Is Bush gearing up to bomb Iran on his way out of office?
 

According to DEBKAfile?s military sources, the US naval build-up off the shores of Iran marks rising military tensions in the region, accentuated by last week?s Hamas victory which has endowed Iran with a military foothold on Israel?s southwestern border.

The USS Enterprise CVN 65-Big E Strike Group will join the USS Stennis and the USS Nimitz carriers, building up the largest sea, air, marine concentration the United States has ever deployed opposite Iran. This goes towards making good on the assurances of four carriers US Vice President Dick Cheney offered the Gulf and Middle East nations during his May tour of the region.

The ?Big E? leads a strike group consisting of the guided-missile destroyers USS Arleigh Burke DDG 51, USS Stout DDG 55, Forrest Sherman DDG 98 and USS James E. Williams DDG 95, as well as the guided missile cruiser USS Gettysburg CG 64, the SS Philadelphia SSN 690 nuclear submarine and the USNS Supply T-AOE 6>

On its decks are the Carrier Air Wing CVW 1, whose pilots fought combat missions in the Gulf and Arabian Sea during 2006. The Air Wing is made up of F/Q-18 Super Hornet strike craft, the Sidewinders Strike Fighter Squadron VFA-86, the 251st Marine Fighter Attack Squadron MFA, and the Electronic Attack Squadron VAQ 137.

The 32nd Sea Control Squadron VS consists of S-3B Vikings. The Airborne Early Warning Squadron VAQ 3 flies E-2C Hawkeye craft. The Fleet Logistics Support Squadron VRC is based on C-2A Greyhounds.

DEBKAfile?s military sources report Washington is considering deploying the fourth US carrier for the region in the Red Sea opposite Saudi Arabian western coast to secure the three US carriers in the Gulf from the rear as well as the Gulf of Aqaba and Suez Canal.

I really gotta subscribe to Janes. Hard to keep up with everything from varied sources.

I see Israel nuking Iran, not the US. They've been given reason, and in a lot of peoples eyes the justification too. The US may supply some technology for it to get the nukes burying deep into the ground but I think theyre sensitive to the negative PR that comes with lighting of a nuke. Probably have their liasons in the control room when the buttons get pushed though. But we're not talking cities getting nuked. Just nuclear facilities and area.

LoL hope you know it's over 1k for a online subscription. I also wouldn't put Janes on the list of "neutral" sources. They might be a military news site, but if you read their sponsor list, it's pretty much the who's who of the Industrial Military Complex in the US.

While they have some interesting articles I'd have to take a wild guess that it's pretty much one sided POV. That side being what is good for US defense contractors.

big deal :)

another " liberation " ....????

" Operation Iran Freedom " .... :1orglaugh:1orglaugh

Can even recycle old signs by replacing the "q" by an " n " ....