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Amid Lebanon deadlock, U.S. ships head to Mediterranean

By Assocaited Press
Published February 29, 2008

WASHINGTON - The Navy is sending three ships to the eastern Mediterranean in a show of strength during a period of tensions with Syria and political uncertainty in Lebanon.

Adm. Michael Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the deployment should not be viewed as threatening or a response to events in any single country in that volatile region.

"This is an area that is important to us, the eastern Med," he said when asked about news reports of the ship movements. "It's a group of ships that will operate in the vicinity there for a while."

"It isn't meant to send any stronger signals than that. But it does signal that we're engaged, we're going to be in the vicinity, and that's a very, very important part of the world."

The decision to send the ships appeared to be a show of U.S. force in the region as international frustration mounts over a long political deadlock in tiny, weak Lebanon.

The United States blames Syria for the impasse, saying Syria has never given up its ambitions to control its smaller neighbor.

The presidential election in Lebanon has been delayed 15 times.

This week, the date was pushed back to March 11.

Michel Aoun, a major opposition leader to the U.S.-backed government in Beirut, said the ship movements looked like a calculated show of force by the United States.

"There is no need for it," Aoun was quoted as saying by the Al-Manar television of his Hezbollah allies.

The ships

A U.S. military officer, speaking anonymously because full details about the ship movements are not yet public, said a Navy guided missile destroyer, the USS Cole, was headed for the eastern Mediterranean with two refueling ships. The Cole is equipped for a variety of offensive actions, including antiaircraft and land attack missions. The USS Nassau, an amphibious warship, is headed in that direction on a normally scheduled deployment and some or all six ships in the Nassau group might operate in the eastern Mediterranean also, the officer said.

Ships in the area

The USS Cole, a Navy guided missile destroyer, is headed for the eastern Mediterranean with two refueling ships, said a U.S. military officer, speaking anonymously because full details about the ship movements are not yet public. The Cole is equipped for a variety of offensive actions, including antiaircraft and land attack missions.

The USS Nassau, an amphibious warship, is headed in that direction on a regular deployment, and some or all six ships in the Nassau group might operate in the eastern Mediterranean, the officer said.

[Last modified February 29, 2008, 01:22:56]