So says this story:
As unconfirmed reports of an imminent Israeli strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities pick up steam in the Middle Eastern media, a US-based strategic intelligence company has released a chart showing US naval carriers massing near Iranian waters.
The chart, published by Stratfor and obtained by the Zero Hedge financial blog, shows that over the last few weeks a naval carrier — the USS Harry S Truman — has been positioned in the north Indian Ocean, not far from the Strait of Hormuz, which leads into the Persian Gulf. The carrier joins the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower, which was already located in the area. The chart is dated June 23, 2010…
I’m not so sure about this – Obama has proven so incredibly weak about Iran that I find it hard to believe he’s suddenly found the back bone to act. On the other hand, a successful military strike against Iran could repair some of his public image, thus helping him and his Democrats heading in to the fall (hate to think he’s use a strike for such political purposes…but we have precedent in the form of Clinton’s egregiously deflective military action in 1998 at the time of th Lewinsky/impeachment scandal).
An alternate view is that Obama has actually stationed assets in the area to discourage Israeli action – you know, make it look like we’re going to act so the IDF stands down, and then do nothing while Iran feverishly completes its first nuclear weapon.
Finally, I think that an outright military offensive, unless we’re convinced that Iran is literal days or weeks from an operational weapon (and “operational” doesn’t mean just having one – but having one, plus the swift ability to make more coupled with a proven delivery system) is not the way to go. If we’ve got any time, at all, we should first rather quietly impose a blockade against gasoline shipments to Iran – Iran imports a very large percentage of its gasoline. If that doesn’t get their attention, then we go for a full blockade, destruction of Iran’s limited refining capacity and only as a last resort bomb the known and suspected nuclear sites.
We’ll have to see how this comes out.
Blogs For Victory 