Two U.S. Aircraft Carrier Strike Groups Are Being Deployed To The Mediterranean Sea

Paul McCleary, Foreign Policy: U.S. Navy Sends Two Aircraft Carriers to the Med in Throwback to Iraq Invasion

The Obama administration has deployed two aircraft carriers in the Mediterranean Sea for the first time since the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003. The ships are expected to launch strikes on the Islamic State across Syria and Iraq — the very country President Barack Obama promised to disentangle the United States from when he was running for office in 2008.

The returning double punch brings some much-needed firepower against the Islamic State as U.S. aircraft back up Iraqi forces in reclaiming the cities of Fallujah and Mosul, and Sunni rebels and Kurdish fighters who are battling it out with the Islamist group across northern Syria.

The presence of two carrier strike groups will “support European allies and partners, deter potential threats and are capable of conducting operations in support of the counter-ISIL mission,” Lt. Col. Dave Westover, U.S. European Command spokesman, said in a statement Wednesday. ISIL is an acronym for the Islamic State.

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WNU Editor: Publicly they are saying that these aircraft carriers are to be used against the Islamic State .... but I have to wonder if they are also being positioned to launch strikes against Islamic State targets in Libya .... U.S. establishes Libyan outposts with eye toward offensive against Islamic State (Washington Post).