US beefing up missile defenses in Persian Gulf
By ROBERT BURNS, AP National Security Writer Robert Burns
WASHINGTON – As the Obama administration edges toward imposing tougher sanctions on Iran, it has begun upgrading its approach to defending its Persian Gulf allies against potential Iranian missile strikes, officials said Saturday.
The United States has quietly increased the capability of land-based Patriot defensive missiles in several Gulf Arab nations, and one military official said the Navy is beefing up the presence of ships capable of knocking down hostile missiles in flight.
The officials discussed aspects of the defensive strategy on condition of anonymity because some elements are classified.
The moves have been in the works for months and are part of a broader adjustment in the U.S. approach to missile defense, including in Europe and Asia. Details have not been publicly announced, in part because of diplomatic sensitivities in Gulf countries which worry about Iranian military capabilities but are cautious about acknowledging U.S. protection.
The administration will send a review of ballistic missile strategy to Congress on Monday that frames the larger shifts. Attention to defense of the Persian Gulf region, a focus on diffuse networks of sensors and weapons and cooperation with Russia are major elements of the study, according to documents obtained by The Associated Press.
Russia opposed Bush administration plans for a land-based missile defense site in Eastern Europe, and President Barack Obama's decision to walk away from that plan last year was partly in pursuit of new capabilities that might hold greater promise and partly in deference to Russia.
One military official said the adjustments in the Gulf should be seen as prudent defensive measures designed to deter Iran from taking aggressive action in the region, more than as a signal that Washington expects Iran to retaliate for any additional sanctions.
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton consulted with numerous allies during a visit to London this week. She told reporters that the evident failure of U.S. offers to engage Iran in negotiations over its nuclear program means the U.S. will now press for additional sanctions against the Iranian government.
Gen. David Petraeus, the U.S. Central Command chief who is responsible for U.S. military operations across the Middle East, mentioned in several recent public speeches one element of the defensive strategy in the Gulf: upgrading Patriot missile systems, which originally were deployed in the region to shoot down aircraft but now can hit missiles in flight.
In remarks at Georgetown Law School on Jan. 21, Petraeus said the U.S. now has eight Patriot missile batteries stationed in the Gulf region — two each in four countries. He did not name the countries, but Kuwait has long been known to have Patriots on its territory.
A military official said Saturday that the three other countries are the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain — which also hosts the U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet headquarters — and Qatar, home to a modernized U.S. air operations center that has played a key role in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.
In a presentation Jan. 22 at the Institute for the Study of War, Petraeus explicitly linked the actions to concerns about Iran.
"Iran is clearly seen as a very serious threat by those on the other side of the Gulf front, and, indeed, it has been a catalyst for the implementation of the architecture that we envision and have now been trying to implement," he said.
He said that "architecture" includes the extra Patriot batteries "that weren't there, say, two years ago."
"Other countries have certainly increased their Patriots, a whole host of different systems; Aegis ballistic missile cruisers are in the Gulf at all times now," Petraeus added.
The Aegis ships are equipped with a missile known as the SM-3, which gained international acclaim in February 2008 when a souped-up version was launched from a Navy cruiser in the Pacific and shot down a failing U.S. satellite in space.
Defense Secretary Robert Gates has spoken publicly about a new approach to missile defenses, both in Europe and the Gulf.
"I don't want to get into it in too much detail," Gates said in September, "but the reality is we are working both on a bilateral and a multilateral basis in the Gulf to establish the same kind of regional missile defense that would protect our facilities out there as well as our friends and allies."
Gates said the adjusted approach is based in part on a belief by U.S. intelligence that Iran has not been progressing as fast as previously believed on development of a long-range ballistic missile, but is concentrating more heavily on short- and medium-range missiles of the sort that the Patriot and the Aegis systems are designed to defend against.
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Associated Press writers Anne Flaherty and Anne Gearan contributed to this report.
Re: US beefing up missile defenses in Persian Gulf
I predict that within the next 5 years Iran will rattle its saber one time too many. They must've not seen the "Saddam Show" on CNN.
Re: US beefing up missile defenses in Persian Gulf
I think it will be sooner then that. I don't see Israel waiting that long.
Re: US beefing up missile defenses in Persian Gulf
Quote:
Originally Posted by
eldorob
I think it will be sooner then that. I don't see Israel waiting that long.
I agree
my prediction is Mid March if nor sooner, and the US will have no clue till Obama wakes up and see's it on Fox news
Re: US beefing up missile defenses in Persian Gulf
Quote:
Originally Posted by
bentwire
I agree
my prediction is Mid March if nor sooner, and the US will have no clue till Obama wakes up and see's it on Fox news
\
So, do you think the Turks or the Saudis are going to let the Israelis fly over, or that they will take the direct route over Iraq without the friend or foe codes from the US Air Force?
Re: US beefing up missile defenses in Persian Gulf
That is one leash that the Isrealis will never be released from and they know it.
No. In 5 years there will be a ring of U.S. bases surrounding Iran and their commerce will be held hostage. Behave and eat or act a fool and starve. Their current leadership will fall. We will be there to pick up the pieces...
Re: US beefing up missile defenses in Persian Gulf
if your keeping up with the news you will see the turks have already gave Israel the go ahead,, Israel will not fly over Iraq due to the US needing to give the ok first,, Israel is not going to ask,, nor will we acknowledge we had any prior notice,,
i am not really a religious guy but do think some biblical prophecy is involved, there is more to the game than just Nuclear material, certain aspects of the Jewish religion as well as all religions mandate certain acts to occur before others may happen, such as the coming of Christ, or whichever your desired religion dictates.
Wither it is acts of mankind that proliferate these situations just because they feel they must as it is prophecy, or it is God intervening,, it will happen as there are crazy nuts on this earth that follow prophecy and make it happen just because they feel it is their duty to speed Revelation
Re: US beefing up missile defenses in Persian Gulf
Quote:
Originally Posted by
bentwire
Wither it is acts of mankind that proliferate these situations just because they feel they must as it is prophecy, or it is God intervening,, it will happen as there are crazy nuts on this earth that follow prophecy and make it happen just because they feel it is their duty to speed Revelation
This is a fact. I just happen to think that a higher order of "strategery" will prevail.
Re: US beefing up missile defenses in Persian Gulf
Quote:
Originally Posted by
greydread
That is one leash that the Israelis will never be released from and they know it.
No. In 5 years there will be a ring of U.S. bases surrounding Iran and their commerce will be held hostage. Behave and eat or act a fool and starve. Their current leadership will fall. We will be there to pick up the pieces...
I think we have figured out what we are doing in the Mid east and will some make a mass Exodus coming home and let what happens happen over there...
It is apparent that we keep being being sucked into situations to bleed our economy and wealth into a region that only has one means of financial stability,,, (OIL)
and i think that alternative energy sources are soon to be released to the public that will ruin many of the worlds economies
Re: US beefing up missile defenses in Persian Gulf
Quote:
Originally Posted by
bentwire
It is apparent that we keep being being sucked into situations to bleed our economy and wealth into a region that only has one means of financial stability,,, (OIL)
and i think that alternative energy sources are soon to be released to the public that will ruin many of the worlds economies
This is the reason for Iran's push to gain some level of political (through military threat) dominance in the region through pursuit of nuclear weaponry. They know that the clock is ticking on their only real source of power and it won't be long before they're back to herding goats and picking olives again.
Re: US beefing up missile defenses in Persian Gulf
The Iraelis will figure something out.
It won't be the first time they flattened a nuke plant.
Re: US beefing up missile defenses in Persian Gulf
Quote:
Originally Posted by
bentwire
if your keeping up with the news you will see the turks have already gave Israel the go ahead,, Israel will not fly over Iraq due to the US needing to give the ok first,, Israel is not going to ask,, nor will we acknowledge we had any prior notice,,
i am not really a religious guy but do think some biblical prophecy is involved, there is more to the game than just Nuclear material, certain aspects of the Jewish religion as well as all religions mandate certain acts to occur before others may happen, such as the coming of Christ, or whichever your desired religion dictates.
Wither it is acts of mankind that proliferate these situations just because they feel they must as it is prophecy, or it is God intervening,, it will happen as there are crazy nuts on this earth that follow prophecy and make it happen just because they feel it is their duty to speed Revelation
The recent news on the Israeli Turkish relationship has been pretty rough. I'd love to see where the Turks have approved Israeli military flights over Turkish territory for the purpose of attacking Iran.
While Israel certainly has it's share of religious fanatics, no past prime minister or anyone that seems likely to fill that position in the near future were or are particularly religious. Netanyahu is a secular Jew, as are/were Olmert, Sharon and Barak. These are not men who make political or military decisions based on biblical prophesies.
Re: US beefing up missile defenses in Persian Gulf
Quote:
Originally Posted by
eldorob
The Iraelis will figure something out.
It won't be the first time they flattened a nuke plant.
I would hope that you are right. That said, this is a much more difficult situation than Osirak was in '81.
Re: US beefing up missile defenses in Persian Gulf
Quote:
Originally Posted by
PapiQueRico
While Israel certainly has it's share of religious fanatics, no past prime minister or anyone that seems likely to fill that position in the near future were or are particularly religious. Netanyahu is a secular Jew, as are/were Olmert, Sharon and Barak. These are not men who make political or military decisions based on biblical prophesies.
It's not the Isreali "religios fanatics" that we have to worry about. It's the Pentacostals and their cronies who would sacrifice Isreal and it's people in order to bring down "the rapture" so that they can ascend without dying upon the second coming. This story gets pretty crazy but there are people in the U.S. who think they're on a mission from God to promote this turn of events. Many work for the Federal Government as career civil servants in very high positions, both in policy and operations. I see them every day.
Re: US beefing up missile defenses in Persian Gulf
Quote:
Originally Posted by
PapiQueRico
The recent news on the Israeli Turkish relationship has been pretty rough. I'd love to see where the Turks have approved Israeli military flights over Turkish territory for the purpose of attacking Iran.
While Israel certainly has it's share of religious fanatics, no past prime minister or anyone that seems likely to fill that position in the near future were or are particularly religious. Netanyahu is a secular Jew, as are/were Olmert, Sharon and Barak. These are not men who make political or military decisions based on biblical prophesies.
most so called leaders of countries are just figure heads, much like Obama in the USA,, in Israel i do think the religion carries a very strong influence on the decisions that are made,, many countries in the Mid East are very fearful of Irans domination, Israel is the only hope to contain Iran
Re: US beefing up missile defenses in Persian Gulf
Quote:
Originally Posted by
greydread
It's not the Isreali "religios fanatics" that we have to worry about. It's the Pentacostals and their cronies who would sacrifice Isreal and it's people in order to bring down "the rapture" so that they can ascend without dying upon the second coming. This story gets pretty crazy but there are people in the U.S. who think they're on a mission from God to promote this turn of events. Many work for the Federal Government as career civil servants in very high positions, both in policy and operations. I see them every day.
you are soooooooo right about that, I 100% agree and contend that this is was much of the Problem with the Bush Admin
Re: US beefing up missile defenses in Persian Gulf
Quote:
Originally Posted by
bentwire
most so called leaders of countries are just figure heads, much like Obama in the USA,, in Israel i do think the religion carries a very strong influence on the decisions that are made,, many countries in the Mid East are very fearful of Irans domination, Israel is the only hope to contain Iran
Though the size if the religious community there is growing, they are still a significant minority. The gulf between the religious and the secular, among Israeli Jews, is broad and well defined. You do not, in general, find many traditional. or what here would be called Conservative Jews in Israel. Israeli Jews are either "dati", religious, or "chiluni", secular. There is very little of a middle ground. The chiluni run the show, the dati use thier political influence to garner funding for their schools, religious centers and other institutions.
