WarSclerotic

U.S. Destroyer’s Visit to Israel Shows Support, Commander Says – Bloomberg.com.

Oct. 29 (Bloomberg) — The presence in Haifa Bay of the USS Higgins, a Navy destroyer equipped to fire Tomahawk cruise missiles, demonstrates America’s commitment to Israel’s security, its commanding officer said.

“We’re working to keep pace with the threat as the threat evolves,” Commander Carl W. Meuser said today during a tour of the ship, whose Aegis weapon systems feature the most advanced radar-detection capabilities in the U.S. fleet. Meuser didn’t elaborate on the threat, though analysts said the war games that the vessel is taking part in are intended to send a message of solidarity with Israel to Iran.

The vessel is named after U.S. Marine Colonel William R. Higgins, who was captured, tortured and killed two decades ago by Lebanon’s Hezbollah militia. It was deployed for the U.S.- Israeli military exercises that are taking place over three weeks as pressure builds on Iran to stop its uranium-enrichment program.

The Juniper Cobra exercise — the biggest in 10 years of joint maneuvers — is as important in assuring Israelis of U.S. backing as it is in deterring enemy states, said Meuser, 43. Israeli confidence in the U.S. has fallen as President Barack Obama seeks to improve relations with the Arab world while pressing Israel to make concessions to the Palestinians.

“Make no mistake that the key audience for these war games is Iran,” Gerald Steinberg, a Bar-Ilan University political scientist, said in a telephone interview. “The Obama administration also needs to show Israelis that it stands behind them and this serves that purpose too.”

Iranian Nuclear Program

The U.S. and several major allies say that Iran’s nuclear program is a cover for the development of a weapon. The government in Tehran, which doesn’t recognize Israel, denies the allegation and says its work is lawful and intended for civilian purposes such as generating electricity.

The exercise started Oct. 20 and continues for three weeks, drilling more than 1,000 personnel from the Israel and U.S. air, sea and land forces in cooperating against missile threats from neighbors in the Middle East.

While F-16 warplanes from both countries have taken part in maneuvers over the Mediterranean Sea and tank exercises have involved both U.S. and Israeli soldiers, the USS Higgins will not leave its pier, dwarfed by a cruise ship floating alongside it in the northern port city.

“We can go through the entire scenario using our sensors and on-board computers,” Meuser said. “You don’t have to send the ship to sea and burn a lot of fuel to get value out of the exercise.”

The war games come after Turkey canceled a similar exercise that was scheduled to take place earlier this month. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Israel wasn’t welcome because of its war in Gaza 10 months ago, in which more than 1,100 Palestinians were killed. Turkey instead staged a separate set of war games with Syria, an enemy to Israel.

To contact the reporter on this story: Jonathan Ferziger in Tel Aviv at jferziger@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: October 29, 2009 13:23 EDT

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