Are our warships heading towards Iran yet?

have they left port or are they already there? Anybody heard?

we, the people, have no control of our country or what is done in our name any longer.

My guess is that Stupid will have to hang back and hope the political climate improves by fall and allows him to reach for vicarious glory then.

I hope my guess is correct. I don't want this to happen. It will be the end of us if it is allowed to.

The Enterprise Carrier Strike Group along with the guided-missile destroyer USS James E. Williams, headed to the Gulf on 5-02-06.

Anyone who claims to know either way should be presumed to be speculating.

with the naked eye?

But the destination of that carrier is generally not published for security reasons.

A little background information FYI:

My brother is a Naval officer, a combat veteran of the Iraq war. During his participation in the fighting he stayed in touch with the family through email. He was never permitted to disclose his location. There were times where we could surmise where he was or where he was going, but for his safety there is no way any of us would publish that information.

So, anyone who says for a fact that a Navy ship is headed for one place or another, when that information has not been made public by the Navy, is being irresponsible and possibly putting at risk the men and women on that ship.

Sailors on shore leave sometimes blurt out things they shouldn't due to the effects of alcohol or their own immaturity. They may tell a spouse or sibling where they are going because they can't keep a secret. I implore anyone who is the recipient of such an unauthorized disclosure to exercise discretion in the interests of the lives and health of our service members who put everything on the line.

how internet sites are reporting it though? eg. Rawstory today. kind of bizarre since this hasn't been approved by Congress.

Rumors and speculation aren't necessarily factually wrong, nor is propaganda.

But I'm confident you already knew that.

And Iran dispatched The DY-100-Class S.S. Botany Bay to Persian Gulf



Damn you, Kirk!

oh never mind

as I said in another thread about this... Hello congress, do you know where your Navy is??

:(

or is it a case of loose ships?

perhaps rummy did with the repuke senators in a closed meeting?

It's too early to call mine.

:eyes:

maybe he's not going to talk about immigration. Maybe he's going to tell us about his strike on Iran?

He's going to attack Iran on MOTHER'S DAY!





BOOK REVIEW
The Ugly Truth About G.W. Bush

by Jeffrey Steinberg

Bush on the Couch—Inside the Mind of the President
by Justin A. Frank, M.D.
New York: Harper Collins Publishers, 2004
219 pages, hardbound, $24.95

<snip>

"For the past three years, I have observed with increasing alarm the inconsistencies and denials of such an individual. But he is not one of my patients. He is our president."

With clinical objectivity, Dr. Frank draws upon the mass of material available in the public domain about the President, particularly George W. Bush's own, documented remarks, to paint a picture of a man suffering from a number of serious, but potentially treatable psychological disorders. Among them: Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), untreated and uncured alcoholism (what is commonly referred to today as "dry drunk"), an omnipotence complex, paranoia, an Oedipal Complex, sadism, a mild form of Tourettes Syndrome, and a diminished capacity to distinguish between reality and fantasy.

All of these disorders stem from what Dr. Frank describes as Bush's "diminished ability to manage anxiety."
Childhood Trauma

How did George Bush come to be such a psychological wreck? According to Dr. Frank, who places significant emphasis on unresolved childhood trauma, in his clinical work, George Bush suffered several notable shocking experiences in his childhood, in which his parents, George H.W. Bush and Barbara Bush, failed to provide the needed loving adult care to help him through the experiences. In this sense, Dr. Frank provides a very compassionate picture of the President.

Dr. Frank described the most traumatic of those childhood experiences: "George W. was six years old at the beginning of the tragic episode that he has said yielded his first vivid childhood memories—the illness and death of his sister. In the spring of 1953, young Robin was diagnosed with leukemia, which set into motion a series of extended East Coast trips by parents and child in the ultimately fruitless pursuit of treatment. Critically, however, young George W. was never informed of the reason for the sudden absences; unaware that his sister was ill, he was simply told not to play with the girl, to whom he had grown quite close, on her occasional visits home. Robin died in New York in October 1953; her parents spent the next day golfing in Rye, attending a small memorial service the following day before flying back to Texas. George learned of his sister's illness only after her death, when his parents returned to Texas, where the family remained while the child's body was buried in a Connecticut family plot. There was no funeral."

More:
http://www.larouchepub.com/other/2004/book_reviews/3133bush_on_couch.html

For many years, the US Navy has had a permanent presence in the Persian Gulf area. There are always warships on station, and other warships on their way back and on their way to the Gulf. At least one carrier task force is typically kept in the area to protect oil tankers, among other reasons. There also are pirate attacks off Somalia. I assume there probably is a Marine amphibious force that is always stationed in the vicinity on board ships.

The difference will be if a much larger force heads towards Iran, including multiple carrier battle groups, and whether their stays in the Gulf are extended beyond the routine lengths.

Even King George realizes that the US doesn't have enough ground forces to invade Iran. Iran is much bigger and much more populated than Iraq, and I read that their armed forces are in better shape. The Iranians also are smart enough to not keep their nuclear facilities in a few above ground locations that are easily destroyed by air strikes or cruise missiles.

Maybe we should actually sit down and TALK to the Iranians. However, up until now, the Administration has refused. They took the same angle with North Korea - lots of hostile threats, but a refusal to sit down and talk face to face. I guess King George wants to eliminate US diplomats - they are currently not allowed to serve any purposes.

As a wise man once said, war means the diplomats have failed.

Clinton had more clout in foreign policy and made good inroads. Bush has managed to upset the applecart.