Showdown Looms in Persian Gulf as US Sends 2nd Aircraft Carrier

[thedrifter]

Showdown Looms in Persian Gulf as US Sends 2nd Aircraft Carrier
Tuesday, January 16, 2007 / 26 Tevet 5767

Is the United States gearing up for an attack on Iran?

The deployment of a second U.S. aircraft carrier to the Persian Gulf has analysts speculating that President Bush means to stop Tehran's nuclear ambitions by force if necessary.

The USS John C. Stennis was scheduled to sail Tuesday from its homeport of
Bremerton, Washington. When the second carrrier arrives in the Middle East next month, this will be the first time since the U.S.-led Iraq invasion in 2003 that the United States will have two carrier battle groups in the region, according to a U.S. Navy official.

The increase in U.S. forces is a show of strength by Washington in the face of Iran's growing regional assertiveness and a perception among U.S. adversaries that the United States is vulnerable in Iraq, U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Monday.

The Stennis is a Nimitz-class carrier, with approximately 3,200 sailors. It will stop off in San Diego to pick an air wing of more than 80 planes, including F/A-18 Hornet and Superhornet fighter-bombers.

After a monthlong voyage across the Pacific and Indian oceans, the Stennis will join the aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower, which is already tasked to the U.S. Navy's Fifth Fleet, based in the Gulf sheikhdom of Bahrain, said Cmdr. Kevin Aandahl of the Fifth Fleet.

Once in Middle East waters, the second aircraft carrier will significantly boost U.S. air power in the region and serve as a reminder of U.S. firepower to Iran.

"This demonstrates our resolve to do what we can to bring security and stability to the region," Aandahl said. "That's obviously to dissuade others from acting counter to our national interest."

Washington will maintain two carriers in the Middle East "as long as the
situation demands it," Aandahl said. A typical carrier deployment lasts six months.

In a related matter, the U.S. recently deployed a Patriot air defense missile battalion in the Middle East.

As well, at least 16 US F-16 fighter aircraft arrived January 12 in Turkey's strategic Incirlink air base for the first time in three years. According to local Cihan News Agency, the F-16s were accompanied by an early warning system AWACS airplane and tanker airplanes from an American base in Germany. An official at the US embassy in Ankara said the planes had arrived for joint exercises with the Turkish military.

On Thursday, US forces in Iraq detained five suspected members of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards operating out of the northern Iraq town of Irbil in Kurdistan.

Ellie

[thedrifter]

U.S. bringing second carrier to Mideast for first time since Iraq invasion

By: JIM KRANE - Associated Press

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates -- The deployment of the USS John C. Stennis to the Middle East will put two U.S. aircraft carriers in the Persian Gulf region for the first time since the 2003 Iraq invasion, in a clear response to Iran's aggressive posture in the region.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Monday that Iran and other U.S. adversaries believe the U.S. is vulnerable in Iraq, where the Pentagon is preparing to send more than 20,000 additional troops as part of a new security plan that envisions a crackdown on Iranian-backed militias.

Some analysts believe that a U.S. offensive against those militias could trigger retaliatory attacks elsewhere in the region, although the Navy described the deployment in broader strategic terms.

"This demonstrates our resolve to do what we can to bring security and stability to the region," Cmdr. Kevin Aandahl of the U.S. Navy's Fifth Fleet in Bahrain said Tuesday.

Aandahl said the Stennis carrier strike group of eight ships and nine air squadrons would arrive in Mideast waters in a matter of weeks, after crossing the Pacific and Indian oceans.

U.S. diplomats, including Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, have been touring the region to shore up American credibility. The United States' Arab allies are dismayed over the chaos in Iraq, while a resurgent Iran -- the Arab world's centuries-old rival -- is supporting militants across the region.

"Rice is promising the U.S. will stand firm against Iran. But without a show of force, without backing these words with muscle, no one will take the U.S. seriously, whether in Tehran or any Arab capital," said Mustafa Alani, a military analyst with the Dubai-based Gulf Research Center. "Now is the time. They have to stand or shut up."

The Stennis strike group, which was previously in line to deploy to the Pacific, will augment another Navy task force in Mideast waters led by the aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower, Aandahl said.

A second U.S. carrier will significantly boost U.S. air power in the region and serve to remind Iran of American firepower. Its arrival will give the Pentagon two carriers in the region for the first time since 2003, Aandahl said.

After departing Tuesday from its homeport of Bremerton, Wash., the Stennis will stop in San Diego to pick up an air wing of more than 80 planes, including F/A-18 Hornet and Superhornet fighter-bombers, the Navy said.

The Stennis could also shore up air cover for U.S. and NATO ground troops in Afghanistan, now relying on about 20 ground-based warplanes after the Eisenhower was sent to the Somali coast.

Britain sent two Royal Navy mine sweepers to the Gulf last month. The Pentagon said it is also sending an additional Patriot anti-missile battalion to a U.S. allied Gulf Arab country, as well as 21,500 more U.S. troops to Iraq.

In Brussels on Monday, Gates indicated that Iran's perception of U.S. vulnerability in the region was part of the reason the Pentagon needs to dispatch the Stennis and the Patriot missiles.

"The Iranians clearly believe that we are tied down in Iraq, that they have the initiative, that they are able to press us in many ways," Gates said.

Patriots defend against short-range missiles of the type that Iran could use to hit U.S. bases in the Gulf. The Pentagon has not said exactly where the Patriots will be based.

The escalating American combat power doesn't mean Washington is bent on a showdown with Tehran, Alani said. But the Pentagon may be preparing for tough U.S. action against Iranian-backed militias in Iraq, and the retaliation by Iran that could follow.

"They're not trying to pick a fight" with Iran, Alani said. "But if Iran makes any mistakes, the U.S. will deal with them."

Iran has denounced the Patriot deployment as part of U.S. plan to turn Arab countries into the front line of defense for Israel.

In December, Tehran's top national security official, Ali Larijani, asked Arab leaders to shut down U.S. military bases in the Gulf and instead join a security alliance with Iran. Gulf leaders have shown no inclination to give up their U.S. security umbrella.

The Stennis and its 3,200 sailors lead a strike group consisting of the guided-missile cruiser USS Antietam, three Navy destroyers -- the USS O'Kane, Preble and Paul Hamilton -- the submarine USS Key West, the guided-missile frigate USS Rentz, as well as the supply ship USNS Bridge, the Navy said.

Washington will keep two carriers in the Middle East "as long as the situation demands it," Aandahl said. A typical carrier deployment lasts six months.

The United States maintains nearly 40,000 troops in Gulf countries other than Iraq, including about 25,000 in Kuwait, 6,500 in Qatar, 3,000 in Bahrain, 1,300 in the United Arab Emirates and a few hundred in Oman and Saudi Arabia, according to figures from the Dubai-based Gulf Research Center.

On the Net:

USS Stennis: www.cvn74.navy.mil

Ellie