Let me explain. The United States Navy operates two hospital ships, the USNS Mercy and USNS Comfort (photo). Robert Gates is the Secretary of Defense, and will continue his job uninterrupted by the upcoming Inauguration - President-Elect Obama has asked him to stay on.
Secretary Gates could issue an order to the Military Sealift Command, in charge of the hospital ships, to bring them out of "reduced operating status (ROS)" at their home port of Baltimore Maryland, which takes a maximum of five days. *See below for ships' capabilities.
Deployment of one of the hospital ships off the coast of Gaza could be one of the very first actions ordered by the new Commander in Chief. Already, the French humanitarian relief organization "Medecins Sans Frontieres" is pressing the French government for similar action. With the close US-Israel ties of which all administrations, Republican and Democratic, are proud, US Navy hospital ships should have a good chance of access to the Gaza coastline. Once hostilities cease.
Israel chased away an Iranian relief ship the other day, accusing it of aiding Hamas. Presumably it would not be as inhospitable to an American hospital ship, but you never know. Israel did sink the USS Liberty during the June 1967 Six Day War.
Since the inhabitants of Gaza have nowhere to go (they are already refugees from previous Arab-Israeli wars, and are blockaded, walled-in, and currently being bombarded day and night), it is appropriate that nations that preach humanitarianism should instead come to them. Since the munitions raining down on the non-combatants and combatants alike are of US manufacture, it is only fair that US military surgeons help treat the victims.
I've been on board the USNS Comfort. It's a veritable floating hospital. It even has a special armored operating room in case the projectile that hit you is still live.
Mr. Gates, please order it to "Stand To." So that on January 20 (or maybe the 21st), President Obama can make his first command a mission of Mercy - and Comfort.
*Description: Two hospital ships owned and operated by Military Sealift Command provide emergency, on-site care for U.S. combatant forces deployed in war or other operations. The hospital ships' secondary mission is to provide full hospital services to support U.S. disaster relief and humanitarian operations worldwide
Features: USNS Mercy (T-AH 19) and USNS Comfort (T-AH 20) each contain 12 fully-equipped operating rooms, a 1,000 bed hospital facility, digital radiological services, a medical laboratory, a pharmacy, an optometry lab, a CAT-scan and two oxygen producing plants. Each ship is equipped with a helicopter deck capable of landing large military helicopters. The ships also have side ports to take on patients at sea.
Background: Both hospital ships are converted San Clemente-class super tankers. Mercy was delivered in 1986 and Comfort in 1987. Normally, the ships are kept in a reduced operating status in Baltimore, Md., and San Diego, Calif., by a small crew of civil service mariners and active duty Navy medical and support personnel. Each ship can be fully activated and crewed within five days.