Massive Deployment of Naval Power directed against Iran: Eisenhower Strike Group arrives in the "Arabian Gulf" - Global ResearchGlobal Research

Massive Deployment of Naval Power directed against Iran: Eisenhower Strike Group arrives in the “Arabian Gulf”

US Military Changes the Name of the Persian Gulf to the "Arabian Gulf"

Global Research, November 03, 2006

3 November 2006

In an earlier article (Oct 24), we had reported that the Eisenhower Carrier Strike Group (IKE CSG) was moving towards the Persian Gulf theater.

Following a press dispatch issued by the US military, we confirmed that the USS Eisenhower was still in the Mediterranean.

The same military source has now confirmed that Eisenhower Strike Group (IKE CSG) has entered (what the US military is now calling) the “Arabian Gulf” [Persian Gulf]:

“The Eisenhower Carrier Strike Group entered … the 5th Fleet area of operations, after transiting the Suez Canal on October 30, on a routine deployment in support of Maritime Security Operations (MSO). (http://www02.clf.navy.mil/eisenhower )

The area of operation of the Fifth Fleet encompasses the “Arabian Gulf [sic, Persian Gulf], Arabian Sea, Red Sea, Gulf of Aden, Gulf of Oman and parts of the Indian Ocean.”

Geopolitics enters into the choice of words: in these dispatches, which are indicative of the US military agenda, the US Navy refers to the “Arabian Gulf” rather than the Persian Gulf. This shift in names is an integral part of the war agenda.

Ocean Maritime Security Operations (MSO) are part of the Pentagon’s “Global War on Terrorism”. The stated justification of this massive deployment of advanced weapons systems consists, according to military documents, in going after Osama bin Laden’s Al Qaeda and the “state sponsors” of terrorism, which allegedly possess WMDs.

The MSO operation is described as an act of self-defense. It is part of a loosely defined and all encompassing “counter-terrorism program”. The Maritime Security Operations (MSO) sets “the conditions for security and stability in the maritime environment, as well as complement the counter-terrorism and security efforts of regional nations.”

“These operations deny international terrorists use of the maritime environment as a venue for attack or to transport personnel, weapons or other material. Official U.S. Navy Photo by Mass Communication Specialist Seaman Rob Gaston. From Eisenhower Strike Group Public Affairs

The Eisenhower Carrier Strike Group (IKE CSG) or Carrier Strike Group 8 (CCSG 8), includes the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Eisenhower (CVN 69), with its embarked air wing, Carrier Air Wing (CVW) 7, and embarked Destroyer Squadron (DESRON) 28; guided-missile cruiser USS Anzio (CG 68); guided-missile destroyer USS Ramage (DDG 61); guided-missile destroyer USS Mason (DDG 87); and fast attack submarine USS Newport News (SSN 750). .

IKE CSG is slated to work with the US and coalition war vessels currently deployed in the Arabian Gulf, the Arabian Sea and the Indian Ocean including Iwo Jima Expeditionary Strike Group (ESG) and the Boxer Expeditionary Strike Group (ESG 5), which is currently involved in joint US-India war games of the Malabar coast. According to military sources, the USS Enterprise (CVN 65) Carrier Strike Group, including Enterprise, Destroyer Squadron (DESRON) 2 and Carrier Air Wing (CVW) 1 “successfully completed” its operations in the U.S. 5th Fleet area on November 1st.

ANNEX: US NAVY

Navy Personnel

Active Duty: 349,783

Officers: 51,979

Enlisted: 293,368

Midshipmen: 4,436

Ready Reserve: 131,802 [As of 30 September]

Selected Reserves: 70,500

Individual Ready Reserve: 61,302

Reserves currently mobilized: 5,996 [As of 18 October]

Personnel on deployment: 36,037

Navy Department Civilian Employees: 175,454

Ships and Submarines

Deployable Battle Force Ships: 280

Ships Underway (away from homeport): 133 ships (47% of total)

On deployment: 104 ships (37% of total)

Attack submarines underway
(away from homeport): 22 submarines (40%)

On deployment: 11 submarines (20%)

Ships Underway

Carriers:

USS Kitty Hawk (CV 63) – Philippine Sea

USS Enterprise (CVN 65) – Persian Gulf

USS Nimitz (CVN 68) – Pacific Ocean

USS Dwight D.Eisenhower (CVN 69)- Mediterranean Sea

USS Ronald Reagan – Pacific Ocean

Iwo Jima Expeditionary Strike Group (ESG):

USS Iwo Jima (LHD 7) – Persian Gulf

USS Nashville (LPD 13) – Persian Gulf

USS Whidbey Island (LSD 41) – Persian Gulf

Boxer Expeditionary Strike Group (ESG):

USS Boxer (LHD 4) – Indian Ocean

USS Dubuque (LPD 8) – Indian Ocean

USS Comstock (LSD 45) – Indian Ocean

Essex Expeditionary Strike Group (ESG):

USS Essex (LHD 2) – South China Sea

USS Juneau (LPD 10) – South China Sea

USS Harpers Ferry (LSD 49) – South China Sea

Amphibious Warfare Ships:

USS Tarawa (LHA 1) – Pacific Ocean

USS Saipan (LHA 2) – Persian Gulf

USS Wasp (LHD 1) – port visit, Copenhagen, Denmark

USS Kearsarge (LHD 3) – Atlantic Ocean

USS Bataan (LHD 5) – Atlantic Ocean

USS Cleveland (LPD 7) – Pacific Ocean

USS Shreveport (LPD 12) – Atlantic Ocean

USS Ponce (LPD 15) – Atlantic Ocean

USS San Antonio (LPD 17) – Atlantic Ocean

USS Ashland (LSD 48) – Atlantic Ocean

USS Pearl Harbor (LSD 52) – Pacific Ocean

Aircraft (operational): 4000+

Global Research Editor’s note

Currently in the Persian Gulf-Arabian Sea, Indian Ocean (according to available information)

USS Enterprise slated to leave Fifth Fleet area on November 1st (according to statement of U.S. Naval Forces Central Command/ Commander, U.S. 5th Fleet Public Affairs

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Articles by: Prof Michel Chossudovsky

About the author:

Michel Chossudovsky is an award-winning author, Professor of Economics (emeritus) at the University of Ottawa, Founder and Director of the Centre for Research on Globalization (CRG), Montreal, Editor of Global Research. He has undertaken field research in Latin America, Asia, the Middle East, sub-Saharan Africa and the Pacific and has written extensively on the economies of developing countries with a focus on poverty and social inequality. He has also undertaken research in Health Economics (UN Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), UNFPA, CIDA, WHO, Government of Venezuela, John Hopkins International Journal of Health Services (1979, 1983) He is the author of 13 books including The Globalization of Poverty and The New World Order (2003), America’s “War on Terrorism” (2005), The Globalization of War, America’s Long War against Humanity (2015). He is a contributor to the Encyclopaedia Britannica. His writings have been published in more than twenty languages. In 2014, he was awarded the Gold Medal for Merit of the Republic of Serbia for his writings on NATO’s war of aggression against Yugoslavia. He can be reached at [email protected]

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