Navy Doubling Carrier Battle Groups Near Iraq

January 21, 2003
By ROBERT BURNS, AP Military Writer

WASHINGTON - Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld has ordered the Navy to double the number of aircraft carrier battle groups positioned within striking distance of Iraq, defense officials said Tuesday.

The additional naval air power is part of a broader buildup of U.S. forces in the Persian Gulf region. More than 60,000 forces already are there, to be joined over the next few weeks by about 120,000 more. When the buildup is finished, before the end of February, President Bush will have the option of attacking Iraq from multiple directions.

The carrier battle group led by the USS Constellation is operating in the northern Persian Gulf, the USS Harry S. Truman battle group is in the Mediterranean Sea, and Rumsfeld ordered two more groups to join them. They will be the USS Abraham Lincoln, now operating near Australia, and a carrier from the Norfolk, Va.-based Atlantic Fleet.

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