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GOP Rep warns US Navy plan to relocate fuel from Hawaii could jeopardize operations in the Indo-Pacific
U.S. lawmakers have sent a letter of warning to the U.S. Navy saying the country could be wholly unprepared for a possible conflict should the military follow through with a plan to move fuel from Hawaii to storage facilities across the Indo-Pacific.
Rep. Mike Gallagher, the Republican chair of the House Select Committee on China, said in a letter to Secretary of the Navy Carlos Del Toro dated Jan. 17 that a plan to redistribute fuel from Hawaii’s Red Hill underground bulk storage facility was a «strategic imperative,» Reuters reported. He cautioned, however, that the Defense Department had yet to develop a long-term solution.
«It is unclear how exactly the Navy will replace and distribute the aggregate bulk fuel capacity of Red Hill,» said Gallagher, R-Wis, noting that U.S. operations in the Pacific would «grind to a halt» without a logistics network to ship the oil then to ensure ease of access.
«The Navy appears to be short – by several dozen – ships that will be needed to transport and deliver fuel to our bases and forces operating across the Indo-Pacific,» he continued. «We must address potential weaknesses in our logistical supply lines, while we still have the time to do so.»
BRITISH DEFENSE CHIEF WARNS WAR POSSIBLE WITHIN 5 YEARS WITH RIVALS CHINA, RUSSIA, IRAN: ‘INFLECTION POINT’
Scaffolding covers the Statue of Freedom atop the U.S. Capitol dome on September 27, 2023 in Washington, DC. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) continues to have difficulty finding a legislative path that would prevent the federal government from partially shutting down at midnight on September 30 and would also not jeopardize his speakership. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
In October 2023, the Pentagon revealed the Red Hill storage facility at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam suffered a leak that contaminated the water systems. It then began draining the 1940s-era facility, saying the fuel would be loaded by ship and transported to existing support sites. This process is expected to take several years.
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In Gallagher’s letter, the Republican lawmaker cited a 2016 Defense Department determination that it would need 86 tankers for moving such equipment. He requested that Del Toro explain to the committee whether the department had enough forward fuel storage facilities and would have access to refinery capacity for operations in the Indo-Pacific.
U.S. aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson approaches USNS Rappahannock (not shown) to perform an underway replenishment in the Pacific Ocean on May 27, 2017. Rappahannock is a Military Sealift Command ship that aides the U.S. Navy mission by delivering food, fuel and supplies to Navy vessels, thusly extending the Navy vessel’s ability to stay at sea. Picture taken on on May 27, 2017. (Torrey W. Lee/Courtesy U.S. Navy/Handout via REUTERS)
Gallagher also asked the secretary whether the Navy had identified secure locations to build replacement facilities for Red Hill, and whether it had plans to integrate facilities of allies and partners in redistributing fuel.
A Navy spokesperson affirmed the secretary would respond to the letter accordingly.
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«As with all congressional correspondence, the Department of the Navy will respond, as appropriate. We have nothing additional to provide at this time,» the spokesperson said, per Reuters.
China’s sole aircraft carrier, the Liaoning, arrives in Hong Kong waters on July 7, 2017, less than a week after a high-profile visit by president Xi Jinping. – China’s national defence ministry had said the Liaoning, named after a northeastern Chinese province, was part of a flotilla on a «routine training mission» and would make a port of call in the former British colony. (ANTHONY WALLACE/AFP via Getty Images)
U.S. military experts continue to warn that the U.S. is unprepared to respond to China’s hegemonic ambitions in the Indo-Pacific, which include seizing territories, facilitating trade negotiations and managing trade routes, and expanding its operational control over disputed waters.
These experts have warned of gaps in U.S. defenses as China, which now has more naval vessels than the United States, continues to dramatically expand its military.
Reuters contributed to this report.
INTERNACIONAL
Netanyahu slams ‘terrorist-supporting’ UN council that accused Israel of committing sexual crimes
The United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) is facing intense backlash from Israel over its report accusing Israel of employing sexual violence against Palestinians since October 2023. The report, entitled «’More than a human can bear’: Israel’s systematic use of sexual, reproductive and other forms of gender-based violence since October 2023» contains serious allegations against the Jewish state.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu released a statement on the report, calling the UNHRC «an antisemitic, corrupt, terrorist-supporting and irrelevant body.»
«Instead of focusing on crimes against humanity and the war crimes committed by the Hamas terrorist organization during the worst massacre against the Jewish people since the Holocaust, the UN once again chooses to attack the State of Israel with false accusations, including outrageous and baseless allegations of sexual violence. This is not a Human Rights Council – it is a Blood Rights Council,» Prime Minister Netanyahu said in a statement.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during a press conference in Jerusalem on December 9, 2024. (MAYA ALLERUZZO/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)
UN FINALLY RECOGNIZES THAT ISRAELI WOMEN WERE RAPED, SEXUALLY ATTACKED BY HAMAS TERRORISTS
Multiple Israeli officials said the report constituted a «blood libel» and said it ignored the acts of sexual violence on Oct. 7.
US Ambassador Designate to the United Nations Elise Stefanik also condemned the «baseless report» as «antisemitic and anti-Israel slander.»
«The so-called ‘Human Rights Council’ has failed to condemn the barbaric atrocities committed by Hamas terrorists against Israel including the brutal slaughter, torture, kidnapping of thousands of innocent civilians, and Hamas’ horrific use of rape and sexual violence against Israeli women and girls, yet disgracefully attacks Israel with unfounded smears,» Stefanik said in a statement.
Additionally, Israeli U.N. Ambassador Danny Danon called the report «another vile and distorted document from the UN.»
«This report is not even worth the paper it was printed on. Anyone who supported this false publication is complicit in whitewashing Hamas’ war crimes and trampling on the truth,» Danon said in a statement. «The UN is busy looking for ways to blame Israel instead of facing reality. History will judge you.»
Israeli Permanent Member to the United Nations Danny Danon speaks during a session of the Security Council at the New York City headquarters. (Israel United Nations mission)
UNITED NATIONS SLAMMED FOR SILENCE OVER HAMAS RAPES, MUTILATION AND MURDER OF ISRAELI WOMEN, CRITICS SAY
UNWatch Executive Director Hillel Neuer told Fox News Digital, «the U.N. inquiry is as objective as a Stalinist show trial, and that’s why they completely twisted the facts to falsely accuse Israel of the crimes that Hamas actually committed.»
The report documents a wide range of alleged abuses by Israeli troops, which it calls the Israel Security Forces (ISF), rather than the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), the military’s actual name in both Hebrew and English. The report also condemned how Israel was carrying out the war, saying that the destruction led to «disproportionate violence against women and children.»
Additionally, there are complaints in the report of forced public stripping. However, Israel has said that this is necessary to ensure detainees are not hiding explosives. Former IDF Spokesperson Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus was quoted in the report as saying this in a 2023 CNN interview. Even the report acknowledges that «strip-searches for security justifications are not unlawful,» but claims that Israel’s process was not up to international standards.
A view of the United Nations Headquarters building in New York City, United States on July 16, 2024. (Jakub Porzycki/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
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Chair of the Commission Navi Pillay condemned the «deplorable increase in sexual and gender-based violence.» She also says that Israel uses sexual violence to «terrorize» Palestinians and to create «a system of oppression that undermines their right to self-determination.»
«For decades, the head of the Inquiry, Navi Pillay, has been the world’s leading champion of the 2001 UN ‘Durban Declaration’ slander that a Jewish state is a racist state. Inquiry members have referred to the ‘Jewish lobby’ controlling social media and then complained that antisemitism is ‘always raised as a diversion,’» Anne Bayefsky, Director of the Touro Institute on Human Rights and the Holocaust and President of Human Rights Voices told Fox News Digital.
The commission claims that sexual violence, including rape, is part of the IDF’s «standard operating procedures towards Palestinians.»
Bayefsky alleges the commission «ignored hundreds of thousands of submissions which challenged their conclusions… They have also refused to hear testimony from NGOs that would have contradicted the veracity of their pre-determined end product.»
«The Independent International Commission of Inquiry is an independent body mandated by the Human Rights Council, over which the secretary-general has no authority,» Secretary-General António Guterres’ spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric told Fox News Digital. «The secretary-general has spoken out repeatedly at the horrors we have seen in this conflict. He continues to be deeply alarmed by the humanitarian situation in Gaza and reiterates his call for all parties to respect international humanitarian law and international human rights law. He underlines that there needs to be accountability.»
Desarrollo urbano en una zona volcánica
Bomberos inspeccionan el campanario de una iglesia. Foto: EFE
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