Military Forces Mobilizing

Administration officials did not elaborate on what the movements meant or how they fit into “Operation Infinite Justice,” the government’s campaign against terrorism.

“The United States is repositioning some of its forces to support the president’s goal,” National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice said without further comment.

Asked whether Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld had signed a deployment order, deputy secretary Paul Wolfowitz told reporters, “There are movements and we will see more movements.”

Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman provided few details:
“The United States is repositioning some of its military forces where required to prepare for and support the president’s campaign against terrorism and to support efforts to identify, locate and hold accountable terrorists and those who support and harbor them,” he said.

President Bush is expected to address Congress tomorrow, but Rice said he would not use that address to announce a military strike.

What is known so far is the battle group accompanying the USS Roosevelt on a scheduled six-month deployment to the Mediterranean includes two attack submarines, both capable of firing Tomahawk cruise missiles.

The crew includes more than 15,000 sailors and Marines.

“We’re learning once again that freedom and liberty and the American way of life are not a birthright,” Navy Secretary Gordon England told the group before it left Norfolk. “It is time for us to pick up the mantle to destroy terrorism and remove its cancer.”

The Navy already has one carrier battle group in the Persian Gulf, and another stationed in the Arabian Sea. Nearly 200 U.S. combat aircraft are already stationed throughout the Gulf area, in countries like Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Kuwait.