U.S. Moves Bombers To Guam
March 4 -- The U.S. military has sent 24 heavy bombers from bases in the United States to the Pacific Island of Guam as a message to North Korean leaders.
Pentagon officials said the move is intended to demonstrate America's "credible military capability" in the Pacific at a time when so much of U.S. military might is focused on Iraq.
While military sources said it is not intended to escalate tensions with North Korea, they admit it almost certainly will.
"They definitely don't want an escalating crisis here," said Michael Swaine is a senior associate at Carnegie Endowment. "What they want to try to do is stop the Koreans from upping the ante while putting this on hold as long as possible because of the Iraq situation."
Making the approximately 17-hour flight to Guam were 12 B-52s that came from Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana and 12 B-1 bombers from Dyess Air Force Base in Texas. Guam is a U.S. territory.
Order to Move
The bombers were actually ordered to move late last week before the most recent incident in which a U.S. RC-135 surveillance aircraft was intercepted by four North Korean Migs 150 miles off the coast of North Korea.
That incident drew a heated response today from State Department spokesman Richard Boucher.
"It's not in North Korea's interest to continue down this track, to continue moving in the wrong direction, to continue finding steps to make the problem more difficult," Boucher said.
The Bush administration is considering providing future U.S. surveillance flights with a fighter escort. But many in the military argue against it, saying this is an unarmed surveillance plane, flying in international airspace and should need no escort.
Likely to irritate the situation further — the United States and South Korea are beginning the largest joint military exercise of the year on the Korean Peninsula. More than 400,000 U.S. and South Korean troops will participate. North Korea is already complaining.
Related Stories
ABC News Live