The report said that the forces include 6,000 troops aboard the aircraft carrier USS George H. W. Bush and its accompanying warships. Notably, the Bush traveled around southern Africa on its way to the region instead of going through the Mediterranean and the Suez Canal, the typical route of US warships, signaling the US is concerned the Houthis in Yemen could close the Bab el-Mandeb Strait.

About 4,200 other US troops, including thousands of Marines, are heading to the region from the Pacific aboard the Boxer Amphibious Ready Group. The Post said they are expected to reach the Middle East by the end of April. Once both forces arrive, the US will have more than 60,000 troops in the region.

The buildup and the US blockade of Iranian ports are framed as an effort to get Iran to agree to US demands for a diplomatic deal. But according to President Trump, the US is continuing to demand that Iran make a commitment to never again enrich uranium for civilian purposes, a condition that’s seen as a non-starter and will likely lead to a renewal of the bombing campaign if the US sticks to it.

“We are locked and loaded on your critical dual-use infrastructure, on your remaining power generation, and on your energy industry,” Hegseth said, in an apparent reference to both power plants and oil infrastructure. “We’d rather not have to do it, but we’re ready to go at the command of our president, and at the push of a button.”

Before the current ceasefire, President Trump repeatedly threatened to destroy Iran’s power plants and unleash “hell” on the country, and at one point said that an “entire civilization” would “die.” But if the US unleashed on Iran’s energy infrastructure, Iran could do the same in attacks on Israel and the Gulf Arab states, which would greatly exacerbate the global economic crisis caused by the war.

Saeed’s father was killed on Wednesday, during an attack on her family home in the village of Srifa. The attack was one of hundreds of Israeli strikes carried out on Wednesday, the first day of the ceasefire, which killed hundreds of people across Lebanon.

The funeral wasn’t just for her father, but for multiple other family members also killed in the strikes. Her father was slain along with six others in that strike, and then Taleen and three other relatives were killed in the attack on the funeral.

Multiple members of the Saeed family were wounded in the attack on the Srifa home, and multiple more were wounded in the funeral strike. This brings the toll to 11 killed and numerous others wounded between the strikes, and with the Saeed family still needing to hold a funeral for the people killed in the last funeral, leaving open the question of whether that funeral will be targeted as well.

Zeteo first reported the ramped-up plans for war with Cuba, saying that in recent days, “officials at the Pentagon and elsewhere in the US government were quietly given a new directive that came straight from the Trump White House. The message: ramp up your preparations for possible military operations against Cuba.”

USA Today affirmed the Zeteo scoop, reporting that military planning for war with Cuba has increased in case President Trump orders an attack on the country.

Trump may be eyeing an operation similar to the attack on Venezuela that resulted in the abduction of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, as Zeteo reported that the administration is discussing plans to “attack and kidnap Cuban leaders.”

Trump attacked Leo in a long post on Truth Social on Sunday night, which came as the pope and other Catholic leaders, including those in the US, had been very critical of the US-Israeli war against Iran.

“The message of the gospel. It’s very clear. Blessed are the peacemakers. I will not shy away from announcing the message of the gospel of inviting all people to look for ways of building bridges for peace and reconciliation, of looking for ways to avoid war any time that’s possible,” Leo told reporters while on a flight to Algeria, where he is starting a four-nation tour of Africa.

Despite the conclusions of the US Bombing Survey, that “certainly prior to December 1, 1945, and in all probability prior to November 1, Japan would have surrendered even if the atomic bombs had not been dropped, even if Russia had not entered the war, and even if no invasion had been planned or contemplated,” few myths are as entrenched in the psyche of America’a media and political elites as the claim that Truman’s decision (invariably valorized as “brave”) to incinerate a quarter of a million civilians – mainly women, children, and elderly – in Hiroshima and Nagasaki won the war in the Pacific.

The claim that Truman’s decision saved countless American lives has grown to proportions that would have surprised, if not shocked, Truman’s own military high command. President George H.W. Bush, himself a veteran of the Pacific campaign, claimed that the atomic bombs saved the lives of half-a-million US servicemen.

The record, however, rebuts the myth.

Dave DeCamp

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akeaton@antiwar.com

323-512-7095