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Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group

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To: BigBull who wrote (44818)	9/17/2002 3:43:13 PM
From: Bilow	Read Replies (1) of 281500

Hi BigBull; Re: "Also an interesting Reuters news report on the contracting of more commercial sea carriers to transport military equipment from Europe to the ME." The article is full of it, and is deliberately written so as to make it seem that the subject is of significance. For example, take a look at the lead sentence, LOL: The U.S. Navy is seeking to ship military vehicles and hundreds of containers full of ammunition from Europe to the Gulf amid talk that Washington is preparing for a strike on Baghdad, shipping sources said Tuesday." Wow! Military vehicles and "hundreds of containers full of ammunition"! That must be huge! WW3 must be about to start! No, the fact is that a single ship can carry "hundreds of containers full of ammunition". The next sentence makes it clear that only a single ship is being talked about: "The Navy's request for a large roll-on roll-off vessel is the fourth major U.S. arms delivery using commercial shipping to the Gulf since early August, which industry experts interpret as a sign it is building firepower ahead of a possible attack." But to put this into perspective, it helps to know that during the Gulf War, as many as 220 ships were being used to carry stuff to the Gulf. Only four ships are talked about here. (see #reply-17958507 for the links to official US military history sources) Let's put this into perspective with graphs. Each "" means one ship being used: US build up 2002: * US build up 1990: ********************************************** ********************************************** ********************************************** ********************************************** ****************** Now, does that make it clear what constitutes significant news in the military transportation business? -- Carl

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