US navy plans `show of force' off oil-rich West Africa

[Snazzy]

(This appears to be an AFP story via a Malaysian site--can't find this elsewhere)

US navy plans `show of force' off oil-rich West Africa

LAGOS June 4 - A US navy battlegroup is to make a ``show of force'' in the oil-rich waters of the Gulf of Guinea, off west Africa, diplomats said Friday, as Washington hones plans to escape its dependence on unstable Middle Eastern supplies by securing more African crude.

The foray by a heavily armed carrier group into the waters off Nigeria, Sao Tome, Equatorial Guinea and other African oil producers, comes at a time when fuel prices are topping the US political agenda and security crises in the Gulf region are pushing demands for greater diversification in energy supplies.

An Abuja-based US diplomat told AFP on condition of anonymity that the Gulf of Guinea was ``a place where there is not normally an American presence'' and described the operation as ``a show of force.''

``Operation Summer Pulse '04 aims to demonstrate the capabilities of the US navy; before we only had two or three operations involving aircraft carriers at any one time,'' he said, adding that seven carrier groups are to be deployed in the Pacific and Indian Oceans, the Mediterranean and the Gulf of Guinea.

...

In particular, he said, planners hoped to secure Africa's coast to prevent an influx of Islamic extremists driven out of the Middle East and seeking sanctuary in areas like Nigeria's mainly-Muslim north.

....

http://www.utusan.com.my/utusan/content.asp?y=2004&dt=0605&pub=Utusan_Express&sec=World&pg=wo_05.htm

[nodehopper]

1. didn't they already get into hot water with Ecuatorial Guinea

When those mercenaries were intercepted on their way to orchestrate a coup there?

[lanparty]

2. Isn't there a war ...

... in Iraq. What, the Navy is feeling left out so they have to go thumping their chests to people with little or no ability to defend themselves?????

From Teddy Roosevelt, we got the Great White Fleet. They sailed around the world as a show of power, but also a show of peace.

From Bush we get "operation jerk off". Whereby the US Navy shows the obvious for no reason beyond expending munitions.

[Village Idiot]

3. Great - now that we have destabilized

the entire Middle East, culminating in the highest oil prices ever recorded, let's go fuck with the next largest oil producing nations...next week, we'll plan a surprise helicopter gunship visit to Venezuela!!!

[PROGRESSIVE1]

4. All for oil!!! Our Military is being used to secure oil!!!

:wtf:

Bush is nothing more than an Imperialist Facsist!

[Just Me]

5. This is precisely per the PNAC map.

God help us.

[crossroads]

32. Tell us a little about PNAC...

Just Me! Maybe just a quick rundown if ya got a min... or a link. Thanks!
:hi:

[SmileyBoy]

6. Why is it necessary to do that???

Why do they need to "thump their chests", so to speak???

[htuttle]

7. Oh crap. Here it comes -- a showdown in Fernando Poo

They ARE trying to immanentize the Eschaton, you know...

[CaptainClark23]

12. Ewige Blumenkraft!

Henceforth, there will be no blowjobs for bad leaders.

-The Mgt.

[htuttle]

16. I'll meet you in Ingolstadt

I circle around
I circle around
The boundaries of the earth

:)

[RoyGBiv]

13. Ohdearlord...

You've just reawakened a whole different level of my subconscious paranoia. ;-)

[thebigidea]

30. first I see the fnords, now this. SHEESH!

[al bupp]

31. Fnord!

[Domitan]

8. So the meteor/tsunmai warnings were set to throw us off the track, hmmm?

Rumours buzzed that the navy were set out to sea to avoid the tidal waves on the coast. Ahh, a nice alarmist distraction!

[Atman]

9. Then we get fired upon, giving excuse for Bush

to blow someone else up. If not on this run, the next one. He'd gonna do it. We all know it. He's got the Chalabi ruse going to get us into Iran, and he needs one to get us into Africa -- convenient that he has set most of our Navy out to sea, huh?

[crossroads]

33. We are stretched tooo freaking thin now! OMG!

Is he nuts?... What am I saying?... Of course he is!...
:shrug:

[Nlighten1]

10. How much is this going to cost the taxpayers?

There is no doubt this is in the millions of dollars. At a time when Bush has promised to cut social programs at home if he is re-elected does this make sense?

[underpants]

11. What's that? A show of force. Really? Yeah, want to get a beer?

Yeah sure.

[yellowcanine]

14. Where are Rhodes and Stanley when you need them? Shit, why don't we just

hand out Enfield rifles and pith helmets and recolonize Africa while we are at it? No wonder Cheney won't release the records of his "Energy Task Force".

[Just Me]

20. If those "Energy Task Force" records are ever released,...

,...well,...just imagine a MAJOR disturbance,...MAJOR,...and he freakin' knows it,...that greedy, imperialist, butt-wipe!!!

That whole cabal deserves to spend the rest of their lives in a dark cell,...they have certainly EARNED it!!!!

[FlemingsGhost]

15. This is all we know: force and intimidation

This is why the "American empire" is crumbling.

[Beaker]

17. "show of force"?? just what does that entail?

are they gonna blow something up? or just motor by, and hope that people notice?

[Voltaire99]

19. The fleet is a bargaining chip, an inducement...

...meant to scare the locals into acquiescence in any terms Washington and Texas desire. Africa is being made an offer it can't refuse: pump or perish. The stuff about Al Qaeda is a convenient tale for the consumption of the allies and domestically for Wal-Mart Murrica, whose sons man this oil-prospecting fleet.

Seldom are the strings quite so visible, but these are desperate times for the Empire. It doesn't have the patience or the oil reserves to use what more mild-mannered "internationalists" like to call diplomacy. From this we can tell that the failure in Iraq is serious enough for BushCo to have put in motion Plan B.

[Just Me]

21. Predatory inducement for some,...intentional "incitement" for others.

Know what I mean?

:argh:

[mulethree]

22. but would the Africans have noticed without a press release?

Assuming the ships are out in international waters, how much force are they able to show, considering how nobody can see them? I thought carrier groups liked a big buffer like 200 miles from any potential threat.

A big radar image and electronic noise? Some ominous offshore booms as jets break the sound barrier right at the border of international waters?

Why not just mail these people some postcards with spy sattelite images of thier houses, add a crosshairs and some text - 'we know where you live!' signed - your friend, Georgie boy Bush

[BiggJawn]

28. Drop trousers, grasp penis firmly in hand......

...and SHAKE, SHAKE, SHAKE!!!!

And if that doesn't get the keys to the refinery in the task force commander's hands, then a few 5" rounds lobbed ashore might get their attention...

[flaminbats]

18. so how exactly do these Iraqi terrorists flee into Nigeria?

Do they swim or run on very long stilts? Maybe they have secret tunnel systems which go through Europe and into Africa.

[nolabels]

23. By Canoe Invasion of course

&imgrefurl=http://www.turtletrack.org/Issues02/Co08242002/CO_08242002_Canoes.htm&h=253&w=400&sz=25&tbnid=tSqgIhTRHdYJ:&tbnh=75&tbnw=118&start=15&prev=/images%3Fq%3Docean%2Bcanoes%2B%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D%26ie%3DUTF-8%26sa%3DG


http://66.102.7.104/search?q=cache:TxddiDqEJY8J:theamericanrevolution.org/battles/bat_queb.asp+Canoe+invasion&hl=en
The Battle of Quebec


Overview:
It was early fall of 1775. General George Washington had taken command of the rag-tag, bobtail state's militia camped around Boston, and was endeavoring to turn the "rabble" into an army. He and the Continental Congress made the decision on June 27 to wrest Quebec and the St. Lawrence River from the British. They erroneously assumed that the tens of thousands of French-Canadians would gladly join the thirteen colonies in rebellion. Out of this momentous decision came one of the most amazing military expeditions of all time: Colonel Benedict Arnold's birch bark-canoe invasion of Canada, the first amphibious military assault in our nation's history. Arnold was to lead 1,100 soldiers from Massachusetts to Maine, then up the Kennebec and Dead Rivers into Canada by way of the Chaudiere River to Quebec City. Another army under Generals Phillip Schuyler and Richard Montgomery was to invade from New York, take Montreal, then meet Colonel Arnold at Quebec. This all came about, but ended in defeat for the Americans inasmuch as the British were well-positioned at Quebec, and Arnold's small army had been reduced by half by desertions. The French-Canadians did not rally to the American flag. Montgomery, replacing an ill Schuyler, was killed early in the attack; Arnold was wounded; and the campaign dissolved into disaster and retreat for the dejected remnants of the invading army.
(snip)

[Just Me]

26. *giggle* n/t

[flaminbats]

27. ho ho

n/t

[struggle4progress]

24. Why are we sending 6 naval battle groups to the mid-east?

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=1715136


Looks like the answer is: to scare the #$%@ out of some oil producers.

[crossroads]

34. For the emperor and his crew's delusions...

:shrug:

[jokerman93]

25. Show of force

Like everything else with these desperate corporate war-pirates, there's what the public sees, and then there's everything else that goes on below the public radar. This may indeed be a "show of force", but who knows how many secret threats of violence and mayhem are being made in tandom with this expedition of naval forces?

[corriger]

29. ah so this is the 'master plan'

I am laughing to hysteric.