As I never tire of writing, the tiny Zionist state of Israel is less than the size of a South African game reserve, but still costs the American taxpayer billions of dollars every year as Uncle Sam’s ferocious watchdog squatting in the Middle East. However, even its war-mongering, war criminal Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu must have thought that all of his birthdays had come at once when he was told that the aircraft carrier USS Gerald R Ford was heading to the eastern Mediterranean as part of a growing US presence there in response to Israel’s war against the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.
A carrier strike force including the guided-missile destroyer USS Carney as well as USS Bataan amphibious assault ship and USS Carter Hall dock landing ship is a daunting presence in the region. Such a group of naval ships is like a floating, multi-purpose military base tasked with gathering intelligence through to delivering humanitarian support right up to battle stations involving fighter jets, attack helicopters and a whole range of deadly weapons, including missiles.
Now we are told that another carrier strike group is steaming across the Atlantic to join the Gerald R Ford, led by the USS Dwight D Eisenhower. These are hardly precautionary measures and probably have more to do with the 20 secret wars that America is conducting in the region than Israel’s genocide of the Palestinians.
It is obvious, nevertheless, that the US Navy is preparing for operations on a scale not seen since Operation Desert Shield, which marked the military build-up against Iraq from August 1990 to January 1991; and Operation Desert Storm, which began with a massive aerial bombing campaign against Iraq on 17 January 1991.
Both aircraft carriers in the US armada are nuclear-powered, and there are two associated logistics ships, two landing ships, one helicopter landing ship, one command ship, and several nuclear-powered attack submarines plus two cruisers and five destroyers. And let’s not forget Britain’s humble contribution of two Royal Fleet Auxiliary vessels under the protective umbrella of the US. It doesn’t look like an armada for peacetime purposes.
This all has the feel of overkill, unless Washington is building up to something far deadlier than Israel’s brutal bombardment of civilians in Gaza
I’m no military expert, but this presents a very large and relatively slow-moving target in the Mediterranean Sea for anyone with surface-to-surface missiles, such as Iran, Syria, Russia and non-state actors like Hezbollah. In other words, this all has the feel of overkill, unless Washington is building up to something far deadlier than Israel’s brutal bombardment of civilians in Gaza as it tries to eradicate Hamas.
Source : MEMO
