is it a contingency force. this is a lot of fire power. that s a big ship with a lot of aircraft on it and marines on it. it can be used to put forces into baghdad, into any part of iraq they want to amphibiously. it is an upgrade in capability. you wonder why does he think he needs this capability. this looks like mission creep again. it sounds that way, colonel. the administration says they are making sure the right assets are in place should they need them? do you buy that? there are two possibilities. one is we put a band-aid on a gaping wound, this disaster we created when we installed mr. malaki and his government. but this could be to enlarge our engagement. one thing to keep in mind is