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The US Military prepares for positive action http://www.geocities.com/afi_research/AFIindex.html AFI Research - Espionage & Security, Strategy & Risk Analysis and Armed Forces Intelligence The United States stands today as the worlds only superpower, but it has been humiliated, angered and reduced to virtual impotence by an audacious attack that has cost some $100 billion, killed well over 5,000, destroyed the World Trade Centre,devastated large parts of the financial heart of New York and damaged the headquarters of its mighty military machine, all at the cost to its enemy of perhaps 15-24 terrorists. The intelligence audit appears to lead strongly towards Afghanistan as the principle target for a serious military response,but this is a country that has been largely devastated through thirty years of rebellion, resistance to Soviet invasion and a brutal civil war. Afghanistan does not have a vulnerable infrastructure of petro-chemical works, heavy industry, power plants, TV stations, bridges and the like. Nor does it have a normal administrative or military structure of sensitive buildings and barracks. Even the most massive aerial onslaught will only make a lot of very expensive holes in the desert, destroy some decrepit buildings and kill a good few more innocent civilians. Osama Bin-Laden will already have abandoned his tented training camps and pulled back into the impenetrable mountain vastness. There are no targets worthy of a Tomahawk or the latest smart bomb. Any military operation will be an exercise in punching shadows and carried out largely if not entirely for political reasons and to slake the national thirst for revenge. However, the US military machine is now on a high state of alert and forces throughout the world are poised for action and the most likely format will include the launching of cruise missile strikes, followed up with an attempt to accurately bomb the targets pinpointed by US electronic surveillance and photo-reconnaissance satellites and the use of spyplanes. The US Navy has the 5th Fleets Battle Group in the Persian Gulf area, led by the giant Aircraft Carrier USS Enterprise and the Guided Missile Cruiser USS Philippines Sea, protected by four Guided Missile destroyers, one attack Submarine and four Mine Counter Measures craft. The Carrier Air Wing will have upto 80 aircraft including F14 Tomcats,F/A18 Hornets, EA6B Prowlers and E2C Hawkeyes. Quickly steaming across the Indian Ocean in support is a Battle Group from the 7th Fleet, led by an even bigger Carrier, the USS Carl Vinson, with a Carrier Air Wing of some 90 aircraft and protected by a similar sized flotilla. The value to the United States of having two operational carrier Groups in the region includes removal of the necessity to use the Air Bases in Turkey, Saudi Arabia and the Gulf states. The US has of course many other options including attempting to persuade the Taliban by a mixture of threats and offers of international acceptance and substantial aid, to rid the world, once and for all, of Afghanistans most unwelcome guest or of course to simply get lucky and for the sake of the civilized world one must hope that it is the latter. The United States may however, choose to target a variety of other tempting area's, Hezbollah in the Beka'a Valley, Libya, or the centres for Weapons of Mass Destruction in Iraq and Iran, but these risk a major conflict, as would the possible involvement of European or Israeli Forces. ------------------------------------------------- This Discussion List is the follow-up for the old stopnato @listbot.com that has been shut down ==^================================================================ EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?a84x2u.a9spWA Or send an email To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] This email was sent to: archive@jab.org T O P I C A -- Register now to manage your mail! http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/register ==^================================================================
