WASHINGTON -- A third U.S. aircraft carrier has moved into striking range of Iraq, and a fourth will head there soon, defense officials said Monday.
The USS Abraham Lincoln, one of the Navy's newest Nimitz-class carriers with more than 5,000 sailors and naval aviators aboard, re-entered the Arabian Sea over the weekend, the officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
The arrival of a third carrier, joining the USS Constellation and the USS Harry S. Truman, means the number of American forces in the Persian Gulf region is now close to 100,000. The number is expected to approach 180,000 within a few weeks.
The Lincoln had been holding in waters off Australia last month. It left Perth, Australia, on Jan. 20 with orders to head back to the Persian Gulf in anticipation of possible combat duty this month or next.
With a possible war looming against Iraq, the Lincoln is in the unusual situation of extending its time at sea indefinitely. It completed its normal six-month deployment in January and was due to return from the Gulf to its home port at Everett, Wash. Instead it was ordered to hold in the Western Pacific and await further instructions.
The Lincoln's crew face the kind of extended duty that Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld says may be required of many others in the months ahead, depending on whether President Bush decides he must use force to disarm Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.<
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