Aircraft Carriers Headed in the Wrong Direction
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Darrell Castle discusses the deployment of a 3rd U.S. aircraft carrier as well as a 2nd marine expeditionary unit to the Middle East region.
Transcription / Notes
AIRCRAFT CARRIERS HEADED IN THE WRONG DIRECTION
Hello, this is Darrell Castle with today’s Castle Report. Due to technical difficulties this report is dated Monday, the 12th day of October in the year of our Lord 2026. My beat is war again as I will be discussing the deployment of a 3rd aircraft carrier as well as a 2nd marine expeditionary unit to the Middle East region. From the title you may deduce that my view is that the other two should be heading home rather than sending a 3rd to join them.
Yes folks the USS Theodore Roosevelt has departed its home base of San Diego and is on its way to join the George HW Bush and the George Washington in the Middle East conflict zone. Sailing with the Ted as the sailors call the Roosevelt is the USS Makin Island which contains a 2nd Marine Expeditionary Unit (MAU). The USS Boxer already on station contains a MAU which brings the total number of Marines to around 11,000 or that’s the number being reported.
Since the war against Iran started President Trump has deployed about 120 strike aircraft to the region including F-35 stealth attack fighters, F-22 air superiority fighters along with old standbys the F-16 and F-15 Strike Eagles. These troops currently deployed will be joining the roughly 50,000 already there deployed on ships and on bases across the region. The U.S. maintains 19 bases in the Middle East with eight of them permanently located in Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and United Arab Emirates.
I’m opposed to all this for many reasons as the title to this Castle Report indicates and one of the chief reasons is the U.S. Constitution as the supreme law of the land does not permit it. That supreme law requires an incoming president to take an oath to it or to the law if you will. The oath is not to a country and certainly not to any person. No one is above it including the President. Let me share the very short oath the incoming president takes from Article II, Section 1, Clause 8.
“I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States.”
Just 36 easy to understand words but if the Presidents obeyed that oath what a difference it would make. He’s not the only one violating the oath because virtually every elected official in the country takes a similar oath. When asked by the press if he thinks it’s necessary for him to obey the Constitution he usually refers the questioner to his team of brilliant lawyers who tell him he is legally OK or not.
The founders wrote the words as they did to make the document readable and understandable by ordinary people so no team of lawyers is necessary to explain the oath to him or to tell him ways to avoid its words. It seems that he believes that he has the legal authority to take the nation to war without permission from congress or he just doesn’t care what congress thinks. The oath that government officials and military personnel take to the Constitution is what makes America, America. The document grants to Congress, not the President the power to declare war. In other words, before the U.S. military starts shooting and bombing, Congress, acting as the representatives of the people must give permission.
This happened before when the U.S. went to war without approval by Congress in Vietnam. Finally, the war was so bad and so many were dying Congress decided to at least look at it. The War Powers Act was passed in 1973 and it said that in the absence of a Congressionally declared war within 48 hours the President must explain to Congress why he has gone to war without a formal declaration. When the war reaches 60 days he cannot continue the war without Congressional approval, and without that approval he must halt the war within 30 days.
It appears to me that the President is outside even the requirements of the War Powers Act but still he continues the war. He tells us that it is necessary because Iran has or is developing a nuclear weapon and that is veery dangerous for the world and cannot be allowed to happen. He offers us no proof, no evidence, of the nuclear weapon and even his Director of National Intelligence disputed the claim but still the war continues. American leaders usually seem to think that because of our overwhelming power and technology the wars they start will be short and decisive and absent U.S. casualties.
It never seems to work out that way and furthermore the nature of war has changed because of what has happened in Iran and Ukraine. Hypersonic missiles directed by satellite targeting data as well as armed swarms of drones have changed it. Now, those aircraft carriers must stand off at least 600 miles from their targets to give them a chance to avoid incoming missiles.
Sometimes war starts with the choice of one person and his team of advisors. In other words, it is a war of choice but then it morphs into something far more deadly and serious and that could be called necessity. The brave warrior has started something that he can’t stop so he must keep going. In the war against Iran U.S. troops are being killed as well as Iranian civilians. U.S. aircraft are being lost and their effective lifetimes are being used up. Most or all of the permanent U.S. bases in the region have been hit and rendered unusable by missile and drone attacks.
The war is also having a devastating effect here in the U.S. and in Europe. Diesel is the liquid blood of commerce and diesel is suddenly in short supply and soaring in price. The latest prices I’ve seen are about $6,50 average in the U.S. and over $9.00 in Europe. The effect of those prices is to raise the cost of everything, especially food, thereby lowering the standard of living of ordinary people. Trucking companies are going out of business and farmers are warning that they want survive if diesel remains that high or is unavailable.
The President responds by once again drawing down the strategic petroleum reserves and insisting that the Europeans do the same. From the introduction to this Report you can see that the war is getting worse not better. Strange as it must be to the administration we are genuinely surprised to learn that the Iranians and indeed the Muslim world valued the life of their leader and wanted to attend his funeral and that of course has led to more and worse war.
The tribal group in Yemen we usually call The Houthis but formerly their name is Ansar Allah sent a delegation to the Ayatollah’s funeral. The Houthis were at peace with Saudi Arabia but when they returned the Saudis bombed the airport in Yemen’s capital to keep them from landing. That resulted in a war the Saudis do not want and do not need and it has caused attacks against Saudi oil infrastructure that have been devastating. Saudi Arabia, once the world’s biggest producer and shipper of oil is virtually shut down.
The Houthis now control the coastline all the way to the Red Sea including the chokepoint leading into it. So, the Iranians control the chokepoint at the Strait of Hormuz and the Houthis control the chokepoint into the Red Sea called Bab el-Mandeb. According to the Eurasia Review, the Houthis have attacked U.S. combat vessels 170 times and commercial vessels 145 times and these attacks require constant protection from the U.S. navy to keep shipping lanes as open as possible.
Looking at the price of diesel, we can see what the leaders of other countries are warning about. A cold winter is approaching Europe which once had plenty of cheap Russian gas to keep them warm but then President Biden destroyed the Nord stream Pipeline thus severing that supply and now they go begging or use up their emergency supply. President Trump asked Zelensky in Ukraine to stop attacking Russian diesel refineries but Zelensky just ignored him and is still doing it. I’ve seen reports that 60% of Russian refineries are offline.
That one is hard to understand because logic tells me that if the U.S. stopped providing targeting data and stopped sending billions in weapons and to fund Ukrainian bureaucracy the war would wind down quickly but he doesn’t. The wars in Iran and Ukraine are accomplishing something, however, at least for our globalist overlords. Remember all those years that we were ordered to give up meat and cars but we just ignored them. It seems that wars are making those things impossible to ignore. In other words, the wars are destroying the standard of living of Westerners across the globe.
Along those same lines the U.S. has always refused to provide assistance to the Saudis in their struggles and this time Trump refused them refueling rights for their jets in their war against the Houthis but then he changed his mind and said he would assist them. I guess there is no war the U.S. doesn’t want to be involved in.
Finally, folks, what on earth is the right thing and how can we know. The right thing is easy, just always keep this in mind if you are voting. Only vote for candidates who endorse the following policy; Get out of other countries and stay out.
At least that’s the way I see it,
Until next time folks,
This is Darrell Castle,
Thanks for listening.
