U.S. making no secret of its strategic buildup in the Pacific
Thursday, March 6, 2008 Free Headline Alerts
CAIRO — Nearly 10,000 Palestinians, many assumed to be Hamas infiltrators, remain in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula where many have been sheltered by the opposition Muslim Brotherhood.
Officials said the Palestinians included Hamas fighters and operatives, who entered Sinai in late January in wake of the destruction of the Egyptian border with the Gaza Strip. They said the Palestinians were believed to have been provided haven by Bedouins in the Sinai as well as Egyptians on the African mainland.
The United States is building up forces on Guam with an eye toward a future conflict with China, Pacific forces commander Adm. Timothy Keating said recently.
Keating told a group of defense reporters on Jan. 28 that the issue of the strategic buildup on Guam, which has been underway for the past three years, was not raised by Chinese military officials during his recent visit to China.
Asked if the Chinese are monitoring the buildup, Keating said: “I kind of hope they do. We've got a number of B-2s in Guam now. I'm hoping they notice. We're doing our best to make sure they do. We want them to understand that we're going to continue to course around the Pacific in ways apparent and maybe not quite so apparent, but we're going to utilize all the arrows in our quiver, if you will, and B-2s in Guam, continuous bomber presence writ larger in Guam and elsewhere. We've been told to do it by Defense Policy Guidance, and we're most assuredly doing it.”
Guam is being upgraded by the Pentagon as a central strategic operating base in the Pacific and would be used in case of a future conflict with China over Taiwan or other issues, or as a base for operations for a war in Korea.
Additionally, Guam is being beefed up to better project power to the strategic oil-producing region of the Middle East.
Enhancements have included hardened storage facilities for B-2 bombers, additional attack submarines and better communications and infrastructure.