U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin announced Sunday that he has ordered American military ships, including an aircraft carrier and additional aircraft, to move closer to the eastern Mediterranean in response to Hamas' unprecedented, multi-front attack on Israel.
"Today, in response to this Hamas attack on Israel, and following detailed discussions with President Biden, I have directed several steps to strengthen Department of Defense posture in the region to bolster regional deterrence efforts," Austin said in a news release.
The USS Gerald R. Ford Carrier Strike Group includes the USS Gerald R. Ford aircraft carrier, which is the largest warship in the world, in addition to the Ticonderoga-class guided missile cruiser USS Normandy and four Arleigh-Burke-class guided missile destroyers — USS Thomas Hudner, USS Ramage, USS Carney and USS Roosevelt.
The USS Gerald R. Ford was in the western Mediterranean when it received orders to deploy. Depending on its precise location, it could have to travel over a thousand miles.
Austin also announced steps to augment U.S. Air Force fighter aircraft squadrons in the region. USAF aircraft are going into bases in the Middle East where they will be available for operations against Iran.
The munitions the U.S. will be sending over are being airlifted...
The U.S. also has munitions stockpiles in Israel that can be quickly accessed by Israel under terms of a bilateral defense agreement. The administration is also promising humanitarian support for Israel. As it should, the U.S. is standing with Israel.
Turmoil in the House of Representatives, which has been without a Speaker for nearly a week, is potentially hamstringing U.S. action on an unfolding war in Israel, as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vows “mighty vengeance” in response to an unprecedented Hamas attack.
“There is nothing the House can do until they elect a speaker, and I don’t know if that happens quickly,” former Speaker Kevin McCarthy, who was ousted from the job last Tuesday following a revolt from several far-right members, told Fox News on Saturday.
McCarthy’s ouster was a historic first, so it’s unclear exactly what powers current Speaker Pro Tem Patrick McHenry holds. However, the consensus is that they are fairly limited, especially when bringing bills to the House floor or receiving enhanced security clearance.
The House Majority Leader is traditionally part of the Gang of Eight, a bipartisan group of congressional leaders who receive sensitive intelligence briefings. McHenry currently isn’t cleared to receive Gang of Eight briefings, but President Joe Biden does technically have the authority to give him clearance. A senior administration official told NBC News Saturday that the prospect was under consideration.
Without a formally elected Speaker, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries was briefed Saturday evening on the unfolding situation in Israel, Punchbowl News founder Jake Sherman reported. However, Jeffries said Sunday that the Gang of Eight had not met for an intelligence briefing. The Democrat from New York is reportedly working on a briefing for all House members this week.
On Sunday, Jeffries called on the GOP to “get their act together” so “we can move forward to get the business of the American people done both as it relates to our domestic needs…as well as our national security considerations in terms of being there for Israel, being there for the Ukrainian people.”...
MAGAt Republicans' dysfunction is now threatening America's ability to fully assist Israel.
... The atrocities Hamas gleefully committed against Israeli civilians yesterday were perhaps the worst I’ve seen in the last two years, and that includes my daily diet of Russian atrocities in Ukraine. It might’ve been worse than what we saw in Bucha early in the war. A partial recap, without links. You can go find them yourself if you really need to see such barbarism:
- A man in a car getting his throat slit, the Hamas terrrorist hops off as car then rolls down with the lifeless civilian at the wheel.
- A young woman killed, then stripped and paraded around dancing militants. Originally identified as an Israeli citizen, she might actually be a German tourist attending a music festival.
- Four elderly civilians killed at a bus stop.
- Militants gleefully kicking and walking on a civilian corpse.
- Dozens (or more?) civilians kidnapped.
- Video of a woman being dragged away bleeding from an area that suggests sexual violence
- A young girl crying over her dead sister, murdered by Hamas in front of her at their home.
- Israeli children being abused in captivity. [snip]
This butchery against civilians is terrorism, plain and simple. Hamas struck Israeli military positions, even used Ukraine War-style drone warfare to destroy equipment via drone-dropped explosives. In a war, that’s all fair. It’s a problem in the broader sense of the ongoing conflict, but war is war. But directly targeting civilians isn’t a military operation, it’s a terrorist one. And the joyful celebration around that death goes beyond even Russia’s savagery in Ukraine. Russia may murder civilians and feel justified in doing so, they may even celebrate those murders, but I haven’t seen them express joy over it...
The terrorists will bring bloody retribution upon the heads of their own people. What kind of victory is that?
