of pyrotechnics.

[ewing]

I think the Vice Admiral was talking in abstract about the technology rearding the 'breathtaking quote'

[NYer]

Earlier this year, a Global Hawk — named Southern Crossing II after the first aircraft to fly nonstop across the Pacific Ocean — flew from its home at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., to a Royal Australian Air Force Base in Edinburgh, Australia. The flight took 23 hours, and the 7,500-mile mission was the first trans-Pacific flight by an unmanned aircraft.

[ewing]

Cool, I know the guys from Whiteman were flying 50 hours at a time in Afghanistan..

[chilepepper]

The chemical weapons Soddom uses will provide the "breath-taking" component of his statement if you're NOT wearing an NBC suit!

[gcruse]

Here's hoping Awe and Shock don't meet Oh, Shit.