Adm. Jonathan Greenert.
MOSCOW — The United States has been drafting plans for a rapid naval evacuation from Bahrain.
Officials said the U.S. Navy has conducted an exercise that envisioned acrisis in the Gulf Cooperation Council kingdom.
[Related stories: Bahrain, U.S. embassy deny reports of statements attributed to Gen. Shelton, Oct. 8 and Former Joint Chiefs chairman: Obama plotted to destabilize regimes in Bahrain, Egypt, Oct. 3]
The officials said the Navy sought to determine whether it could evacuate its Fifth Fleet headquarters to ships offshore.
“My plan B in a crisis is to go afloat,” U.S. Navy operations chief Adm. Jonathan Greenert said.
In an address to the Naval War College on Oct. 25, Greenert acknowledged the Shi’ite unrest in Bahrain. He said the Navy was monitoring the attacks on Bahraini security forces and foreign nationals to determine the safety of American personnel.
“Their internal security is something we watch,” Greenert said. “I don’t want to call it an insurgency. That’s too strong.”
Officials said the Navy conducted a crisis evacuation exercise on Oct.
25 to transfer onshore operations to offshore facilities. They said the
exercise was conducted by the Fifth Fleet off the coast of Bahrain and by the Sixth Fleet in the Mediterranean Sea.
“But there is no real good long-term alternative like Bahrain that we
have over there,” Greenert said.
Greenert said the Navy was helping Bahrain enhance counter-insurgency operations. He said Manama has been reliable in supporting the Fifth Fleet.
“We’ve been in Bahrain 60 years and they’ve been really with us every
time,” Greenert said. “They’ve been a solid ally and friend.”
U.S. Navy drafts evacuation plan to ‘go afloat’ in case of Bahraini crisis | World Tribune.
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