As US Ships Approach, US Embassy In Egypt Denies Move Presages "Imminent US Invasion"

Source: ZeroHedge

With the situation in Egypt continuing to border on sheer chaos, many wonder what approach the US will take, so far having demonstrated its inability to decide how to swallow the humiliation of having a US-backed regime get swept away in a military coup while it continues supporting the country with both money and weapons. But while the State Department dithers, its head busy boating somewhere off the coast of Massachussetts, the US military is not wasting much time, and appears to be amassing a naval presence just off the coast of Egypt. No need to worry, though: Egypt's Ahram reports that "the US Embassy in Egypt denied Saturday that US naval vessels near Egypt's shores are sent in preparation for military action. A top Marine Corps general said Thursday that two US marine vessels approached Egypt's Red Sea shore, raising concerns in the Egyptian media about an imminent military move."

"We deny false claims in the Egyptian press that US naval ships are in the vicinity of the Arabian Peninsula and the Suez Canal to militarily invade Egypt," read a statement issued on the US embassy's website."

So I don't know how much truth this hold; but its certainly worth looking out for. How will the Obama Administration react to the removal of their buddy's in crime. So far they have been kinda quiet about the whole situation which makes the situation more serious then some would think.

Why this is worrisome is because of the crude oil prices, any social unrest in Egypt will reflect on the price of crude oil, which directly affects us.


It might all come down to this

Joking aside, it is a given that preserving the Suez Canal is of paramount importance for the US, if not so much for a quick transit access for cargo between the Mediterranean and the Indian Ocean, but to preserve access to the US 5th Naval Fleet based in Bahrain. Because once that is cut off, there goes quick and easy naval support for Israel operations in and around Iran.

Thoughts?

Awful source.

Just wanted to point that out.

reply to post by Senduko


Methinks this time the "uprising" is real, and despite all the grandstanding about Obama's ALLEGED support for Morsi and MB, the US government is terrified of a democratically elected government there and the potential for outside assistance from Russia.

This move has nothing to do with "freeing" poor Morsi, the real intent is keeping the US paid Egyptian military in control of the protesting people. Its about US hegemony in Egypt (and everywhere else) and maintaining the petro dollar's preeminence globally, especially in countries that are bucking the central banks, as Morsi was attempting to do.

reply to post by IndieA


Please do point out why ZH is a terrible source? Its one of the best sources on the internet.
In fact every post they make is backed with sources.
reply to post by frazzle


Yeah, with the looming financial collapse and some of the major players in the world who wanna lose the petrodollar I think your quite close to the truth. Not to mention the fact its quite close to Iran's alley.

Something tell me you are also right that when Syria goes that whole region will be set on fire, its gonna be all one big distraction/smoke screen and the complete middle east will be taken in one move.

The Suez Canal is a major source of revenue.

And the military strategic importance is equal.

Revenues from Egypt's Suez Canal rose 1 percent in May from a year earlier to $438.1 million, the State Information Portal said on Thursday.

In May 2012 the figure was $434.6 million, while in April 2013 it was $406.1 million.

The waterway is one of the country's main sources of foreign currency, along with tourism, oil and gas exports and remittances from Egyptians living abroad.

On May 1, Egypt raised the fees paid by ships passing through the Suez Canal in an effort to boost revenue as the economy struggles to fend off a currency crisis.

Suez Canal Money

Kearsarge carries a single MEU, helicopters, and a handful of AV-8Bs to support them. An MEU consists of roughly 2200 Marines (approximately 1100 in the GCE, another 350 in the recon element, 300 in the LCE, and 200 in the CE).

You aren't going to invade anyone with 2200 Marines, and extremely limited air support.

reply to post by Senduko

Something tell me you are also right that when Syria goes that whole region will be set on fire, its gonna be all one big distraction/smoke screen and the complete middle east will be taken in one move.

Yeah, but it remains to be seen who will do the final taking. The US is losing partners and allies left and right, not to mention there's going to be a limit on how much they can borrow to keep their game going. All the while the opposition is beefing up and gaining allies left and right.

Either way it doesn't look good for the inhabitants of the world while its all shaking out, including us.

The Red Sea coast is the wrong end of the country to be really concerned with and these aren't Carrier Battle Groups which is what I half thought you may have meant when I saw the title. A CVBG would have gotten my attention, since we seem to be determined to park almost all of them and keep them out of service here lately.

Egypt has a first rate military for tech and capability though. At least at the level those ships would pose a challenge. If they needed military force and the threat wasn't enough, it'd take much more than that .....and then really apologize to Israel as they caught the counter-fury from what our side had done. Lots of complications to this idea.

reply to post by Senduko


It's always Tyler dyrden and I've caught him lying multiple times. I have writing about it on ATS before but its been awhile.

The biggest thing I remember is him saying that the debt ceiling was about to be reached but he was off by months, and anyone could have figured it out at the time.

reply to post by Zaphod58


Agreed. If anything this is a support force in case American interests are in trouble.

Obama won't let another Benghazi happen.

OT:

Also, OP, Your avatar is probably the best I've seen on ATS.

You could use such a force for embassy evac.

reply to post by cavtrooper7


Exactly. That's what the LHDs have been used for in the past, both embassy, and civilians in the area. They can carry as many as 42 CH-46s, or 22 MV-22s if that's all they put on deck. The CH-46 can carry 24 at a time, although it they are willing to trade comfort or speed of evacuation, I've heard of them almost doubling that number. The MV-22 can carry 24 in seats, or 32 if they sit everyone on the floor. That means if they were to haul only CH-46s, and launch all of them on a mission, they could carry 1000 people at a time out to Kearsarge.

Here's a perfect example of ZH and Tyler Durden being full of it.

Link