-Caveat Lector-
Begin forwarded message:
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Date: July 11, 2007 2:12:36 PM PDT
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: Strike Forces in Gulf in Holding Pattern
US May Cut Navy Presence in Persian Gulf
By PAULINE JELINEK
The Associated Press, July 10, 2007; 4:20 PM
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/10/
AR2007071001224.html
WASHINGTON -- After a much-publicized military buildup in the
Persian Gulf, the United States is now planning to have only one
aircraft carrier in the region for part of this year.
In what officials have said was partly muscle-flexing toward Iran,
the Navy has maintained two aircraft carrier battle groups in area
since early this year and twice held major exercises in the Gulf.
But the force could be reduced to one carrier in the coming weeks
unless one now there is ordered to stay beyond its planned
homecoming or another is rescheduled to go there early, three
defense officials said Tuesday.
They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not allowed
to speak on the subject for the record. The military tries to say
as little as possible about ship movements for security reasons.
Ships currently in the region are the USS John C. Stennis and USS
Nimitz, and both are expected to leave soon. The nuclear-powered
aircraft carrier USS Enterprise left Naval Station Norfolk in
Virginia over the weekend to head to the area and will replace one
of the carriers, the U.S. 5th Fleet announced Tuesday.
As plans stand now, the Enterprise would be alone in the region for
roughly three months because the USS Harry S. Truman isn't
scheduled to deploy until the fall, two officials said.
The Pentagon could decide to change the scheduling-- keeping the
Nimitz in the region longer or sending the Truman there early, one
official said.
Officials declined to comment on whether the expected reduction in
carriers in the region was a matter of scheduling or funding. They
also pointed out that the norm is for one carrier to be deployed
there.
The 5th Fleet said the Enterprise carrier group is fully capable of
performing any mission.
"Enterprise Carrier Strike Group provides us with the right assets
at the right time," Vice Adm. Kevin Cosgriff, commander of Naval
forces for the region, said in a statement from 5th Fleet. Its area
includes about 2.5 million square miles of water, the Arabian Gulf,
Arabian Sea, Red Sea, Gulf of Aden, Gulf of Oman and parts of the
Indian Ocean.
"Enterprise presence provides Navy power to counter the assertive,
disruptive and coercive behavior of some countries, as well as
support our soldiers and Marines in Iraq and Afghanistan," Cosgriff
said.
Bush administration officials have said the U.S. buildup in the
Gulf was intended to impress on Iran that the four-year war in Iraq
has not made America vulnerable and to assure allies of the U.S.
commitment to the region.
Iran has been in a standoff with the West over its nuclear program
and U.S. allegations that Tehran is involved in supplying weapons
that insurgents use in neighboring Iraq to kill Americans and Iraqis.
In late March, with the two carrier groups assembled in the same
place, the Americans held maneuvers with 15 warships and more than
100 aircraft in the Gulf. While they would not say when the war
games were planned, U.S. commanders insisted they were not a direct
response to the seizure days earlier of 15 British sailors and
marines by Iranian naval forces.
Also, in late May, ships packed with 17,000 sailors and Marines
moved into the Persian Gulf as the U.S. Navy staged another show of
force off Iran's coast just days before U.S.-Iran talks in Baghdad.
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