So Now We Know Who's Using All That Fuel And Driving The Price Up ....

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) - "The U.S. Navy staged its latest show of military force off the Iranian coastline on Wednesday, sending two aircraft carriers and landing ships packed with 17,000 U.S. Marines and sailors to carry out unannounced exercises in the Persian Gulf.

The carrier strike groups led by the USS John C. Stennis and USS Nimitz were joined by the amphibious assault ship USS Bonhomme Richard and its own strike group, which includes landing ships carrying members of the 13th Marine Expeditionary Unit.

The Navy said nine U.S. warships passed through the narrow Strait of Hormuz on Wednesday. Merchant ships passing through the busy strait carry two-fifths of the world's oil exports.

Aircraft aboard the three carriers and the Bonhomme Richard were to conduct air training while the ships ran submarine, mine and other exercises.

The maneuvers came just two months after a previous exercise in March when two U.S. carrier groups carried out two days of air and sea maneuvers off the Iranian coast.

Before the arrival of the Bonhomme Richard strike group, the Navy maintained around 20,000 U.S personnel at sea in the Gulf and neighboring waters.

U.S. warships have frequently collided with merchant ships in the busy shipping lanes of the Gulf."

Exercises are good. They sharpen the senses, and scare the ever loving shite out of our enemies. And make no mistake, the iranians, like all cowards, are terribly frightened whenever someone stands up to them. Not so members of the Jurassic Press, who like the dumb dame that wrote this story, think that including closing lines such as U.S. warships have frequently collided with merchant ships in the busy shipping lanes of the Gulf, is going to turn the entire galaxy into anti-American troglodytes such as themselves, and cannot be frightened unless by an editor telling them that he'd like to see more facts germane to the story and less editorializing.