Laksamana Amerika Syarikat berkata kapal di Mediterranean ‘Sepenuhnya bersedia’ untuk potensi menyerang Syria . . .

Peluru berpandu pemusnah USS Barry  (The guided missile destroyer USS Barry (Reuters/Rob Gaston – think IN pictures @1WORLDCommunity)

MADAyuMadyan - Laksamana Amerika Syarikat berkata kapal di Mediterranean ‘Sepenuhnya bersedia’ utk potensi menyerang Syria. Tentera Laut pemusnah Amerika Syarikat di Mediterranean adalah “Bersedia sepenuhnya” untuk melancarkan peluru berpandu ke Syria sebagai sebahagian daripada kempen tentera Amerika Syarikat yang tidak akan melibatkan kos yang “luar biasa” kewangan, seorang laksamana atas berkata Khamis.

Admiral Jonathan Greenert mengatakan bahawa Amerika Syarikat sedang mempertimbangkan menggunakan peluru berpandu Tomahawk terhadap Syria pada kos $ 1.5 juta setiap satu. Kenyataan beliau mengesahkan apa yang ada pegawai-pegawai lain telah berkata secara terbuka - walaupun sesetengah telah membocorkan maklumat yang sama tanpa nama.

Greenert dikenali sebagai “ benar-benar pilihan yang baik” Tomahawks untuk komander. Tentera Laut mempunyai 4 buah pemusnah di Mediterranean yang mampu melancarkan peluru berpandu ke Syria. Amerika Syarikat juga mempunyai pesawat dan kapal-kapal perang yang disertakan di Laut Merah, Washington perlu membuat keputusan untuk menyerang.

Tentera laut Amerika Syarikat kapal dikerahkan di rantau itu “sudah bersedia sepenuhnya untuk spektrum yang luas operasi, termasuk operasi yang mereka mungkin akan diminta untuk berbuat demikian, dari melancarkan peluru berpandu Tomahawk untuk melindungi kapal-kapal . . . mereka sendiri, “kata laksamana itu.

Greenert , ketua pegawai operasi tentera laut yang memberi tumpuan kepada kesediaan pasukan Tentera Laut, juga seolah-olah mengesahkan anggaran kasar yang dibuat oleh Setiausaha Pertahanan Amerika Syarikat Chuck Hagel pada Rabu di hadapan Jawatankuasa Hal Ehwal Luar Dewan , apabila beliau memberitahu Kongres bahawa kempen Amerika Syarikat di Syria mungkin akan kos “berpuluh-puluh berjuta-juta” dolar.

“Bilangan-bilangan ini bengkeng tetapi mereka tidak luar biasa pada masa ini, “kata Greenert pada majlis yang diadakan oleh konservatif pemikir American Enterprise Institute. Komen tentang kos campur tangan yang dibuat oleh Hagel dan Greenert mencerminkan kepercayaan bahawa sebarang serangan Amerika Syarikat ke atas Syria akan terhad kepada beberapa hari, penganalisis bajet walaupun tentera berkata angka Hagel adalah anggaran yang rendah.

“Saya terkejut apabila saya mendengar dia (Hagel) berkata berpuluh-puluh juta dolar. Itulah yang rendah ‘balling’ itu," Todd Harrison, seorang penganalisis bajet pertahanan di Pusat Penilaian Strategik dan Belanjawan, memberitahu Reuters.

Kebanyakan kos menyerang Syria berpotensi akan pergi untuk menggantikan senjata digunakan. Pembiayaan yang tidak dikehendaki sehingga selepas 30 September, apabila 2013 fiskal akhir tahun. “Jika anda termasuk kos penggantian peluru, (satu operasi terhadap Syria) boleh menyebabkan kos setengah bilion, sehingga satu bilion ringgit bergantung kepada bilangan sasaran mereka pergi selepas itu, “katanya.

Sekiranya tindakan ketenteraan Amerika Syarikat di Syria melampaui anggaran semasa, langkah perbelanjaan tambahan perlu diluluskan oleh Kongres. Greenert tidak menolak keperluan untuk kebenaran perbelanjaan lagi. “ tambahan mungkin perintah hari ini,” katanya mengenai penglibatan berlarutan di Syria.

NATO lepaskan 221 Tomahawk pelayaran peluru berpandu semasa perang udara terhadap Libya pada tahun 2011. Separuh daripada ia telah dilepaskan semasa fasa pembukaan kempen. Bahawa campur tangan kos Amerika Syarikat sekitar $ 1 bilion dalam jumlah, menurut Pentagon.

US admiral says ships in Mediterranean ‘fully ready’

for potential Syria strike . . .

US Navy destroyers in the Mediterranean are “fully ready” to launch cruise missiles into Syria as part of a US military campaign that would not involve “extraordinary” monetary costs, a top admiral said Thursday.

Admiral Jonathan Greenert said that the US was considering using Tomahawk missiles against Syria at a cost of $1.5mn each. His statement confirmed what no other officials had said publicly – though some had leaked similar information anonymously.

Greenert called the Tomahawks "a really good option" for commanders. The Navy has four destroyers in the Mediterranean which are capable of launching cruise missiles into Syria. The US also has an aircraft carrier and accompanying warships in the Red Sea, should Washington decide to strike.

The US naval ships deployed in the region "are fully ready for a vast spectrum of operations, including operations that they may be asked to do, from launching Tomahawk missiles to protecting . . . the ships themselves," the admiral said.

Greenert, a chief naval operations officer who focuses on preparedness of Navy forces, also seemed to confirm the rough estimate made by US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel on Wednesday in front of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, when he told Congress that a US campaign in Syria would likely cost "tens of millions" of dollars.

"The numbers are nagging but they're not extraordinary at this point," Greenert said at an event held by the conservative think-tank American Enterprise Institute. Comments about the cost of intervention made by Hagel and Greenert reflect a belief that any US strike on Syria would be limited to a few days, though military budget analysts say Hagel’s figure is a low estimate.

"I was surprised when I heard him (Hagel) say tens of millions of dollars. That's low-balling it," Todd Harrison, a defense budget analyst at the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, told Reuters.

Much of the cost of a potential Syria strike would go to replacing munitions used. That funding would not be required until after September 30, when the 2013 fiscal year ends. "If you include the replacement costs of munitions, [an operation against Syria] could cost half a billion, up to a billion dollars depending on the number of targets they go after," he said.

Should US military action in Syria extend beyond current estimates, a supplemental spending measure would have to be approved by Congress. Greenert did not rule out the need for a further spending authorization. "A supplemental might be the order of the day," he said about a protracted involvement in Syria.

NATO fired 221 Tomahawk cruise missiles during its air war against Libya in 2011. Half of those were fired during the opening phase of the campaign. That intervention cost the US around $1bn in total, according to the Pentagon.