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The USS John C. Stennis departed Bremerton, Washington last Saturday and sailed to San Diego to on load its air wing. That has been completed. It is to depart this morning (Saturday) for the Gulf.
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The UK has filled in more details on its mine clearing ships that are going to the region. Their deployment is "to deal with the very real threat of Iran mining the Straits of Hormuz," according to Royal Navy officers. The two ships are the HMS Blyth and the HMS Ramsey.
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Lurch and I have been discussing this over at his place, wondering if the Air Force F-117s from Holloman AFB now stationed at Kunsan AB, South Korea may play a part in an Iran operation. Personally, I think they're there to keep that insane midget who runs NK from getting any ideas while we're futzing around in the Gulf.
Stennis leaving homeport with her air wing aboard is most worrisome. I also don't think the Brits would increase their minesweeper force in the Gulf (there are a couple American carrier groups there, and the British have a big presence as well) if they weren't expecting trouble of some sort.
I doubt mines will be the big problem, more an annoyance compared to the suicide bombers in little boats packed with explosives who won't be picked up by the Phalanx Close In Weapons Systems aboard the men-o-war. If the Iranians (and I'll presume there are enough people there willing to die for the cause) manage to, if not sink, take a carrier or a few escorts out of the fight (remember the Cole), it would be a great victory for them.
The U.S. fleet also isn't immune to anti-ship missiles coming from shore, from the hundreds of little coves and inlets that our satellites and radar can't discern or an Iranian Air Force plane that somehow escapes our bomb and missile attack (remember the Stark).
You already know I think attacking Iran would be a disaster of biblical proportions and probably change our way of life. I think, as we get closer to the end of the Bush Presidency, closer to congressional investigations backing them into a corner and exposing all their corruption, (and the fact there are too many big guns packed into a relatively small area) the chance of a desperation move by the White House becomes ever greater.
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Senator John D. Rockefeller IV, the West Virginia Democrat who took control of the committee this month, said that the administration was building a case against Tehran even as American intelligence agencies still know little about either Iran's internal dynamics or its intentions in the Middle East.
"To be quite honest, I'm a little concerned that it's Iraq again," Senator Rockefeller said during an interview in his office. "This whole concept of moving against Iran is bizarre."
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I suggest we prepare for it.
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