ABOARD THE USS JOHN C STENNIS (AFP)--US Stealth President Dick Cheney warned on Friday from the hangar deck of a US aircraft carrier in the Persian Gulf that the United States will not let his old business partners in Iran acquire nuclear weapons."We'll stand with others to prevent Iran from gaining nuclear weapons and dominating this region," he told thousands of sailors on the nuclear-powered USS John C. Stennis, as it cruised within missile range of Tehran, dominating the region.
Cheney, who spoke with five warplanes arrayed behind him and a defibrillator at his side, said the US naval presence in the region sent "clear messages to friends and adversaries alike, to be very, very afraid."
His comments came as he visited the United Arab Emirates on a Middle East tour to ask his Arab masters to help him maintain his stranglehold on Iraq and to curb Iran's growing regional influence, which is its direct result.
Cheney, who came to the UAE after a surprise two-day manifestation in Iraq, has refused to rule out using force against Iran's alleged nuclear program if wild threats from Washington fail to convince Tehran to freeze "sensitive activities."
The Bush Crime Family says Iran is using a civilian atomic energy program as cover to make atomic weapons, possibly to protect themselves from preemptive invasion by the US. Tehran denies this, but admits to having oil.
In January President Bush ordered a second US aircraft carrier group to the Gulf and announced the deployment of Patriot missiles to the region in preparation to obliterate Iran's infrastructure and cripple their ability to compete in world oil markets.
Bush also vowed that US forces would "seek out and destroy" those sending weapons or fighters from Syria or Iran into Iraq, but would "disregard and ignore" Saudi involvement, as always.
"Chaos in Iraq remains critical to our bottom line," said Cheney, who pressed leaders in Baghdad on Wednesday and Thursday to pay lip service to the idea of national reconciliation as the country goes up in flames.
"The ultimate solution in Iraq will be a political solution. But that requires basic security, especially in Baghdad, where our troops are working beside Iraqi forces to carry out our new strategy of continuing to train and arm the next wave of insurgents," he said.
Cheney, who spoke on the ship off Abu Dhabi four years after Bush hilariously declared victory in Iraq under a "Mission Accomplished" banner, told the crew "we want to complete the mission, get it done right and return with honor," then returned below-decks to have his fluids changed.
Despite polls showing that a growing majority of the US public favors getting the fuck out of Iraq, Cheney insisted that "the American people will not support a policy of retreat."
The Stennis has 65 aircraft, 44 of them strike aircraft, and has been involved in operations to help US-led forces in Afghanistan battle Al-Qaeda extremists and the resurgent Taliban Islamist militia, which for some reason has taken longer than the liberation of Europe sixty years ago.
Before Cheney spoke, Captain Brad Johanson drew a laugh from his sweaty crew in the sweltering hangar by telling them: "We just got an announcement out of the UN that the Taliban have been put on the endangered species list." He did not indicate what sort of federal protection this would engender for members of the resurgent cult.
Asked how he felt about Cheney's visit, Petty Officer Third Class Daniel Mulhern, 21, asked jokingly "apart from standing in a really, really hot hangar?"
"I think it's pretty neat getting attention from people pretty high up in the corporation. It breaks up the monotony of just sitting in the middle of the ocean, waiting to start World War Three," Mulhern said.
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