Are We Seeing The Build Up To World War III?

article by Craig Hasten

I hope the American people are paying close attention to the what is going on around the globe recently. After 21 years of war in the Middle East it looks like The United States is setting the stage for the next conflict. It was announced yesterday that the CVN 70 Carl Vinson battle group entered the Arabian Sea off the Straits of Hormuz joining the CVN 74 John Stennis battle group which has been in the area for the past two months.

Now riddle me this!


With Obama calling an end to the Iraq, war paired with his recent announcement of defense budget cuts, why such a build up of firepower off the coast of Iran? The answer lies in the fact that Washington knows that Iran has no intention of halting its nuclear program which will give Obama the green light to force an oil embargo on Iran. Iran has already stated many times that if an oil embargo is placed against their country then they will close the Strait of Hormuz. I have no doubt that they will try to close the Strait but with their limited naval capabilities even they know that any such attempt would be futile. The US has made it public that they will not stand for the vital shipping lane to be closed by Iran and would use force to re-open it.

Now here is my question.

Would it really take the firepower of two US carrier battle groups to defeat the Iranian navy and re-open the Strait of Hormuz? One would hardly think so given the size and capabilities of the Iranian navy.

I would like to point out one interesting observation. In August of 1990 the US sent two aircraft carrier battle groups to the Persian Gulf when Iraq invaded Kuwait and their oilfields. The US knew it would be going to war with Iraq and felt like two aircraft carrier battle groups would be the required amount of force (along with the build up of ground troops) that would be needed to complete the job.

Does it appear that history is about to repeat itself?

I don't feel that what is going on with Iran has anything at all to do with their nuclear program, but as always, it's about the control of oil.

This time around I feel that it isn't just going to be the US and a few other tiny allies against a sovereign middle eastern country. This time around it is looking like all the major world players will be showing up for this one. This is starting to have the markings of a good old fashioned World War.