There’s been a lot of speculation about an Iran invasion in the past couple of months (actually years, too). A couple of nights ago, former Soviet Union leader, Mikhail Gorbachev, was interviewed on the Charlie Rose show. During the interview, Gorbachev asked Charlie Rose if he had heard that several carrier groups had been deployed to Iran. Charlie Rose was stunned and had not heard the news, but the internet, newspapers, & talk radio stations have been abuzz with the story and rumors of what the deployment could possibly indicate. For a long time now, congressman, media pundits, and former military, defence, & intelligence people have been sabre-rattling and talking about whether Iran is next.
Is it all hype, or is there some truth to it? Are the Iwo Jima Expeditionary Strike Group, Enterprise Strike Group, & Eisenhower Carrier Strike group on a routine deployment or does it have something to do with Iran? Of course, I don't know the answer in the great chess game of military deployment.
However, just in case this isn't 'routine,' our thoughts and prayers go out to the servicemen & servicewomen, families, and civilians.
* October Surprise as defined by wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/October_surprise
* Could an "October surprise" shape the midterm election?
By John Whitesides, Political Correspondent Tue Oct 17, 5:59 PM ET http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20061017...s_surprise_dc_5
"It should come as no surprise if the Bush administration undertakes a pre-emptive war against Iran sometime before the November election," Gary Hart, a former Democratic senator and presidential candidate, predicted last month on the Huffington Post, an Internet site.”
* Iran War Looms as Eisenhower Carrier Force Deploys
by Dave Lindorff October 9, 2006 at 13:28:56 http://www.opednews.com/articles/ge...looms_as_ei.htm http://www.thiscantbehappening.net/
“The nuclear-powered aircraft carrier Eisenhower and its accompanying strike force of cruiser, destroyer and attack submarine slipped their moorings and headed off for the Persian Gulf region on Oct. 3, as I had predicted in a piece in The Nation magazine a few weeks back.
The Eisenhower strike force, according to my sources, is scheduled to arrive in the vicinity of Iran around October 21, at the same time as a second flotilla of minesweepers and other ships. This build-up of naval power around the coast of Iran, according to some military sources, is in preparation for an air attack on Iran that would target not just Iran's nuclear enrichment facilities, but its entire military command and control system.”
* Eisenhower Carrier Strike Group Deploys
Story Number: NNS061003-32 Release Date: 10/3/2006 4:04:00 PM http://www.news.navy.mil/search/dis...?story_id=25883
Commanded by Rear Adm. Allen G. Myers, commander, Carrier Strike Group (CCSG) 8, IKE CSG includes the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier Dwight D. Eisenhower, with its embarked air wing, Carrier Air Wing (CVW) 7, and embarked Destroyer Squadron (DESRON) 28; the guided-missile cruiser USS Anzio (CG 68); guided-missile destroyers USS Ramage (DDG 61) and USS Mason (DDG 87); and the fast-attack submarine USS Newport News (SSN 750), all homeported in Norfolk, Va.
* The American Iwo Jima Expeditionary Strike Group joins US build-up opposite Iran
October 20, 2006, 12:37 PM (GMT+02:00)
http://www.debka.com/headline.php?hid=3401
Tuesday, Oct. 17, the Iwo Jima Expeditionary Strike Group steamed into the Persian Gulf to join the US naval, air and marine concentration piling up opposite Iran’s shores. It consists of the amphibious transport dock USS Nashville, the guided-missile destroyers USS Cole and USS Bulkeley, the guided-missile cruiser USS Philippine Sea, the attack submarine USS Albuquerque, and the dock landing ship USS Whidbey Island.
The Iwo Jima group is now cruising 60 km from Kuwait off Iran’s coast. As DEBKAfile and DEBKA-Net-Weekly reported exclusively two weeks ago, three US naval task forces will be in place opposite Iran in the Persian Gulf and Arabian Sea by October 21. The other two are the USS Eisenhower Carrier Strike Group and the USS Enterprise Strike Group.
* IRAN: U.S. MULLING MILITARY STRIKE, EXPERTS SAY http://www.adnki.com/index_2Level_E...648122&par=
With North Korea threatening more nuclear weapons tests, officials in Washington have placed the option of a military attack back on the table as they consider ways to prevent Iran from developing atomic weapons, experts say. Until recently, analysts agreed it was very unlikely that the United States - which is spending over 4.5 billion dollars a month on the conflict in Iraq - would take unilateral action to strike nuclear facilities in Iran, opening another front in the Middle East.
* Wash. Times editorial, Limbaugh repeated Drudge's false claim that IAEA's ElBaradei said Iran only a "few months" from nuclear weapons: http://mediamatters.org/items/200512090008
Is it all hype, or is there some truth to it? Are the Iwo Jima Expeditionary Strike Group, Enterprise Strike Group, & Eisenhower Carrier Strike group on a routine deployment or does it have something to do with Iran? Of course, I don't know the answer in the great chess game of military deployment.
However, just in case this isn't 'routine,' our thoughts and prayers go out to the servicemen & servicewomen, families, and civilians.
* October Surprise as defined by wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/October_surprise
* Could an "October surprise" shape the midterm election?
By John Whitesides, Political Correspondent Tue Oct 17, 5:59 PM ET http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20061017...s_surprise_dc_5
"It should come as no surprise if the Bush administration undertakes a pre-emptive war against Iran sometime before the November election," Gary Hart, a former Democratic senator and presidential candidate, predicted last month on the Huffington Post, an Internet site.”
* Iran War Looms as Eisenhower Carrier Force Deploys
by Dave Lindorff October 9, 2006 at 13:28:56 http://www.opednews.com/articles/ge...looms_as_ei.htm http://www.thiscantbehappening.net/
“The nuclear-powered aircraft carrier Eisenhower and its accompanying strike force of cruiser, destroyer and attack submarine slipped their moorings and headed off for the Persian Gulf region on Oct. 3, as I had predicted in a piece in The Nation magazine a few weeks back.
The Eisenhower strike force, according to my sources, is scheduled to arrive in the vicinity of Iran around October 21, at the same time as a second flotilla of minesweepers and other ships. This build-up of naval power around the coast of Iran, according to some military sources, is in preparation for an air attack on Iran that would target not just Iran's nuclear enrichment facilities, but its entire military command and control system.”
* Eisenhower Carrier Strike Group Deploys
Story Number: NNS061003-32 Release Date: 10/3/2006 4:04:00 PM http://www.news.navy.mil/search/dis...?story_id=25883
Commanded by Rear Adm. Allen G. Myers, commander, Carrier Strike Group (CCSG) 8, IKE CSG includes the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier Dwight D. Eisenhower, with its embarked air wing, Carrier Air Wing (CVW) 7, and embarked Destroyer Squadron (DESRON) 28; the guided-missile cruiser USS Anzio (CG 68); guided-missile destroyers USS Ramage (DDG 61) and USS Mason (DDG 87); and the fast-attack submarine USS Newport News (SSN 750), all homeported in Norfolk, Va.
* The American Iwo Jima Expeditionary Strike Group joins US build-up opposite Iran
October 20, 2006, 12:37 PM (GMT+02:00)
http://www.debka.com/headline.php?hid=3401
Tuesday, Oct. 17, the Iwo Jima Expeditionary Strike Group steamed into the Persian Gulf to join the US naval, air and marine concentration piling up opposite Iran’s shores. It consists of the amphibious transport dock USS Nashville, the guided-missile destroyers USS Cole and USS Bulkeley, the guided-missile cruiser USS Philippine Sea, the attack submarine USS Albuquerque, and the dock landing ship USS Whidbey Island.
The Iwo Jima group is now cruising 60 km from Kuwait off Iran’s coast. As DEBKAfile and DEBKA-Net-Weekly reported exclusively two weeks ago, three US naval task forces will be in place opposite Iran in the Persian Gulf and Arabian Sea by October 21. The other two are the USS Eisenhower Carrier Strike Group and the USS Enterprise Strike Group.
* IRAN: U.S. MULLING MILITARY STRIKE, EXPERTS SAY http://www.adnki.com/index_2Level_E...648122&par=
With North Korea threatening more nuclear weapons tests, officials in Washington have placed the option of a military attack back on the table as they consider ways to prevent Iran from developing atomic weapons, experts say. Until recently, analysts agreed it was very unlikely that the United States - which is spending over 4.5 billion dollars a month on the conflict in Iraq - would take unilateral action to strike nuclear facilities in Iran, opening another front in the Middle East.
* Wash. Times editorial, Limbaugh repeated Drudge's false claim that IAEA's ElBaradei said Iran only a "few months" from nuclear weapons: http://mediamatters.org/items/200512090008
