The U.S. amphibious assault ship Bataan with 1,000 Marines aboard was headed to the Persian Gulf Monday as part of the buildup of U.S. forces in the region to protect Americans and counter the threat to the Iraqi government from Islamic extremists.
Pentagon officials confirmed that the 844-foot Bataan, based in Norfolk, Va., had left the Mediterranean and was expected to join six other Navy warships in the Persian Gulf, including the aircraft carrier George H.W. Bush.
Until earlier this month, the Bataan and the Marines from the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit, based in Camp Lejeune, N.C., were on standby off the coast of Libya in case of an emergency at the U.S. Embassy in Tripoli.
The other warships already in the Persian Gulf were the destroyers Arleigh Burke, Truxtun, and O'Kane, the cruiser Philippine Sea, the dock landing ship Gunston Hall, and the amphibious transport dock Mesa Verde.
Pentagon officials also said that Army Maj. Gen. Dana J.H. Pittard had arrived in Baghdad to take charge of the advisory mission to the struggling Iraqi national security forces.
About 180 of the authorized 300 advisors for Pittard's command, most of them from Special Forces units assigned to the Central Command, were on the ground and operating around Baghdad or out of a Joint Operations Center, said Army Col. Steve Warren, a Pentagon spokesman.Read the rest HERE.
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