Delhiites remain calm pleeez

An eye for an eye will make the whole fucking world go blind

- M. K. Gandhi

WMD - Nuclear carrier, the Kitty Hawk in Japan

Friday, October 7, 2005 at 05:52 JSTYOKOSUKA — The mayor of Yokosuka, Kanagawa Prefecture, Ryoichi Kabaya, conveyed local opposition to a reported U.S. plan to deploy a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier to the city in a meeting with U.S. Ambassador to Tokyo Thomas Schieffer on Thursday, city officials said.
Kabaya visited the envoy at the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo and handed him a letter requesting that a conventional carrier replace the Kitty Hawk, which is to be decommissioned in 2008, they said.© 2005 Kyodo News. All rights reserved. No reproduction or republication without written permission.


http://www.japantoday.com/e/?content=news&cat=9&id=351382



US carrier captain sacked in Japan

The Kitty Hawk can carry a maximum crew of 5,500
The captain of the American aircraft carrier USS Kitty Hawk has been sacked after a series of incidents led his superiors to lose confidence in his ability to lead the crew.
Captain Thomas Hejl's dismissal from the 85,000-tonne craft, based in the Japanese port of Yokosuka, came after a number of crew members were arrested for alleged robbery, assault and drug-smuggling.
At this time, the global war on terrorism, it's very important for us not to have this kind of situation arise
Commander Matthew Brown US Seventh Fleet commander Vice Admiral Robert Willard said the dismissal was "due to a loss of confidence in Captain Hejl's ability to lead his crew and carry out essential missions and taskings."
"The United States is engaged in a global war against terrorism and it is vital that our forward deployed ships be ready to carry out our nation's taskings when ordered, " he said.
Crew arrests
A series of incidents have plagued the Kitty Hawk in recent months.
On 11 August a 23-year-old crew member was arrested in Yokosuka on suspicion of attempted robbery and causing injury.
Three days earlier a 29-year-old sailor was arrested at an airport near Tokyo on suspicion of smuggling marijuana into Japan.
Four others were arrested in two separate robbery incidents, Japanese police said.

The carrier played an important role in the war against the Taleban
Commander Matthew Brown, a spokesman for the Seventh Fleet, said other issues had also influenced Captain Hejl's dismissal, including equipment breakdowns apparently caused by crew members failing to follow correct procedures.
Another factor was the Kitty Hawk's collision with a buoy in Singapore earlier this year that damaged one of the ship's propellers.
"We had a deficiency and it wasn't getting any better," said Commander Brown.
Vital military role
The Kitty Hawk normally has 70 to 80 aircraft on board and can carry a maximum crew of 5,500.
The carrier was sent to the Indian Ocean last year to help support the US military response to the 11 September attacks on New York and Washington.
It played a key role in the US-led ground war in Afghanistan by ferrying special forces troops and helicopters.

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See also:
03 Mar 02 Americas
Guide to military strength
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US admits Russians photographed carrier
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BUSH gone MAD

Rice refuses to rule out attack on SyriaEgypt warns against stirring new tensions in regionCompiled by Daily Star staff Thursday, October 20, 2005
The United States on Wednesday refused to rule out possible military action against Syria but said it had not exhausted diplomatic moves to get Damascus to change its ways over Iraq and Lebanon.
The remarks made by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice came as Egypt's foreign minister warned against turning Syria or Lebanon into a new focus of tension in the Middle East.
Addressing the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Rice said both Syria and Iran were allowing fighters and military assistance to reach insurgents in Iraq.
"Syria and Iran must decide whether they wish to side with the cause of war or with the cause of peace," Rice told a hearing called to discuss U.S. strategy in Iraq.
Pressed by senators over whether the Bush administration was planning military action against Syria in particular, Rice said the United States was still on a "diplomatic course" with Damascus but the military option remained open.
"The president never takes any option off the table and he shouldn't," said Rice when asked about a military option.
Rice declined to say whether the president would present any plans to Congress before launching military action against Syria, saying she did not want to circumscribe his powers.
At the White House, spokesman Scott McClellan declined to answer when asked whether Bush had signed any orders enabling U.S. forces to cross the border with Syria to engage foes who may be looking to enter Iraq.
"Whether or not he had or not, I would not get into talking about that, because it's classified in nature," he told reporters.
McClellan also warned that Syria was "trending in the wrong direction from the rest of the Middle East" and accused Damascus of allowing extremists to cross into Iraq and of backing terrorist groups that seek to undermine the peace process.
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