U.S. surge of troops and warships in Middle East

  General James Mattis who heads up the U.S. Central Command has the approval of the Obama administration to build up troop numbers and warships especially in the Persian Gulf area. The general believes there are increasing threats in the area in particular from Iran.
    The U.S. was unable to convince Iraq to allow troops to stay there and so troops are being deployed to other countries such as Kuwait. There are approximately 15,000 troops already stationed there and their status is also under negotiation. The Kuwaiti defense minister said that the number was likely to decrease. This is highly unlikely as the U.S. is trying to negotiate stationing enough troops in Kuwait to counter any potential regional war.
  The U.S. has also sent a second aircraft carrier strike group into the Persian Gulf. This is in response to threats from Iran to close the Straits of  Hormuz. Iran in turn is reacting to the buildup of U.S. military might in the Gulf as well as crippling sanctions in what amounts to a covert war against Iran. Iran also suffers from internal terrorist activity.
   Surges such as this show that the U.S. intends to continue to protect what it regards as its interests no matter how far from the U.S. However, the interests of Big Oil demand a global cop. For more see this article.


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