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| Iraq |
| 5th US Aircraft Carrier to Head for Gulf |
| 2003-02-07 |
| The United States plans to order a fifth aircraft carrier to head for the Gulf as early as Friday as the U.S. military masses land, sea and air forces in the region for possible war with Iraq, defense officials said. The officials, who asked not to be identified, told Reuters the USS Kitty Hawk would be told to depart the western Pacific Ocean within days and move through the Indian Ocean to join four other U.S. carriers and a British aircraft carrier near Iraq. The Kitty Hawk, which is based in Yokosuka naval base in Japan, is currently at sea and its movement would add about 75 warplanes aboard the ship to hundreds of U.S. naval and Air Force aircraft now near Iraq. The Kitty Hawk is accompanied by other warships carrying cruise missiles. Three U.S. carriers are already within striking range of Iraq -- the USS Abraham Lincoln and the USS Constellation in the Gulf, and the USS Harry S. Truman in the Mediterranean Sea. A fourth carrier, the USS Theodore Roosevelt, set sail from the western Atlantic for the region on Tuesday. The British aircraft carrier Ark Royal and its shepherding battle group earlier passed through the Suez Canal into the Red Sea and is expected to be on station soon in the Gulf within striking distance of Iraq. Ark Royal is carrying helicopters and commandos. To replace the Kitty Hawk in the western Pacific, defense officials said that orders are expected to be issued soon to the aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson to move from Hawaii to be near the Korean peninsula, where Washington and its allies are involved in a nuclear crisis with North Korea. Don't want them to feel left out. |
| Posted by:Steve |
| #3 It *definitely* feels like the Iraq assault is only the beginning, not the climax. This is going to be a very interesting year. |
| Posted by: jrosevear 2003-02-07 15:39:09 |
| #2 Getting rather unsportsmanlike. This used to be called "piling on". It suggests a "while we're in the neighborhood" scenario might be in the works. General spring cleaning and all that. |
| Posted by: Chuck 2003-02-07 14:50:06 |
| #1 KCNA calls it the "Calvinson". Unless we got one of those stealth carriers I used to read about in Popular Science. |
| Posted by: tu3031 2003-02-07 14:14:54 |