Loitering with Intent

Not saying that they are actually gonna DO anything mind you but... From the Sydney Australia Herald Sun:

Second US carrier arrives off Iran
A second US aircraft carrier arrived in Middle Eastern waters today as promised by US President George W Bush amid an escalating crisis with nearby Iran over its nuclear program.

The USS John C Stennis and its accompanying strike group joined the USS Dwight D Eisenhower in the Sea of Oman but has not yet entered Gulf waters, the US Fifth Fleet said from its base in Manama.

The Stennis "entered the US 5th Fleet area of operations ... to conduct maritime security operations in regional waters, as well as to provide support for ground forces operating in Afghanistan and Iraq", said a US statement.

Here are the home pages for both the USS John C. Stennis and the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower The Eisenhower was launched in 1975 and was the third nuke in the surface Navy. It was extensively rebuilt and refueled (for the first time since 1975) in 2001. The Stennis is much newer being launched in 1993 and it operates with a large group of other support ships and aircraft. The fact that the Stennis is entering the area means that things are ratcheting up a bit... We have been having very good success with capturing various high-level terrorists and their computers and paperwork. I am betting that things will get interesting in the next two months or so...