The US can do very little to stop Hamas

Sometimes even the greatest military power can't do anything to stop a designated terrorist group from carrying out a major attack. 9/11 proved that. And now with the multi-pronged attack by Hamas against Israel, the US has sent its most advanced aircraft carrier strike force into the eastern Mediterranean to act as a deterrent. But a deterrent to what and to whom? It won't stop Hamas militants from holding on to the Israeli and foreign hostages they seized after invading Israel and it won't stop or deter Hamas still on Israeli territory from carrying on killing and wounding. An American aircraft carrier represents the world's most potent projection of power but all it can do right now is sit menacingly off the coast to remind everyone of the massive air power it has on its flight deck. But there is no way the US is going to intervene in this war, other than supply munitions to the Israelis. And yet this war has the potential for being a much more involving conflict. Iran is already heavily involved, arming and backing Hamas and spoiling for a strategic blow to the US in the Middle East. Tehran will read about the dispatching of the USS Gerald R Ford carrier group and will smile. Tehran also knows there's nothing the mighty supercarrier can really do.