The US is sending more helicopters to assist Pakistan with their flood relief issues. FWIW - I haven't seen a huge relief surge from Iran. Good thing the US wants all Muslims exterminated, eh?
The United States is more than tripling the number of helicopters it is providing to help in flood-ravaged Pakistan, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Wednesday.
Gates said the USS Peleliu is now off the coast near Karachi, carrying 19 helicopters and a complement of about 1,000 Marines.
The six U.S. helicopters which were sent to Pakistan from Afghanistan earlier have been helping rescue people and deliver aid supplies. Gates said the Peleliu's complement will replace six combat helicopters on loan from the U.S. war effort in Afghanistan.
Gates said President Barack Obama has directed his administration to "lean forward" in offering help to the Pakistanis, which he stressed will be at a pace dictated by Pakistan's needs and its ability to handle aid.
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GEN Mattis has been sworn in as CENTCOM commander.
Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates on Wednesday swore in a new top commander to oversee military operations in the Middle East, Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Marine Gen. James N. Mattis took over as head of U.S. Central Command, replacing Gen. David A. Petraeus, who last month became the top commander in Afghanistan.
Technically, Mattis, who has commanded forces in both Afghanistan and Iraq, will now become Petraeus’s boss. In reality, most Defense officials in Washington expect Petraeus’s voice will be most influential in setting Afghanistan policy, while Mattis focuses on Pakistan, Iran and other parts of the region.
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US PACOM is changing their stance on China's power-projection buildup.
In Congressional testimony earlier this year, new Pacific Command chief Admiral Robert Willard noted China's "unabated" military buildup and concluded that it appeared "designed to challenge our freedom of action in the [Asia-Pacific]." Admiral Mike Mullen, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said last month that he's "moved from being curious" about what China is doing, "to being concerned about what they're doing." And new Pacific Fleet Commander Patrick Walsh said that China is putting the South China Sea's vital trade routes "at risk" over its various territorial claims.
Many U.S. officers and senior civilian employees at Pacific Command with whom I spoke last week agree with this view. Now they want their bosses in Honolulu and Washington to back up their talk with action so that the U.S. doesn't "give up any water space" to China. They cite, in particular, China's territorial claims over the South China Sea; its illegal seizure of Philippine and Vietnamese islands; and its skirmishes with fishing boats off the coast of Indonesia and Vietnam.
The recent tough rhetoric should at least serve to comfort America's Pacific allies, many of whom are worried about China's rise and America's commitment to the region. Japan has complained to Beijing about its navy poking around Japanese islands. Australia's defense ministry has voiced concern about the end of America's "unipolar moment" in the Pacific, and what that means for their nation's defense. Taiwan continues to demand that China remove the thousands of missiles Beijing points at the democratic island.
By: Brant
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