The Department of Defense announced today a new central command to deal with the possibility of military dangers in the Middle East, the Persian Gulf and the Indian Ocean which includes Egypt but excludes Israel. Israel along with Syria and Lebanon will continue to be dealt with under the European command which is headquartered in West Germany.
A Pentagon spokesman explained that Israel was excluded because it is considered part of the Mediterranean area. He said the new command is basically a Southwest Asia command and Egypt was included because it borders on the Red Sea and Sudan.
The new command, which will have its headquarters at the Macdill Air Force base in Tampa, Florida, will have 230,000 people from all branches of the U.S. military in the United States available for use in case of danger in the area it will cover. This is in addition to the Rapid Deployment Force which is also headquartered at the Tampa base. The new command covers Egypt, Sudan, Somalia, and the Persian Gulf countries, Iraq, Iran, India, Pakistan and Afghanistan.
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